diff --git a/fs/ext3/super.c b/fs/ext3/super.c
index 5dbf4db..3ef2724 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/super.c
@@ -2361,6 +2361,21 @@
 
 	if (!sbh)
 		return error;
+
+	if (buffer_write_io_error(sbh)) {
+		/*
+		 * Oh, dear.  A previous attempt to write the
+		 * superblock failed.  This could happen because the
+		 * USB device was yanked out.  Or it could happen to
+		 * be a transient write error and maybe the block will
+		 * be remapped.  Nothing we can do but to retry the
+		 * write and hope for the best.
+		 */
+		ext3_msg(sb, KERN_ERR, "previous I/O error to "
+		       "superblock detected");
+		clear_buffer_write_io_error(sbh);
+		set_buffer_uptodate(sbh);
+	}
 	/*
 	 * If the file system is mounted read-only, don't update the
 	 * superblock write time.  This avoids updating the superblock
@@ -2377,8 +2392,15 @@
 	es->s_free_inodes_count = cpu_to_le32(ext3_count_free_inodes(sb));
 	BUFFER_TRACE(sbh, "marking dirty");
 	mark_buffer_dirty(sbh);
-	if (sync)
+	if (sync) {
 		error = sync_dirty_buffer(sbh);
+		if (buffer_write_io_error(sbh)) {
+			ext3_msg(sb, KERN_ERR, "I/O error while writing "
+			       "superblock");
+			clear_buffer_write_io_error(sbh);
+			set_buffer_uptodate(sbh);
+		}
+	}
 	return error;
 }
 
diff --git a/fs/jbd/journal.c b/fs/jbd/journal.c
index d7a8693..e561176 100644
--- a/fs/jbd/journal.c
+++ b/fs/jbd/journal.c
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
 
 static int journal_convert_superblock_v1(journal_t *, journal_superblock_t *);
 static void __journal_abort_soft (journal_t *journal, int errno);
+static const char *journal_dev_name(journal_t *journal, char *buffer);
 
 /*
  * Helper function used to manage commit timeouts
@@ -1011,6 +1012,23 @@
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	if (buffer_write_io_error(bh)) {
+		char b[BDEVNAME_SIZE];
+		/*
+		 * Oh, dear.  A previous attempt to write the journal
+		 * superblock failed.  This could happen because the
+		 * USB device was yanked out.  Or it could happen to
+		 * be a transient write error and maybe the block will
+		 * be remapped.  Nothing we can do but to retry the
+		 * write and hope for the best.
+		 */
+		printk(KERN_ERR "JBD: previous I/O error detected "
+		       "for journal superblock update for %s.\n",
+		       journal_dev_name(journal, b));
+		clear_buffer_write_io_error(bh);
+		set_buffer_uptodate(bh);
+	}
+
 	spin_lock(&journal->j_state_lock);
 	jbd_debug(1,"JBD: updating superblock (start %u, seq %d, errno %d)\n",
 		  journal->j_tail, journal->j_tail_sequence, journal->j_errno);
@@ -1022,9 +1040,17 @@
 
 	BUFFER_TRACE(bh, "marking dirty");
 	mark_buffer_dirty(bh);
-	if (wait)
+	if (wait) {
 		sync_dirty_buffer(bh);
-	else
+		if (buffer_write_io_error(bh)) {
+			char b[BDEVNAME_SIZE];
+			printk(KERN_ERR "JBD: I/O error detected "
+			       "when updating journal superblock for %s.\n",
+			       journal_dev_name(journal, b));
+			clear_buffer_write_io_error(bh);
+			set_buffer_uptodate(bh);
+		}
+	} else
 		write_dirty_buffer(bh, WRITE);
 
 out: