diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 8beb19c3bb44..477eb2e180c0 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -8140,7 +8140,8 @@ static int md_notify_reboot(struct notifier_block *this,
 
 	for_each_mddev(mddev, tmp) {
 		if (mddev_trylock(mddev)) {
-			__md_stop_writes(mddev);
+			if (mddev->pers)
+				__md_stop_writes(mddev);
 			mddev->safemode = 2;
 			mddev_unlock(mddev);
 		}