diff --git a/fs/reiserfs/super.c b/fs/reiserfs/super.c
index 1215a4f50cd2d0c37e5fa3829b4fe95dbc8d0d86..3567fb9e3fb12140988c8909b48e607edd45c98d 100644
--- a/fs/reiserfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/reiserfs/super.c
@@ -448,13 +448,11 @@ int remove_save_link(struct inode *inode, int truncate)
 static void reiserfs_kill_sb(struct super_block *s)
 {
 	if (REISERFS_SB(s)) {
-#ifdef CONFIG_REISERFS_FS_XATTR
 		if (REISERFS_SB(s)->xattr_root) {
 			d_invalidate(REISERFS_SB(s)->xattr_root);
 			dput(REISERFS_SB(s)->xattr_root);
 			REISERFS_SB(s)->xattr_root = NULL;
 		}
-#endif
 		if (REISERFS_SB(s)->priv_root) {
 			d_invalidate(REISERFS_SB(s)->priv_root);
 			dput(REISERFS_SB(s)->priv_root);
diff --git a/fs/reiserfs/xattr.c b/fs/reiserfs/xattr.c
index cf949646dd574136f0d61dc7eff1387b7e2d0a96..628075ca82c1672170e719ec31b46bf72399bf60 100644
--- a/fs/reiserfs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/reiserfs/xattr.c
@@ -123,7 +123,9 @@ static struct dentry *open_xa_root(struct super_block *sb, int flags)
 	mutex_lock_nested(&privroot->d_inode->i_mutex, I_MUTEX_XATTR);
 
 	xaroot = dget(REISERFS_SB(sb)->xattr_root);
-	if (!xaroot->d_inode) {
+	if (!xaroot)
+		xaroot = ERR_PTR(-ENODATA);
+	else if (!xaroot->d_inode) {
 		int err = -ENODATA;
 		if (xattr_may_create(flags))
 			err = xattr_mkdir(privroot->d_inode, xaroot, 0700);