diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-thin-metadata.c b/drivers/md/dm-thin-metadata.c
index 7f0840601737f473dfde9bdb06de8fc4f639d264..4c68a7b93d5edab9192a3ce9c24fcdc79b7e1acf 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-thin-metadata.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-thin-metadata.c
@@ -2046,16 +2046,19 @@ int dm_pool_register_metadata_threshold(struct dm_pool_metadata *pmd,
 
 int dm_pool_metadata_set_needs_check(struct dm_pool_metadata *pmd)
 {
-	int r;
+	int r = -EINVAL;
 	struct dm_block *sblock;
 	struct thin_disk_superblock *disk_super;
 
 	pmd_write_lock(pmd);
+	if (pmd->fail_io)
+		goto out;
+
 	pmd->flags |= THIN_METADATA_NEEDS_CHECK_FLAG;
 
 	r = superblock_lock(pmd, &sblock);
 	if (r) {
-		DMERR("couldn't read superblock");
+		DMERR("couldn't lock superblock");
 		goto out;
 	}