diff --git a/revision.c b/revision.c
index 771d079f6e..29f82ccfe6 100644
--- a/revision.c
+++ b/revision.c
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ void mark_parents_uninteresting(struct commit *commit)
 			 * it is popped next time around, we won't be trying
 			 * to parse it and get an error.
 			 */
-			if (!has_object_file(&commit->object.oid))
+			if (!commit->object.parsed &&
+			    !has_object_file(&commit->object.oid))
 				commit->object.parsed = 1;
 
 			if (commit->object.flags & UNINTERESTING)