diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 79eb63fdb4b3..78fe3e97ff99 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -779,7 +779,6 @@ static int super_90_validate(mddev_t *mddev, mdk_rdev_t *rdev)
 		mddev->major_version = 0;
 		mddev->minor_version = sb->minor_version;
 		mddev->patch_version = sb->patch_version;
-		mddev->persistent = 1;
 		mddev->external = 0;
 		mddev->chunk_size = sb->chunk_size;
 		mddev->ctime = sb->ctime;
@@ -1159,7 +1158,6 @@ static int super_1_validate(mddev_t *mddev, mdk_rdev_t *rdev)
 	if (mddev->raid_disks == 0) {
 		mddev->major_version = 1;
 		mddev->patch_version = 0;
-		mddev->persistent = 1;
 		mddev->external = 0;
 		mddev->chunk_size = le32_to_cpu(sb->chunksize) << 9;
 		mddev->ctime = le64_to_cpu(sb->ctime) & ((1ULL << 32)-1);
@@ -3213,8 +3211,11 @@ static int do_md_run(mddev_t * mddev)
 	/*
 	 * Analyze all RAID superblock(s)
 	 */
-	if (!mddev->raid_disks)
+	if (!mddev->raid_disks) {
+		if (!mddev->persistent)
+			return -EINVAL;
 		analyze_sbs(mddev);
+	}
 
 	chunk_size = mddev->chunk_size;
 
@@ -3621,6 +3622,7 @@ static int do_md_stop(mddev_t * mddev, int mode)
 		mddev->resync_max = MaxSector;
 		mddev->reshape_position = MaxSector;
 		mddev->external = 0;
+		mddev->persistent = 0;
 
 	} else if (mddev->pers)
 		printk(KERN_INFO "md: %s switched to read-only mode.\n",
@@ -3729,6 +3731,7 @@ static void autorun_devices(int part)
 			mddev_unlock(mddev);
 		} else {
 			printk(KERN_INFO "md: created %s\n", mdname(mddev));
+			mddev->persistent = 1;
 			ITERATE_RDEV_GENERIC(candidates,rdev,tmp) {
 				list_del_init(&rdev->same_set);
 				if (bind_rdev_to_array(rdev, mddev))