diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/buffer_head_io.c b/fs/ocfs2/buffer_head_io.c
index 7bfe377af2df..733ceda79ca1 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/buffer_head_io.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/buffer_head_io.c
@@ -66,12 +66,14 @@ int ocfs2_write_block(struct ocfs2_super *osb, struct buffer_head *bh,
 
 	wait_on_buffer(bh);
 
-	if (buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
+	if (!buffer_write_io_error(bh)) {
 		ocfs2_set_buffer_uptodate(ci, bh);
 	} else {
-		/* We don't need to remove the clustered uptodate
-		 * information for this bh as it's not marked locally
-		 * uptodate. */
+		/*
+		 * The buffer still holds what we tried to write, but it did
+		 * not reach the disk, so don't advertise it to the cluster
+		 * as up to date.
+		 */
 		ret = -EIO;
 		mlog_errno(ret);
 	}
@@ -446,7 +448,7 @@ int ocfs2_write_super_or_backup(struct ocfs2_super *osb,
 
 	wait_on_buffer(bh);
 
-	if (!buffer_uptodate(bh)) {
+	if (buffer_write_io_error(bh)) {
 		ret = -EIO;
 		mlog_errno(ret);
 	}