diff --git a/e2fsck/unix.c b/e2fsck/unix.c
index 94260bd..73aa028 100644
--- a/e2fsck/unix.c
+++ b/e2fsck/unix.c
@@ -1424,10 +1424,6 @@ failure:
 		fprintf(ctx->logf, "Filesystem UUID: %s\n",
 			e2p_uuid2str(sb->s_uuid));
 
-	if ((ctx->mount_flags & EXT2_MF_MOUNTED) &&
-	    !(sb->s_feature_incompat & EXT3_FEATURE_INCOMPAT_RECOVER))
-		goto skip_journal;
-
 	/*
 	 * Make sure the ext3 superblock fields are consistent.
 	 */
@@ -1439,6 +1435,10 @@ failure:
 		fatal_error(ctx, 0);
 	}
 
+	if ((ctx->mount_flags & EXT2_MF_MOUNTED) &&
+	    !(sb->s_feature_incompat & EXT3_FEATURE_INCOMPAT_RECOVER))
+		goto skip_journal;
+
 	/*
 	 * Check to see if we need to do ext3-style recovery.  If so,
 	 * do it, and then restart the fsck.