Index: linux-2.6.16-rc2/mm/mempolicy.c
===================================================================
--- linux-2.6.16-rc2.orig/mm/mempolicy.c	2006-02-02 22:03:08.000000000 -0800
+++ linux-2.6.16-rc2/mm/mempolicy.c	2006-02-08 07:55:29.000000000 -0800
@@ -143,8 +143,12 @@ static struct zonelist *bind_zonelist(no
 	if (!zl)
 		return NULL;
 	num = 0;
-	for_each_node_mask(nd, *nodes)
-		zl->zones[num++] = &NODE_DATA(nd)->node_zones[policy_zone];
+	for_each_node_mask(nd, *nodes) {
+		struct zone *zone = &NODE_DATA(nd)->node_zones[policy_zone];
+
+		if (zone->present_pages)
+			zl->zones[num++] = &NODE_DATA(nd)->node_zones[policy_zone];
+	}
 	zl->zones[num] = NULL;
 	return zl;
 }