diff -urN ext2-3/fs/ext2/ialloc.c ext2-4/fs/ext2/ialloc.c
--- ext2-3/fs/ext2/ialloc.c	Fri Dec  1 10:40:41 2000
+++ ext2-4/fs/ext2/ialloc.c	Fri Dec  1 11:00:19 2000
@@ -88,44 +88,39 @@
 static int load_inode_bitmap (struct super_block * sb,
 			      unsigned int block_group)
 {
-	int i, j, retval = 0;
+	int i, j, retval = 0, slot = 0;
 	unsigned long inode_bitmap_number;
-	struct buffer_head * inode_bitmap;
 	struct ext2_sb_info *sbi = &sb->u.ext2_sb;
+	struct buffer_head *bh = sbi->s_inode_bitmap[0];
 
 	if (block_group >= sbi->s_groups_count)
 		ext2_panic (sb, "load_inode_bitmap",
 			    "block_group >= groups_count - "
 			    "block_group = %d, groups_count = %lu",
 			     block_group, sbi->s_groups_count);
+
 	if (sbi->s_loaded_inode_bitmaps > 0 &&
-	    sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[0] == block_group &&
-	    sbi->s_inode_bitmap[0] != NULL)
-		return 0;
+	    sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[0] == block_group && bh)
+		goto found;
+
 	if (sbi->s_groups_count <= EXT2_MAX_GROUP_LOADED) {
-		if (sbi->s_inode_bitmap[block_group]) {
-			if (sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[block_group] != block_group)
-				ext2_panic (sb, "load_inode_bitmap",
-					    "block_group != inode_bitmap_number");
-			else
-				return block_group;
-		} else {
-			retval = read_inode_bitmap (sb, block_group,
-						    block_group);
-			if (retval < 0)
-				return retval;
-			return block_group;
-		}
+		slot = block_group;
+		bh = sbi->s_inode_bitmap[slot];
+		if (!bh)
+			goto read_it;
+		if (sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[slot] == slot)
+			goto found;
+		ext2_panic (sb, "load_inode_bitmap",
+			    "block_group != inode_bitmap_number");
 	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < sbi->s_loaded_inode_bitmaps &&
 		    sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[i] != block_group;
 	     i++)
 		;
-	if (i < sbi->s_loaded_inode_bitmaps &&
-  	    sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[i] == block_group) {
+	if (i < sbi->s_loaded_inode_bitmaps) {
 		inode_bitmap_number = sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[i];
-		inode_bitmap = sbi->s_inode_bitmap[i];
+		bh = sbi->s_inode_bitmap[i];
 		for (j = i; j > 0; j--) {
 			sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[j] =
 				sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[j - 1];
@@ -133,15 +128,15 @@
 				sbi->s_inode_bitmap[j - 1];
 		}
 		sbi->s_inode_bitmap_number[0] = inode_bitmap_number;
-		sbi->s_inode_bitmap[0] = inode_bitmap;
+		sbi->s_inode_bitmap[0] = bh;
 
 		/*
 		 * There's still one special case here --- if inode_bitmap == 0
 		 * then our last attempt to read the bitmap failed and we have
 		 * just ended up caching that failure.  Try again to read it.
 		 */
-		if (!inode_bitmap)
-			retval = read_inode_bitmap (sb, block_group, 0);
+		if (bh)
+			goto found;
 		
 	} else {
 		if (sbi->s_loaded_inode_bitmaps < EXT2_MAX_GROUP_LOADED)
@@ -154,9 +149,14 @@
 			sbi->s_inode_bitmap[j] =
 				sbi->s_inode_bitmap[j - 1];
 		}
-		retval = read_inode_bitmap (sb, block_group, 0);
 	}
-	return retval;
+
+read_it:
+	retval = read_inode_bitmap (sb, block_group, slot);
+	if (retval < 0)
+		return retval;
+found:
+	return slot;
 }
 
 /*