diff --git a/fs/buffer.c b/fs/buffer.c
index 4d7433534f5c..6024877335ca 100644
--- a/fs/buffer.c
+++ b/fs/buffer.c
@@ -1005,9 +1005,19 @@ grow_dev_page(struct block_device *bdev, sector_t block,
 	struct buffer_head *bh;
 	sector_t end_block;
 	int ret = 0;		/* Will call free_more_memory() */
+	gfp_t gfp_mask;
 
-	page = find_or_create_page(inode->i_mapping, index,
-		(mapping_gfp_mask(inode->i_mapping) & ~__GFP_FS)|__GFP_MOVABLE);
+	gfp_mask = mapping_gfp_mask(inode->i_mapping) & ~__GFP_FS;
+	gfp_mask |= __GFP_MOVABLE;
+	/*
+	 * XXX: __getblk_slow() can not really deal with failure and
+	 * will endlessly loop on improvised global reclaim.  Prefer
+	 * looping in the allocator rather than here, at least that
+	 * code knows what it's doing.
+	 */
+	gfp_mask |= __GFP_NOFAIL;
+
+	page = find_or_create_page(inode->i_mapping, index, gfp_mask);
 	if (!page)
 		return ret;
 
diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 65fc6a449841..34d3ca9572d6 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -2766,6 +2766,8 @@ static int __mem_cgroup_try_charge(struct mm_struct *mm,
 	return 0;
 nomem:
 	*ptr = NULL;
+	if (gfp_mask & __GFP_NOFAIL)
+		return 0;
 	return -ENOMEM;
 bypass:
 	*ptr = root_mem_cgroup;