diff --git a/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c b/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
index a5432bbbfb88..e29293501d42 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/checkpoint.c
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ static int __try_to_free_cp_buf(struct journal_head *jh)
 	int ret = 0;
 	struct buffer_head *bh = jh2bh(jh);
 
-	if (jh->b_jlist == BJ_None && !buffer_locked(bh) && !buffer_dirty(bh)) {
+	if (jh->b_jlist == BJ_None && !buffer_locked(bh) &&
+	    !buffer_dirty(bh) && buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
 		JBUFFER_TRACE(jh, "remove from checkpoint list");
 		ret = __journal_remove_checkpoint(jh) + 1;
 		jbd_unlock_bh_state(bh);
@@ -160,21 +161,25 @@ static void jbd_sync_bh(journal_t *journal, struct buffer_head *bh)
  * buffers. Note that we take the buffers in the opposite ordering
  * from the one in which they were submitted for IO.
  *
+ * Return 0 on success, and return <0 if some buffers have failed
+ * to be written out.
+ *
  * Called with j_list_lock held.
  */
-static void __wait_cp_io(journal_t *journal, transaction_t *transaction)
+static int __wait_cp_io(journal_t *journal, transaction_t *transaction)
 {
 	struct journal_head *jh;
 	struct buffer_head *bh;
 	tid_t this_tid;
 	int released = 0;
+	int ret = 0;
 
 	this_tid = transaction->t_tid;
 restart:
 	/* Did somebody clean up the transaction in the meanwhile? */
 	if (journal->j_checkpoint_transactions != transaction ||
 			transaction->t_tid != this_tid)
-		return;
+		return ret;
 	while (!released && transaction->t_checkpoint_io_list) {
 		jh = transaction->t_checkpoint_io_list;
 		bh = jh2bh(jh);
@@ -194,6 +199,9 @@ restart:
 			spin_lock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 			goto restart;
 		}
+		if (unlikely(!buffer_uptodate(bh)))
+			ret = -EIO;
+
 		/*
 		 * Now in whatever state the buffer currently is, we know that
 		 * it has been written out and so we can drop it from the list
@@ -203,6 +211,8 @@ restart:
 		journal_remove_journal_head(bh);
 		__brelse(bh);
 	}
+
+	return ret;
 }
 
 #define NR_BATCH	64
@@ -226,7 +236,8 @@ __flush_batch(journal_t *journal, struct buffer_head **bhs, int *batch_count)
  * Try to flush one buffer from the checkpoint list to disk.
  *
  * Return 1 if something happened which requires us to abort the current
- * scan of the checkpoint list.
+ * scan of the checkpoint list.  Return <0 if the buffer has failed to
+ * be written out.
  *
  * Called with j_list_lock held and drops it if 1 is returned
  * Called under jbd_lock_bh_state(jh2bh(jh)), and drops it
@@ -256,6 +267,9 @@ static int __process_buffer(journal_t *journal, struct journal_head *jh,
 		log_wait_commit(journal, tid);
 		ret = 1;
 	} else if (!buffer_dirty(bh)) {
+		ret = 1;
+		if (unlikely(!buffer_uptodate(bh)))
+			ret = -EIO;
 		J_ASSERT_JH(jh, !buffer_jbddirty(bh));
 		BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "remove from checkpoint");
 		__journal_remove_checkpoint(jh);
@@ -263,7 +277,6 @@ static int __process_buffer(journal_t *journal, struct journal_head *jh,
 		jbd_unlock_bh_state(bh);
 		journal_remove_journal_head(bh);
 		__brelse(bh);
-		ret = 1;
 	} else {
 		/*
 		 * Important: we are about to write the buffer, and
@@ -295,6 +308,7 @@ static int __process_buffer(journal_t *journal, struct journal_head *jh,
  * to disk. We submit larger chunks of data at once.
  *
  * The journal should be locked before calling this function.
+ * Called with j_checkpoint_mutex held.
  */
 int log_do_checkpoint(journal_t *journal)
 {
@@ -318,6 +332,7 @@ int log_do_checkpoint(journal_t *journal)
 	 * OK, we need to start writing disk blocks.  Take one transaction
 	 * and write it.
 	 */
+	result = 0;
 	spin_lock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 	if (!journal->j_checkpoint_transactions)
 		goto out;
@@ -334,7 +349,7 @@ restart:
 		int batch_count = 0;
 		struct buffer_head *bhs[NR_BATCH];
 		struct journal_head *jh;
-		int retry = 0;
+		int retry = 0, err;
 
 		while (!retry && transaction->t_checkpoint_list) {
 			struct buffer_head *bh;
@@ -347,6 +362,8 @@ restart:
 				break;
 			}
 			retry = __process_buffer(journal, jh, bhs,&batch_count);
+			if (retry < 0 && !result)
+				result = retry;
 			if (!retry && (need_resched() ||
 				spin_needbreak(&journal->j_list_lock))) {
 				spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
@@ -371,14 +388,18 @@ restart:
 		 * Now we have cleaned up the first transaction's checkpoint
 		 * list. Let's clean up the second one
 		 */
-		__wait_cp_io(journal, transaction);
+		err = __wait_cp_io(journal, transaction);
+		if (!result)
+			result = err;
 	}
 out:
 	spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
-	result = cleanup_journal_tail(journal);
 	if (result < 0)
-		return result;
-	return 0;
+		journal_abort(journal, result);
+	else
+		result = cleanup_journal_tail(journal);
+
+	return (result < 0) ? result : 0;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -394,8 +415,9 @@ out:
  * This is the only part of the journaling code which really needs to be
  * aware of transaction aborts.  Checkpointing involves writing to the
  * main filesystem area rather than to the journal, so it can proceed
- * even in abort state, but we must not update the journal superblock if
- * we have an abort error outstanding.
+ * even in abort state, but we must not update the super block if
+ * checkpointing may have failed.  Otherwise, we would lose some metadata
+ * buffers which should be written-back to the filesystem.
  */
 
 int cleanup_journal_tail(journal_t *journal)
@@ -404,6 +426,9 @@ int cleanup_journal_tail(journal_t *journal)
 	tid_t		first_tid;
 	unsigned long	blocknr, freed;
 
+	if (is_journal_aborted(journal))
+		return 1;
+
 	/* OK, work out the oldest transaction remaining in the log, and
 	 * the log block it starts at.
 	 *
diff --git a/fs/jbd/journal.c b/fs/jbd/journal.c
index aa7143a8349b..9e4fa52d7dc8 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/journal.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/journal.c
@@ -1121,9 +1121,12 @@ recovery_error:
  *
  * Release a journal_t structure once it is no longer in use by the
  * journaled object.
+ * Return <0 if we couldn't clean up the journal.
  */
-void journal_destroy(journal_t *journal)
+int journal_destroy(journal_t *journal)
 {
+	int err = 0;
+
 	/* Wait for the commit thread to wake up and die. */
 	journal_kill_thread(journal);
 
@@ -1146,11 +1149,16 @@ void journal_destroy(journal_t *journal)
 	J_ASSERT(journal->j_checkpoint_transactions == NULL);
 	spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 
-	/* We can now mark the journal as empty. */
-	journal->j_tail = 0;
-	journal->j_tail_sequence = ++journal->j_transaction_sequence;
 	if (journal->j_sb_buffer) {
-		journal_update_superblock(journal, 1);
+		if (!is_journal_aborted(journal)) {
+			/* We can now mark the journal as empty. */
+			journal->j_tail = 0;
+			journal->j_tail_sequence =
+				++journal->j_transaction_sequence;
+			journal_update_superblock(journal, 1);
+		} else {
+			err = -EIO;
+		}
 		brelse(journal->j_sb_buffer);
 	}
 
@@ -1160,6 +1168,8 @@ void journal_destroy(journal_t *journal)
 		journal_destroy_revoke(journal);
 	kfree(journal->j_wbuf);
 	kfree(journal);
+
+	return err;
 }
 
 
@@ -1359,10 +1369,16 @@ int journal_flush(journal_t *journal)
 	spin_lock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 	while (!err && journal->j_checkpoint_transactions != NULL) {
 		spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
+		mutex_lock(&journal->j_checkpoint_mutex);
 		err = log_do_checkpoint(journal);
+		mutex_unlock(&journal->j_checkpoint_mutex);
 		spin_lock(&journal->j_list_lock);
 	}
 	spin_unlock(&journal->j_list_lock);
+
+	if (is_journal_aborted(journal))
+		return -EIO;
+
 	cleanup_journal_tail(journal);
 
 	/* Finally, mark the journal as really needing no recovery.
@@ -1384,7 +1400,7 @@ int journal_flush(journal_t *journal)
 	J_ASSERT(journal->j_head == journal->j_tail);
 	J_ASSERT(journal->j_tail_sequence == journal->j_transaction_sequence);
 	spin_unlock(&journal->j_state_lock);
-	return err;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/fs/jbd/recovery.c b/fs/jbd/recovery.c
index 43bc5e5ed064..db5e982c5ddf 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/recovery.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/recovery.c
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ do {									\
  */
 int journal_recover(journal_t *journal)
 {
-	int			err;
+	int			err, err2;
 	journal_superblock_t *	sb;
 
 	struct recovery_info	info;
@@ -261,7 +261,10 @@ int journal_recover(journal_t *journal)
 	journal->j_transaction_sequence = ++info.end_transaction;
 
 	journal_clear_revoke(journal);
-	sync_blockdev(journal->j_fs_dev);
+	err2 = sync_blockdev(journal->j_fs_dev);
+	if (!err)
+		err = err2;
+
 	return err;
 }
 
diff --git a/include/linux/jbd.h b/include/linux/jbd.h
index 35d4f6342fac..346e2b80be7d 100644
--- a/include/linux/jbd.h
+++ b/include/linux/jbd.h
@@ -911,7 +911,7 @@ extern int	   journal_set_features
 		   (journal_t *, unsigned long, unsigned long, unsigned long);
 extern int	   journal_create     (journal_t *);
 extern int	   journal_load       (journal_t *journal);
-extern void	   journal_destroy    (journal_t *);
+extern int	   journal_destroy    (journal_t *);
 extern int	   journal_recover    (journal_t *journal);
 extern int	   journal_wipe       (journal_t *, int);
 extern int	   journal_skip_recovery	(journal_t *);