diff -r dc213d745642 linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/vbd.c
--- a/linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/vbd.c	Mon May 15 16:32:09 2006 +0100
+++ b/linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/vbd.c	Mon May 15 11:49:39 2006 -0600
@@ -66,9 +66,10 @@ int vbd_create(blkif_t *blkif, blkif_vde
 	vbd->bdev = open_by_devnum(
 		vbd->pdevice,
 		vbd->readonly ? FMODE_READ : FMODE_WRITE);
+
 	if (IS_ERR(vbd->bdev)) {
-		DPRINTK("vbd_creat: device %08x doesn't exist.\n",
-			vbd->pdevice);
+		DPRINTK("vbd_creat: device %08x could not be opened.\n",
+		vbd->bdev = NULL;
 		return -ENOENT;
 	}
 
diff -r dc213d745642 linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/xenbus.c
--- a/linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/xenbus.c	Mon May 15 16:32:09 2006 +0100
+++ b/linux-2.6-xen-sparse/drivers/xen/blkback/xenbus.c	Mon May 15 11:49:39 2006 -0600
@@ -305,6 +305,9 @@ static void connect(struct backend_info 
 
 	DPRINTK("%s", dev->otherend);
 
+        if (be->blkif->vbd.bdev == NULL)
+               return;
+
 	/* Supply the information about the device the frontend needs */
 again:
 	err = xenbus_transaction_start(&xbt);