diff -urNp linux-11000/fs/buffer.c linux-11001/fs/buffer.c
--- linux-11000/fs/buffer.c	
+++ linux-11001/fs/buffer.c	
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ static void __refile_buffer(struct buffe
 /* This is used by some architectures to estimate available memory. */
 atomic_t buffermem_pages = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
 
+static unsigned long bdflush_needs_waking;
+static struct timer_list bdflush_timer;
+
 /* Here is the parameter block for the bdflush process. If you add or
  * remove any of the parameters, make sure to update kernel/sysctl.c
  * and the documentation at linux/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt.
@@ -2819,7 +2822,16 @@ DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD(bdflush_wait);
 
 void wakeup_bdflush(void)
 {
-	wake_up_interruptible(&bdflush_wait);
+	/* only do something if a wakup isn't already scheduled */
+	if (!test_and_set_bit(0, &bdflush_needs_waking)) {
+		/* schedule a timer 20 msec from now for bdflush to wake up */
+		mod_timer(&bdflush_timer, jiffies + HZ/50);
+		/* 	
+		 * do a non-preempting bdflush wakeup as well so that if the system has
+		 * idle time bdflush runs then
+		 */
+		wake_up_interruptible_sync(&bdflush_wait);
+	}
 }
 
 /* 
@@ -2911,6 +2923,15 @@ asmlinkage long sys_bdflush(int func, lo
 	return 0;
 }
 
+
+static void bdflush_timeout(unsigned long unused)
+{
+	if (test_and_clear_bit(0,&bdflush_needs_waking)) 
+		wake_up_interruptible(&bdflush_wait);
+}
+        
+
+
 /*
  * This is the actual bdflush daemon itself. It used to be started from
  * the syscall above, but now we launch it ourselves internally with
@@ -2937,6 +2958,15 @@ int bdflush(void *startup)
 	spin_unlock_irq(&tsk->sig->siglock);
 
 	complete((struct completion *)startup);
+	
+	/* 
+	 * set up the timer 
+	 */
+	init_timer(&bdflush_timer);
+	bdflush_timer.function = bdflush_timeout;
+	bdflush_timer.expires = jiffies + HZ/50;
+	add_timer(&bdflush_timer);
+                                                                	 
 
 	/*
 	 * FIXME: The ndirty logic here is wrong.  It's supposed to
@@ -2953,6 +2983,9 @@ int bdflush(void *startup)
 
 		CHECK_EMERGENCY_SYNC
 
+		del_timer(&bdflush_timer);		
+		clear_bit(0, &bdflush_needs_waking);
+
 		while (ndirty > 0) {
 			spin_lock(&lru_list_lock);
 			if (!write_some_buffers(NODEV))