diff --git a/net/rds/send.c b/net/rds/send.c
index b9e41af..81471b2 100644
--- a/net/rds/send.c
+++ b/net/rds/send.c
@@ -53,14 +53,14 @@
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(send_batch_count, " batch factor when working the send queue");
 
 /*
- * Reset the send state. Caller must hold c_send_lock when calling here.
+ * Reset the send state.  Callers must ensure that this doesn't race with
+ * rds_send_xmit().
  */
 void rds_send_reset(struct rds_connection *conn)
 {
 	struct rds_message *rm, *tmp;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
-	spin_lock_irqsave(&conn->c_send_lock, flags);
 	if (conn->c_xmit_rm) {
 		rm = conn->c_xmit_rm;
 		conn->c_xmit_rm = NULL;
@@ -69,11 +69,7 @@
 		 * independently) but as the connection is down, there's
 		 * no ongoing RDMA to/from that memory */
 		rds_message_unmapped(rm);
-		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_send_lock, flags);
-
 		rds_message_put(rm);
-	} else {
-		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_send_lock, flags);
 	}
 
 	conn->c_xmit_sg = 0;
@@ -98,6 +94,25 @@
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_lock, flags);
 }
 
+static int acquire_in_xmit(struct rds_connection *conn)
+{
+	return test_and_set_bit(RDS_IN_XMIT, &conn->c_flags) == 0;
+}
+
+static void release_in_xmit(struct rds_connection *conn)
+{
+	clear_bit(RDS_IN_XMIT, &conn->c_flags);
+	smp_mb__after_clear_bit();
+	/*
+	 * We don't use wait_on_bit()/wake_up_bit() because our waking is in a
+	 * hot path and finding waiters is very rare.  We don't want to walk
+	 * the system-wide hashed waitqueue buckets in the fast path only to
+	 * almost never find waiters.
+	 */
+	if (waitqueue_active(&conn->c_waitq))
+		wake_up_all(&conn->c_waitq);
+}
+
 /*
  * We're making the concious trade-off here to only send one message
  * down the connection at a time.
@@ -119,12 +134,9 @@
 	unsigned int tmp;
 	struct scatterlist *sg;
 	int ret = 0;
-	int gen = 0;
 	LIST_HEAD(to_be_dropped);
 
 restart:
-	if (!rds_conn_up(conn))
-		goto out;
 
 	/*
 	 * sendmsg calls here after having queued its message on the send
@@ -133,18 +145,25 @@
 	 * avoids blocking the caller and trading per-connection data between
 	 * caches per message.
 	 */
-	if (!spin_trylock_irqsave(&conn->c_send_lock, flags)) {
+	if (!acquire_in_xmit(conn)) {
 		rds_stats_inc(s_send_lock_contention);
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		goto out;
 	}
-	atomic_inc(&conn->c_senders);
+
+	/*
+	 * rds_conn_shutdown() sets the conn state and then tests RDS_IN_XMIT,
+	 * we do the opposite to avoid races.
+	 */
+	if (!rds_conn_up(conn)) {
+		release_in_xmit(conn);
+		ret = 0;
+		goto out;
+	}
 
 	if (conn->c_trans->xmit_prepare)
 		conn->c_trans->xmit_prepare(conn);
 
-	gen = atomic_inc_return(&conn->c_send_generation);
-
 	/*
 	 * spin trying to push headers and data down the connection until
 	 * the connection doesn't make forward progress.
@@ -178,7 +197,7 @@
 		if (!rm) {
 			unsigned int len;
 
-			spin_lock(&conn->c_lock);
+			spin_lock_irqsave(&conn->c_lock, flags);
 
 			if (!list_empty(&conn->c_send_queue)) {
 				rm = list_entry(conn->c_send_queue.next,
@@ -193,7 +212,7 @@
 				list_move_tail(&rm->m_conn_item, &conn->c_retrans);
 			}
 
-			spin_unlock(&conn->c_lock);
+			spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_lock, flags);
 
 			if (!rm)
 				break;
@@ -207,10 +226,10 @@
 			 */
 			if (rm->rdma.op_active &&
 			    test_bit(RDS_MSG_RETRANSMITTED, &rm->m_flags)) {
-				spin_lock(&conn->c_lock);
+				spin_lock_irqsave(&conn->c_lock, flags);
 				if (test_and_clear_bit(RDS_MSG_ON_CONN, &rm->m_flags))
 					list_move(&rm->m_conn_item, &to_be_dropped);
-				spin_unlock(&conn->c_lock);
+				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_lock, flags);
 				continue;
 			}
 
@@ -336,19 +355,7 @@
 	if (conn->c_trans->xmit_complete)
 		conn->c_trans->xmit_complete(conn);
 
-	/*
-	 * We might be racing with another sender who queued a message but
-	 * backed off on noticing that we held the c_send_lock.  If we check
-	 * for queued messages after dropping the sem then either we'll
-	 * see the queued message or the queuer will get the sem.  If we
-	 * notice the queued message then we trigger an immediate retry.
-	 *
-	 * We need to be careful only to do this when we stopped processing
-	 * the send queue because it was empty.  It's the only way we
-	 * stop processing the loop when the transport hasn't taken
-	 * responsibility for forward progress.
-	 */
-	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&conn->c_send_lock, flags);
+	release_in_xmit(conn);
 
 	/* Nuke any messages we decided not to retransmit. */
 	if (!list_empty(&to_be_dropped)) {
@@ -358,13 +365,12 @@
 		rds_send_remove_from_sock(&to_be_dropped, RDS_RDMA_DROPPED);
 	}
 
-	atomic_dec(&conn->c_senders);
-
 	/*
-	 * Other senders will see we have c_send_lock and exit. We
-	 * need to recheck the send queue and race again for c_send_lock
-	 * to make sure messages don't just sit on the send queue, if
-	 * somebody hasn't already beat us into the loop.
+	 * Other senders can queue a message after we last test the send queue
+	 * but before we clear RDS_IN_XMIT.  In that case they'd back off and
+	 * not try and send their newly queued message.  We need to check the
+	 * send queue after having cleared RDS_IN_XMIT so that their message
+	 * doesn't get stuck on the send queue.
 	 *
 	 * If the transport cannot continue (i.e ret != 0), then it must
 	 * call us when more room is available, such as from the tx
@@ -374,9 +380,7 @@
 		smp_mb();
 		if (!list_empty(&conn->c_send_queue)) {
 			rds_stats_inc(s_send_lock_queue_raced);
-			if (gen == atomic_read(&conn->c_send_generation)) {
-				goto restart;
-			}
+			goto restart;
 		}
 	}
 out: