diff --git a/src/os/FileJournal.cc b/src/os/FileJournal.cc
index e510e28adb1..d6ddc7fa212 100644
--- a/src/os/FileJournal.cc
+++ b/src/os/FileJournal.cc
@@ -103,12 +103,14 @@ int FileJournal::_open(bool forwrite, bool create)
     goto out_fd;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBAIO
-  aio_ctx = 0;
-  ret = io_setup(128, &aio_ctx);
-  if (ret < 0) {
-    ret = errno;
-    derr << "FileJournal::_open: unable to setup io_context " << cpp_strerror(ret) << dendl;
-    goto out_fd;
+  if (aio) {
+    aio_ctx = 0;
+    ret = io_setup(128, &aio_ctx);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      ret = errno;
+      derr << "FileJournal::_open: unable to setup io_context " << cpp_strerror(ret) << dendl;
+      goto out_fd;
+    }
   }
 #endif
 
@@ -605,7 +607,8 @@ void FileJournal::start_writer()
   write_stop = false;
   write_thread.create();
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBAIO
-  write_finish_thread.create();
+  if (aio)
+    write_finish_thread.create();
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -614,19 +617,25 @@ void FileJournal::stop_writer()
   {
     Mutex::Locker l(write_lock);
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBAIO
-    Mutex::Locker q(aio_lock);
+    if (aio)
+      aio_lock.Lock();
 #endif
     Mutex::Locker p(writeq_lock);
     write_stop = true;
     writeq_cond.Signal();
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBAIO
-    aio_cond.Signal();
-    write_finish_cond.Signal();
+    if (aio) {
+      aio_cond.Signal();
+      write_finish_cond.Signal();
+      aio_lock.Unlock();
+    }
 #endif
   } 
   write_thread.join();
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBAIO
-  write_finish_thread.join();
+  if (aio) {
+    write_finish_thread.join();
+  }
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -650,6 +659,13 @@ int FileJournal::read_header()
   buffer::ptr bp = buffer::create_page_aligned(block_size);
   bp.zero();
   int r = ::pread(fd, bp.c_str(), bp.length(), 0);
+
+  if (r < 0) {
+    int err = errno;
+    dout(0) << "read_header got " << cpp_strerror(err) << dendl;
+    return -err;
+  }
+
   bl.push_back(bp);
 
   try {
@@ -661,11 +677,6 @@ int FileJournal::read_header()
     return -EINVAL;
   }
 
-  if (r < 0) {
-    int err = errno;
-    dout(0) << "read_header got " << cpp_strerror(err) << dendl;
-    return -err;
-  }
   
   /*
    * Unfortunately we weren't initializing the flags field for new