diff --git a/fs/ext4/balloc.c b/fs/ext4/balloc.c
index 9a50b8052dcf..de9459b4cb94 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/balloc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/balloc.c
@@ -609,7 +609,9 @@ int ext4_claim_free_blocks(struct ext4_sb_info *sbi,
  */
 int ext4_should_retry_alloc(struct super_block *sb, int *retries)
 {
-	if (!ext4_has_free_blocks(EXT4_SB(sb), 1) || (*retries)++ > 3)
+	if (!ext4_has_free_blocks(EXT4_SB(sb), 1) ||
+	    (*retries)++ > 3 ||
+	    !EXT4_SB(sb)->s_journal)
 		return 0;
 
 	jbd_debug(1, "%s: retrying operation after ENOSPC\n", sb->s_id);
diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
index 51cdd13e1c31..c7fed5b18745 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
@@ -2544,7 +2544,7 @@ retry:
 
 		ext4_journal_stop(handle);
 
-		if (mpd.retval == -ENOSPC) {
+		if ((mpd.retval == -ENOSPC) && sbi->s_journal) {
 			/* commit the transaction which would
 			 * free blocks released in the transaction
 			 * and try again