diff --git a/fs/ext3/super.c b/fs/ext3/super.c
index acf8695fa8f..04169318e6b 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/super.c
@@ -2290,7 +2290,7 @@ static int ext3_load_journal(struct super_block *sb,
 	EXT3_SB(sb)->s_journal = journal;
 	ext3_clear_journal_err(sb, es);
 
-	if (journal_devnum &&
+	if (!really_read_only && journal_devnum &&
 	    journal_devnum != le32_to_cpu(es->s_journal_dev)) {
 		es->s_journal_dev = cpu_to_le32(journal_devnum);