diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/lib3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/lib3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp
index 0c086a78c..c2dfbeb47 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/lib3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/lib3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp
@@ -391,7 +391,9 @@ osg::GeoSet*   ReaderWriter3DS::createGeoSet(Lib3dsMesh *m,FaceList& faceList)
         // normalize the normal list to unit length normals.
         for (i=0; i<noVertex; ++i)
         {
-            osg_normals[i].normalize();
+//            osg_normals[i].normalize();
+            float len = osg_normals[i].length();
+            if (len) osg_normals[i]/=len;
         }
 
         geoset->setNormals(osg_normals,osg_indices);
diff --git a/src/osgUtil/SmoothingVisitor.cpp b/src/osgUtil/SmoothingVisitor.cpp
index e43e6b135..87f476a7e 100644
--- a/src/osgUtil/SmoothingVisitor.cpp
+++ b/src/osgUtil/SmoothingVisitor.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@ void SmoothingVisitor::smooth(osg::GeoSet& gset)
 
         for(j = 0; j < ncoords; j++ )
         {
-            norms[j].normalize();
+            float len = norms[j].length();
+            if (len) norms[j]/=len;
         }
 
         gset.setNormalBinding(osg::GeoSet::BIND_PERVERTEX);