diff -urN 2.4.10/fs/buffer.c highmem/fs/buffer.c
--- 2.4.10/fs/buffer.c	Sun Sep 23 21:11:39 2001
+++ highmem/fs/buffer.c	Fri Sep 28 01:48:22 2001
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@
 	do {
 		struct buffer_head * bh = *array++;
 		bh->b_end_io = end_buffer_io_sync;
+		clear_bit(BH_Pending_IO, &bh->b_state);
 		submit_bh(WRITE, bh);
 	} while (--count);
 }
@@ -222,6 +223,7 @@
 		if (atomic_set_buffer_clean(bh)) {
 			__refile_buffer(bh);
 			get_bh(bh);
+			set_bit(BH_Pending_IO, &bh->b_state);
 			array[count++] = bh;
 			if (count < NRSYNC)
 				continue;
@@ -2516,7 +2518,9 @@
 	int tryagain = 1;
 
 	do {
-		if (buffer_dirty(p) || buffer_locked(p)) {
+		if (unlikely(buffer_pending_IO(p)))
+			tryagain = 0;
+		else if (buffer_dirty(p) || buffer_locked(p)) {
 			if (test_and_set_bit(BH_Wait_IO, &p->b_state)) {
 				if (buffer_dirty(p)) {
 					ll_rw_block(WRITE, 1, &p);
diff -urN 2.4.10/include/linux/fs.h highmem/include/linux/fs.h
--- 2.4.10/include/linux/fs.h	Sun Sep 23 21:11:42 2001
+++ highmem/include/linux/fs.h	Fri Sep 28 01:47:51 2001
@@ -217,6 +217,7 @@
 	BH_New,		/* 1 if the buffer is new and not yet written out */
 	BH_Async,	/* 1 if the buffer is under end_buffer_io_async I/O */
 	BH_Wait_IO,	/* 1 if we should throttle on this buffer */
+	BH_Pending_IO,	/* 1 if the buffer is locked but not in the I/O queue yet */
 
 	BH_PrivateStart,/* not a state bit, but the first bit available
 			 * for private allocation by other entities
@@ -277,6 +278,7 @@
 #define buffer_mapped(bh)	__buffer_state(bh,Mapped)
 #define buffer_new(bh)		__buffer_state(bh,New)
 #define buffer_async(bh)	__buffer_state(bh,Async)
+#define buffer_pending_IO(bh)	__buffer_state(bh,Pending_IO)
 
 #define bh_offset(bh)		((unsigned long)(bh)->b_data & ~PAGE_MASK)