diff --git a/common/btrfs b/common/btrfs
index c09206c6..79c687f7 100644
--- a/common/btrfs
+++ b/common/btrfs
@@ -356,3 +356,14 @@ _btrfs_compression_algos()
 		echo "${feature#/sys/fs/btrfs/features/compress_}"
 	done
 }
+
+# run btrfs balance start with required --full-balance if available.
+_run_btrfs_balance_start()
+{
+	local bal_opt=""
+
+	$BTRFS_UTIL_PROG balance start --help | grep -q "full-balance"
+	(( $? == 0 )) && bal_opt="--full-balance"
+
+	run_check $BTRFS_UTIL_PROG balance start $bal_opt $*
+}
diff --git a/tests/btrfs/124 b/tests/btrfs/124
index a6486270..94c35fe1 100755
--- a/tests/btrfs/124
+++ b/tests/btrfs/124
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ _run_btrfs_util_prog device scan
 _scratch_mount >> $seqres.full 2>&1
 _run_btrfs_util_prog filesystem show
 echo >> $seqres.full
-_run_btrfs_util_prog balance start ${SCRATCH_MNT}
+_run_btrfs_balance_start ${SCRATCH_MNT}
 
 checkpoint2=`md5sum $SCRATCH_MNT/tf2`
 echo $checkpoint2 >> $seqres.full 2>&1