diff --git a/minix/fs/mfs/super.c b/minix/fs/mfs/super.c
index 32d30fdad..92fca4bd8 100644
--- a/minix/fs/mfs/super.c
+++ b/minix/fs/mfs/super.c
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ static int rw_super(struct super_block *sp, int writing)
   dev_t save_dev = sp->s_dev;
   struct buf *bp;
   char *sbbuf;
+  int r;
 
 /* To keep the 1kb on disk clean, only read/write up to and including
  * this field.
@@ -202,8 +203,18 @@ static int rw_super(struct super_block *sp, int writing)
   assert(lmfs_fs_block_size() >= sizeof(struct super_block) + SUPER_BLOCK_BYTES);
   assert(SUPER_BLOCK_BYTES >= sizeof(struct super_block));
   assert(SUPER_BLOCK_BYTES >= ondisk_bytes);
-  if(!(bp = get_block(sp->s_dev, 0, NORMAL)))
-  	panic("get_block of superblock failed");
+
+  /* Unlike accessing any other block, failure to read the superblock is a
+   * somewhat legitimate use case: it may happen when trying to mount a
+   * zero-sized partition.  In that case, we'd rather faily cleanly than
+   * crash the MFS service.
+   */
+  if ((r = lmfs_get_block(&bp, sp->s_dev, 0, NORMAL)) != OK) {
+	if (writing)
+		panic("get_block of superblock failed: %d", r);
+	else
+		return r;
+  }
 
   /* sbbuf points to the disk block at the superblock offset */
   sbbuf = (char *) b_data(bp) + SUPER_BLOCK_BYTES;
diff --git a/minix/lib/libminixfs/cache.c b/minix/lib/libminixfs/cache.c
index f562f56bb..d022709c7 100644
--- a/minix/lib/libminixfs/cache.c
+++ b/minix/lib/libminixfs/cache.c
@@ -758,8 +758,13 @@ static int read_block(struct buf *bp, size_t block_size)
 	r = bdev_read(dev, pos, bp->data, block_size, BDEV_NOFLAGS);
   }
   if (r != (ssize_t)block_size) {
-	printf("fs cache: I/O error on device %d/%d, block %"PRIu64" (%zd)\n",
-	    major(dev), minor(dev), bp->lmfs_blocknr, r);
+	/* Aesthetics: do not report EOF errors on superblock reads, because
+	 * this is a fairly common occurrence, e.g. during system installation.
+	 */
+	if (bp->lmfs_blocknr != 0 /*first block*/ || r != 0 /*EOF*/)
+		printf("fs cache: I/O error on device %d/%d, block %"PRIu64
+		    " (%zd)\n", major(dev), minor(dev), bp->lmfs_blocknr, r);
+
 	if (r >= 0)
 		r = EIO; /* TODO: retry retrieving (just) the remaining part */