diff --git a/src/core.c b/src/core.c
index 9b3cb61a..1b52e233 100644
--- a/src/core.c
+++ b/src/core.c
@@ -14383,8 +14383,12 @@ __cold static int __must_check_result override_meta(MDBX_env *env,
   if (unlikely(MDBX_IS_ERROR(rc)))
     return MDBX_PROBLEM;
 
-  if (shape && memcmp(model, shape, sizeof(MDBX_meta)) == 0)
+  if (shape && memcmp(model, shape, sizeof(MDBX_meta)) == 0) {
+    NOTICE("skip overriding meta-%zu since no changes "
+           "for txnid #%" PRIaTXN,
+           target, txnid);
     return MDBX_SUCCESS;
+  }
 
   if (env->me_flags & MDBX_WRITEMAP) {
 #if MDBX_ENABLE_PGOP_STAT
@@ -14438,14 +14442,16 @@ __cold int mdbx_env_turn_for_recovery(MDBX_env *env, unsigned target) {
                MDBX_EXCLUSIVE))
     return MDBX_EPERM;
 
-  const MDBX_meta *target_meta = METAPAGE(env, target);
-  txnid_t new_txnid = safe64_txnid_next(constmeta_txnid(target_meta));
-  for (size_t n = 0; n < NUM_METAS; ++n) {
+  const MDBX_meta *const target_meta = METAPAGE(env, target);
+  txnid_t new_txnid = constmeta_txnid(target_meta);
+  if (new_txnid < MIN_TXNID)
+    new_txnid = MIN_TXNID;
+  for (unsigned n = 0; n < NUM_METAS; ++n) {
     if (n == target)
       continue;
-    MDBX_meta meta = *METAPAGE(env, n);
-    if (validate_meta(env, &meta, pgno2page(env, n), (pgno_t)n, nullptr) !=
-        MDBX_SUCCESS) {
+    MDBX_page *const page = pgno2page(env, n);
+    MDBX_meta meta = *page_meta(page);
+    if (validate_meta(env, &meta, page, n, nullptr) != MDBX_SUCCESS) {
       int err = override_meta(env, n, 0, nullptr);
       if (unlikely(err != MDBX_SUCCESS))
         return err;