diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
index dbc5784..431201b 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
@@ -1956,7 +1956,7 @@ static int __ext4_journalled_writepage(struct page *page,
 	struct buffer_head *page_bufs = NULL;
 	handle_t *handle = NULL;
 	int ret = 0;
-	int err;
+	int err = 0;
 	struct buffer_head *inode_bh = NULL;
 
 	ClearPageChecked(page);
@@ -1987,8 +1987,7 @@ static int __ext4_journalled_writepage(struct page *page,
 		ret = ext4_journal_get_write_access(handle, inode_bh);
 
 		err = ext4_handle_dirty_metadata(handle, inode, inode_bh);
-
-	} else {
+	} else if (page_bufs) {
 		ret = ext4_walk_page_buffers(handle, page_bufs, 0, len, NULL,
 					     do_journal_get_write_access);