diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/namei.c b/fs/ocfs2/namei.c
index d8161a7..2412647 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/namei.c
@@ -641,11 +641,6 @@
 		goto bail;
 	}
 
-	if (inode->i_nlink >= OCFS2_LINK_MAX) {
-		err = -EMLINK;
-		goto bail;
-	}
-
 	handle = ocfs2_alloc_handle(osb);
 	if (handle == NULL) {
 		err = -ENOMEM;
@@ -659,6 +654,11 @@
 		goto bail;
 	}
 
+	if (!dir->i_nlink) {
+		err = -ENOENT;
+		goto bail;
+	}
+
 	err = ocfs2_check_dir_for_entry(dir, dentry->d_name.name,
 					dentry->d_name.len);
 	if (err)