diff --git a/drivers/md/raid5.c b/drivers/md/raid5.c
index 214dcca0d7f826..4195064460d0eb 100644
--- a/drivers/md/raid5.c
+++ b/drivers/md/raid5.c
@@ -2513,6 +2513,7 @@ static void error(struct mddev *mddev, struct md_rdev *rdev)
 	set_bit(Blocked, &rdev->flags);
 	set_bit(Faulty, &rdev->flags);
 	set_bit(MD_CHANGE_DEVS, &mddev->flags);
+	set_bit(MD_CHANGE_PENDING, &mddev->flags);
 	printk(KERN_ALERT
 	       "md/raid:%s: Disk failure on %s, disabling device.\n"
 	       "md/raid:%s: Operation continuing on %d devices.\n",
@@ -4601,7 +4602,15 @@ static void handle_stripe(struct stripe_head *sh)
 			md_wakeup_thread(conf->mddev->thread);
 	}
 
-	return_io(&s.return_bi);
+	if (!bio_list_empty(&s.return_bi)) {
+		if (test_bit(MD_CHANGE_PENDING, &conf->mddev->flags)) {
+			spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
+			bio_list_merge(&conf->return_bi, &s.return_bi);
+			spin_unlock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
+			md_wakeup_thread(conf->mddev->thread);
+		} else
+			return_io(&s.return_bi);
+	}
 
 	clear_bit_unlock(STRIPE_ACTIVE, &sh->state);
 }
@@ -5817,6 +5826,18 @@ static void raid5d(struct md_thread *thread)
 
 	md_check_recovery(mddev);
 
+	if (!bio_list_empty(&conf->return_bi) &&
+	    !test_bit(MD_CHANGE_PENDING, &mddev->flags)) {
+		struct bio_list tmp = BIO_EMPTY_LIST;
+		spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
+		if (!test_bit(MD_CHANGE_PENDING, &mddev->flags)) {
+			bio_list_merge(&tmp, &conf->return_bi);
+			bio_list_init(&conf->return_bi);
+		}
+		spin_unlock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
+		return_io(&tmp);
+	}
+
 	blk_start_plug(&plug);
 	handled = 0;
 	spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
@@ -6476,6 +6497,7 @@ static struct r5conf *setup_conf(struct mddev *mddev)
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&conf->hold_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&conf->delayed_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&conf->bitmap_list);
+	bio_list_init(&conf->return_bi);
 	init_llist_head(&conf->released_stripes);
 	atomic_set(&conf->active_stripes, 0);
 	atomic_set(&conf->preread_active_stripes, 0);
diff --git a/drivers/md/raid5.h b/drivers/md/raid5.h
index 1de82a6e4c23c8..828c2925e68f33 100644
--- a/drivers/md/raid5.h
+++ b/drivers/md/raid5.h
@@ -476,6 +476,9 @@ struct r5conf {
 	int			skip_copy; /* Don't copy data from bio to stripe cache */
 	struct list_head	*last_hold; /* detect hold_list promotions */
 
+	/* bios to have bi_end_io called after metadata is synced */
+	struct bio_list		return_bi;
+
 	atomic_t		reshape_stripes; /* stripes with pending writes for reshape */
 	/* unfortunately we need two cache names as we temporarily have
 	 * two caches.