diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
index 4d3740fdff90f558fbb3aff096a5efc70ec8e209..9e06334771a394fb0cb60615a22af507b19c25d9 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
@@ -4185,7 +4185,22 @@ ext4_mb_normalize_request(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac,
 	}
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
-	if (start + size <= ac->ac_o_ex.fe_logical &&
+	/*
+	 * In this function "start" and "size" are normalized for better
+	 * alignment and length such that we could preallocate more blocks.
+	 * This normalization is done such that original request of
+	 * ac->ac_o_ex.fe_logical & fe_len should always lie within "start" and
+	 * "size" boundaries.
+	 * (Note fe_len can be relaxed since FS block allocation API does not
+	 * provide gurantee on number of contiguous blocks allocation since that
+	 * depends upon free space left, etc).
+	 * In case of inode pa, later we use the allocated blocks
+	 * [pa_start + fe_logical - pa_lstart, fe_len/size] from the preallocated
+	 * range of goal/best blocks [start, size] to put it at the
+	 * ac_o_ex.fe_logical extent of this inode.
+	 * (See ext4_mb_use_inode_pa() for more details)
+	 */
+	if (start + size <= ac->ac_o_ex.fe_logical ||
 			start > ac->ac_o_ex.fe_logical) {
 		ext4_msg(ac->ac_sb, KERN_ERR,
 			 "start %lu, size %lu, fe_logical %lu",