diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
index 4912d624ca3d..886e661a218f 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
@@ -417,9 +417,13 @@ static noinline int update_ref_for_cow(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 					       &refs, &flags);
 		if (ret)
 			return ret;
-		if (refs == 0) {
-			ret = -EROFS;
-			btrfs_handle_fs_error(fs_info, ret, NULL);
+		if (unlikely(refs == 0)) {
+			btrfs_crit(fs_info,
+		"found 0 references for tree block at bytenr %llu level %d root %llu",
+				   buf->start, btrfs_header_level(buf),
+				   btrfs_root_id(root));
+			ret = -EUCLEAN;
+			btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
 			return ret;
 		}
 	} else {