diff --git a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
index 282ca08..c0861e7 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
@@ -64,6 +64,51 @@
 };
 
 /*
+ * btrfs_start_workers uses kthread_run, which can block waiting for memory
+ * for a very long time.  It will actually throttle on page writeback,
+ * and so it may not make progress until after our btrfs worker threads
+ * process all of the pending work structs in their queue
+ *
+ * This means we can't use btrfs_start_workers from inside a btrfs worker
+ * thread that is used as part of cleaning dirty memory, which pretty much
+ * involves all of the worker threads.
+ *
+ * Instead we have a helper queue who never has more than one thread
+ * where we scheduler thread start operations.  This worker_start struct
+ * is used to contain the work and hold a pointer to the queue that needs
+ * another worker.
+ */
+struct worker_start {
+	struct btrfs_work work;
+	struct btrfs_workers *queue;
+};
+
+static void start_new_worker_func(struct btrfs_work *work)
+{
+	struct worker_start *start;
+	start = container_of(work, struct worker_start, work);
+	btrfs_start_workers(start->queue, 1);
+	kfree(start);
+}
+
+static int start_new_worker(struct btrfs_workers *queue)
+{
+	struct worker_start *start;
+	int ret;
+
+	start = kzalloc(sizeof(*start), GFP_NOFS);
+	if (!start)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
+	start->work.func = start_new_worker_func;
+	start->queue = queue;
+	ret = btrfs_queue_worker(queue->atomic_worker_start, &start->work);
+	if (ret)
+		kfree(start);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+/*
  * helper function to move a thread onto the idle list after it
  * has finished some requests.
  */
@@ -118,11 +163,13 @@
 		goto out;
 
 	workers->atomic_start_pending = 0;
-	if (workers->num_workers >= workers->max_workers)
+	if (workers->num_workers + workers->num_workers_starting >=
+	    workers->max_workers)
 		goto out;
 
+	workers->num_workers_starting += 1;
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&workers->lock, flags);
-	btrfs_start_workers(workers, 1);
+	start_new_worker(workers);
 	return;
 
 out:
@@ -390,9 +437,11 @@
 /*
  * simple init on struct btrfs_workers
  */
-void btrfs_init_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, char *name, int max)
+void btrfs_init_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, char *name, int max,
+			struct btrfs_workers *async_helper)
 {
 	workers->num_workers = 0;
+	workers->num_workers_starting = 0;
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&workers->worker_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&workers->idle_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&workers->order_list);
@@ -404,14 +453,15 @@
 	workers->name = name;
 	workers->ordered = 0;
 	workers->atomic_start_pending = 0;
-	workers->atomic_worker_start = 0;
+	workers->atomic_worker_start = async_helper;
 }
 
 /*
  * starts new worker threads.  This does not enforce the max worker
  * count in case you need to temporarily go past it.
  */
-int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, int num_workers)
+static int __btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers,
+				 int num_workers)
 {
 	struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker;
 	int ret = 0;
@@ -444,6 +494,8 @@
 		list_add_tail(&worker->worker_list, &workers->idle_list);
 		worker->idle = 1;
 		workers->num_workers++;
+		workers->num_workers_starting--;
+		WARN_ON(workers->num_workers_starting < 0);
 		spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
 	}
 	return 0;
@@ -452,6 +504,14 @@
 	return ret;
 }
 
+int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, int num_workers)
+{
+	spin_lock_irq(&workers->lock);
+	workers->num_workers_starting += num_workers;
+	spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
+	return __btrfs_start_workers(workers, num_workers);
+}
+
 /*
  * run through the list and find a worker thread that doesn't have a lot
  * to do right now.  This can return null if we aren't yet at the thread
@@ -461,7 +521,10 @@
 {
 	struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker;
 	struct list_head *next;
-	int enforce_min = workers->num_workers < workers->max_workers;
+	int enforce_min;
+
+	enforce_min = (workers->num_workers + workers->num_workers_starting) <
+		workers->max_workers;
 
 	/*
 	 * if we find an idle thread, don't move it to the end of the
@@ -509,15 +572,17 @@
 	worker = next_worker(workers);
 
 	if (!worker) {
-		if (workers->num_workers >= workers->max_workers) {
+		if (workers->num_workers + workers->num_workers_starting >=
+		    workers->max_workers) {
 			goto fallback;
 		} else if (workers->atomic_worker_start) {
 			workers->atomic_start_pending = 1;
 			goto fallback;
 		} else {
+			workers->num_workers_starting++;
 			spin_unlock_irqrestore(&workers->lock, flags);
 			/* we're below the limit, start another worker */
-			btrfs_start_workers(workers, 1);
+			__btrfs_start_workers(workers, 1);
 			goto again;
 		}
 	}