--- linux-2.4.20-ext3merge/fs/ext3/super.c.=K0012=.orig	2002-12-02 15:55:45.000000000 +0000
+++ linux-2.4.20-ext3merge/fs/ext3/super.c	2002-12-02 15:58:00.000000000 +0000
@@ -1627,7 +1627,12 @@
 	sb->s_dirt = 0;
 	target = log_start_commit(EXT3_SB(sb)->s_journal, NULL);
 
-	if (do_sync_supers) {
+	/*
+	 * Tricky --- if we are unmounting, the write really does need
+	 * to be synchronous.  We can detect that by looking for NULL in
+	 * sb->s_root.
+	 */
+	if (do_sync_supers || !sb->s_root) {
 		unlock_super(sb);
 		log_wait_commit(EXT3_SB(sb)->s_journal, target);
 		lock_super(sb);