diff --git a/kernel/mutex.c b/kernel/mutex.c
index ff42e97..5d79781 100644
--- a/kernel/mutex.c
+++ b/kernel/mutex.c
@@ -171,12 +171,6 @@
 		struct thread_info *owner;
 
 		/*
-		 * If there are pending waiters, join them.
-		 */
-		if (!list_empty(&lock->wait_list))
-			break;
-
-		/*
 		 * If there's an owner, wait for it to either
 		 * release the lock or go to sleep.
 		 */
@@ -184,6 +178,13 @@
 		if (owner && !mutex_spin_on_owner(lock, owner))
 			break;
 
+		if (atomic_cmpxchg(&lock->count, 1, 0) == 1) {
+			lock_acquired(&lock->dep_map, ip);
+			mutex_set_owner(lock);
+			preempt_enable();
+			return 0;
+		}
+
 		/*
 		 * When there's no owner, we might have preempted between the
 		 * owner acquiring the lock and setting the owner field. If
@@ -193,13 +194,6 @@
 		if (!owner && (need_resched() || rt_task(task)))
 			break;
 
-		if (atomic_cmpxchg(&lock->count, 1, 0) == 1) {
-			lock_acquired(&lock->dep_map, ip);
-			mutex_set_owner(lock);
-			preempt_enable();
-			return 0;
-		}
-
 		/*
 		 * The cpu_relax() call is a compiler barrier which forces
 		 * everything in this loop to be re-loaded. We don't need