diff --git a/include/linux/backing-dev.h b/include/linux/backing-dev.h
index b449e738533a6ad327eb9e9401488f96bf09791e..61e43a6f3141cf455d35703214ff9418e35771ce 100644
--- a/include/linux/backing-dev.h
+++ b/include/linux/backing-dev.h
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ void bdi_start_writeback(struct backing_dev_info *bdi, struct super_block *sb,
 				long nr_pages);
 int bdi_writeback_task(struct bdi_writeback *wb);
 int bdi_has_dirty_io(struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
+void bdi_arm_supers_timer(void);
 
 extern spinlock_t bdi_lock;
 extern struct list_head bdi_list;
diff --git a/mm/backing-dev.c b/mm/backing-dev.c
index 67a33a5a1a93846bda0ce57ee37fe8d39486f60a..d824401081317968c442feeb9546c57a1e5f8632 100644
--- a/mm/backing-dev.c
+++ b/mm/backing-dev.c
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ static struct timer_list sync_supers_timer;
 
 static int bdi_sync_supers(void *);
 static void sync_supers_timer_fn(unsigned long);
-static void arm_supers_timer(void);
 
 static void bdi_add_default_flusher_task(struct backing_dev_info *bdi);
 
@@ -242,7 +241,7 @@ static int __init default_bdi_init(void)
 
 	init_timer(&sync_supers_timer);
 	setup_timer(&sync_supers_timer, sync_supers_timer_fn, 0);
-	arm_supers_timer();
+	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
 
 	err = bdi_init(&default_backing_dev_info);
 	if (!err)
@@ -364,10 +363,13 @@ static int bdi_sync_supers(void *unused)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static void arm_supers_timer(void)
+void bdi_arm_supers_timer(void)
 {
 	unsigned long next;
 
+	if (!dirty_writeback_interval)
+		return;
+
 	next = msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_writeback_interval * 10) + jiffies;
 	mod_timer(&sync_supers_timer, round_jiffies_up(next));
 }
@@ -375,7 +377,7 @@ static void arm_supers_timer(void)
 static void sync_supers_timer_fn(unsigned long unused)
 {
 	wake_up_process(sync_supers_tsk);
-	arm_supers_timer();
+	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
 }
 
 static int bdi_forker_task(void *ptr)
@@ -418,7 +420,10 @@ static int bdi_forker_task(void *ptr)
 
 			spin_unlock_bh(&bdi_lock);
 			wait = msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_writeback_interval * 10);
-			schedule_timeout(wait);
+			if (wait)
+				schedule_timeout(wait);
+			else
+				schedule();
 			try_to_freeze();
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 2c5d79236ead88fe692eb97eb0f4ec6b0388753a..52f71aebfc01e3956641ccf2af935b4c5c807e58 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -694,6 +694,7 @@ int dirty_writeback_centisecs_handler(ctl_table *table, int write,
 	void __user *buffer, size_t *length, loff_t *ppos)
 {
 	proc_dointvec(table, write, buffer, length, ppos);
+	bdi_arm_supers_timer();
 	return 0;
 }