diff -puN fs/ext3/inode.c~ext3_getblk-race-fix-fix fs/ext3/inode.c
--- 25/fs/ext3/inode.c~ext3_getblk-race-fix-fix	2003-07-19 22:59:50.000000000 -0700
+++ 25-akpm/fs/ext3/inode.c	2003-07-19 23:07:42.000000000 -0700
@@ -936,19 +936,17 @@ struct buffer_head *ext3_getblk(handle_t
 			   ext3_get_block instead, so it's not a
 			   problem. */
 			lock_buffer(bh);
-			if (!buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
-				BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "call get_create_access");
-				fatal = ext3_journal_get_create_access(handle, bh);
-				if (!fatal) {
-					memset(bh->b_data, 0,
-							inode->i_sb->s_blocksize);
-					set_buffer_uptodate(bh);
-				}
+			BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "call get_create_access");
+			fatal = ext3_journal_get_create_access(handle, bh);
+			if (!fatal && !buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
+				memset(bh->b_data, 0, inode->i_sb->s_blocksize);
+				set_buffer_uptodate(bh);
 			}
 			unlock_buffer(bh);
 			BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "call ext3_journal_dirty_metadata");
 			err = ext3_journal_dirty_metadata(handle, bh);
-			if (!fatal) fatal = err;
+			if (!fatal)
+				fatal = err;
 		} else {
 			BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "not a new buffer");
 		}

_