diff --git a/fs/ext3/ialloc.c b/fs/ext3/ialloc.c
index 5c866e0..adae962 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/ialloc.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/ialloc.c
@@ -525,8 +525,12 @@
 	if (IS_DIRSYNC(inode))
 		handle->h_sync = 1;
 	if (insert_inode_locked(inode) < 0) {
-		err = -EINVAL;
-		goto fail_drop;
+		/*
+		 * Likely a bitmap corruption causing inode to be allocated
+		 * twice.
+		 */
+		err = -EIO;
+		goto fail;
 	}
 	spin_lock(&sbi->s_next_gen_lock);
 	inode->i_generation = sbi->s_next_generation++;