diff --git a/fs/buffer.c b/fs/buffer.c
index 71649ef..3b6d701 100644
--- a/fs/buffer.c
+++ b/fs/buffer.c
@@ -2987,6 +2987,7 @@
 
 	spin_lock(&mapping->private_lock);
 	ret = drop_buffers(page, &buffers_to_free);
+	spin_unlock(&mapping->private_lock);
 	if (ret) {
 		/*
 		 * If the filesystem writes its buffers by hand (eg ext3)
@@ -2998,7 +2999,6 @@
 		 */
 		clear_page_dirty(page);
 	}
-	spin_unlock(&mapping->private_lock);
 out:
 	if (buffers_to_free) {
 		struct buffer_head *bh = buffers_to_free;