diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index db226c73d8..a8e8dba7dc 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -2046,7 +2046,7 @@ func SplitTagsFlag(tagsFlag string) map[string]string {
 }
 
 // MakeChainDatabase open an LevelDB using the flags passed to the client and will hard crash if it fails.
-func MakeChainDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) ethdb.Database {
+func MakeChainDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool, nofreeze bool) ethdb.Database {
 	var (
 		cache   = ctx.Int(CacheFlag.Name) * ctx.Int(CacheDatabaseFlag.Name) / 100
 		handles = MakeDatabaseHandles(ctx.Int(FDLimitFlag.Name))
@@ -2064,6 +2064,8 @@ func MakeChainDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) ethdb.
 		chainDb = remotedb.New(client)
 	case ctx.String(SyncModeFlag.Name) == "light":
 		chainDb, err = stack.OpenDatabase("lightchaindata", cache, handles, "", readonly)
+	case nofreeze:
+		chainDb, err = stack.OpenDatabase("chaindata", cache, handles, "", readonly)
 	default:
 		chainDb, err = stack.OpenDatabaseWithFreezer("chaindata", cache, handles, ctx.String(AncientFlag.Name), "", readonly)
 	}
@@ -2082,7 +2084,7 @@ func tryMakeReadOnlyDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node) ethdb.Database
 	if rawdb.PreexistingDatabase(stack.ResolvePath("chaindata")) == "" {
 		readonly = false
 	}
-	return MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, readonly)
+	return MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, readonly, true)
 }
 
 func IsNetworkPreset(ctx *cli.Context) bool {
@@ -2140,7 +2142,7 @@ func MakeGenesis(ctx *cli.Context) *core.Genesis {
 func MakeChain(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) (*core.BlockChain, ethdb.Database) {
 	var (
 		gspec   = MakeGenesis(ctx)
-		chainDb = MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, readonly)
+		chainDb = MakeChainDatabase(ctx, stack, readonly, false)
 	)
 	config, err := core.LoadChainConfig(chainDb, gspec)
 	if err != nil {