diff --git a/fs/fs-writeback.c b/fs/fs-writeback.c
index 414df43706c7..71c158ac60a3 100644
--- a/fs/fs-writeback.c
+++ b/fs/fs-writeback.c
@@ -473,6 +473,8 @@ sync_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb, struct writeback_control *wbc)
 		if (wbc->nr_to_write <= 0)
 			break;
 	}
+	if (!list_empty(&sb->s_more_io))
+		wbc->more_io = 1;
 	return;		/* Leave any unwritten inodes on s_io */
 }
 
diff --git a/include/linux/writeback.h b/include/linux/writeback.h
index 52be879793ed..1200868a5dee 100644
--- a/include/linux/writeback.h
+++ b/include/linux/writeback.h
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ struct writeback_control {
 	unsigned for_reclaim:1;		/* Invoked from the page allocator */
 	unsigned for_writepages:1;	/* This is a writepages() call */
 	unsigned range_cyclic:1;	/* range_start is cyclic */
+	unsigned more_io:1;		/* more io to be dispatched */
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 334852131588..bcdbbf6c4a85 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -553,6 +553,7 @@ static void background_writeout(unsigned long _min_pages)
 			global_page_state(NR_UNSTABLE_NFS) < background_thresh
 				&& min_pages <= 0)
 			break;
+		wbc.more_io = 0;
 		wbc.encountered_congestion = 0;
 		wbc.nr_to_write = MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES;
 		wbc.pages_skipped = 0;
@@ -560,8 +561,9 @@ static void background_writeout(unsigned long _min_pages)
 		min_pages -= MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES - wbc.nr_to_write;
 		if (wbc.nr_to_write > 0 || wbc.pages_skipped > 0) {
 			/* Wrote less than expected */
-			congestion_wait(WRITE, HZ/10);
-			if (!wbc.encountered_congestion)
+			if (wbc.encountered_congestion || wbc.more_io)
+				congestion_wait(WRITE, HZ/10);
+			else
 				break;
 		}
 	}
@@ -626,11 +628,12 @@ static void wb_kupdate(unsigned long arg)
 			global_page_state(NR_UNSTABLE_NFS) +
 			(inodes_stat.nr_inodes - inodes_stat.nr_unused);
 	while (nr_to_write > 0) {
+		wbc.more_io = 0;
 		wbc.encountered_congestion = 0;
 		wbc.nr_to_write = MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES;
 		writeback_inodes(&wbc);
 		if (wbc.nr_to_write > 0) {
-			if (wbc.encountered_congestion)
+			if (wbc.encountered_congestion || wbc.more_io)
 				congestion_wait(WRITE, HZ/10);
 			else
 				break;	/* All the old data is written */