diff --git a/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus.go b/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus.go
index 67a2a955c2..7e37c54dbd 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus.go
@@ -562,8 +562,11 @@ func getTime(r *http.Request, argKey string, defaultValue int64) (int64, error)
 		secs = float64(t.UnixNano()) / 1e9
 	}
 	msecs := int64(secs * 1e3)
-	if msecs < minTimeMsecs || msecs > maxTimeMsecs {
-		return 0, fmt.Errorf("%q=%dms is out of allowed range [%d ... %d]", argKey, msecs, minTimeMsecs, maxTimeMsecs)
+	if msecs < minTimeMsecs {
+		msecs = 0
+	}
+	if msecs > maxTimeMsecs {
+		msecs = maxTimeMsecs
 	}
 	return msecs, nil
 }
@@ -577,7 +580,7 @@ var (
 
 const (
 	// These values prevent from overflow when storing msec-precision time in int64.
-	minTimeMsecs = int64(-1<<63) / 1e6
+	minTimeMsecs = 0 // use 0 instead of `int64(-1<<63) / 1e6` because the storage engine doesn't actually support negative time
 	maxTimeMsecs = int64(1<<63-1) / 1e6
 )
 
diff --git a/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus_test.go b/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus_test.go
index 0717dc535d..3bdf42d8f5 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus_test.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/prometheus/prometheus_test.go
@@ -37,10 +37,12 @@ func TestGetTimeSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 
 	f("2019-07-07T20:01:02Z", 1562529662000)
 	f("2019-07-07T20:47:40+03:00", 1562521660000)
-	f("-292273086-05-16T16:47:06Z", -9223372036854)
-	f("292277025-08-18T07:12:54.999999999Z", 9223372036854)
+	f("-292273086-05-16T16:47:06Z", minTimeMsecs)
+	f("292277025-08-18T07:12:54.999999999Z", maxTimeMsecs)
 	f("1562529662.324", 1562529662324)
-	f("-9223372036.854", -9223372036854)
+	f("-9223372036.854", minTimeMsecs)
+	f("-9223372036.855", minTimeMsecs)
+	f("9223372036.855", maxTimeMsecs)
 }
 
 func TestGetTimeError(t *testing.T) {
@@ -73,6 +75,4 @@ func TestGetTimeError(t *testing.T) {
 	f("2019-07-07T20:47:40+03:00123")
 	f("-292273086-05-16T16:47:07Z")
 	f("292277025-08-18T07:12:54.999999998Z")
-	f("-9223372036.855")
-	f("9223372036.855")
 }