--- a/fs/ext3/balloc.c~a
+++ a/fs/ext3/balloc.c
@@ -1581,6 +1581,8 @@ retry_alloc:
 		gdp = ext3_get_group_desc(sb, group_no, &gdp_bh);
 		if (!gdp)
 			goto io_error;
+		if (!gdp->bg_free_blocks_count)
+			continue;
 		free_blocks = le16_to_cpu(gdp->bg_free_blocks_count);
 		/*
 		 * skip this group if the number of