diff --git a/common/rc b/common/rc
index fe6bbfcb..5cb1fe22 100644
--- a/common/rc
+++ b/common/rc
@@ -276,6 +276,10 @@ _scratch_mount_options()
 _scratch_mount()
 {
     _mount -t $FSTYP `_scratch_mount_options $*`
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+	echo "mount failed"
+	exit 1
+    fi
 }
 
 _scratch_unmount()