diff -urN 2.4.17pre6/drivers/block/loop.c loop-deadlock/drivers/block/loop.c
--- 2.4.17pre6/drivers/block/loop.c	Thu Dec  6 20:07:33 2001
+++ loop-deadlock/drivers/block/loop.c	Sun Dec  9 17:07:25 2001
@@ -578,6 +578,8 @@
 	atomic_inc(&lo->lo_pending);
 	spin_unlock_irq(&lo->lo_lock);
 
+	current->flags |= PF_NOIO;
+
 	/*
 	 * up sem, we are running
 	 */
diff -urN 2.4.17pre6/fs/buffer.c loop-deadlock/fs/buffer.c
--- 2.4.17pre6/fs/buffer.c	Sat Dec  8 12:34:34 2001
+++ loop-deadlock/fs/buffer.c	Sun Dec  9 17:07:25 2001
@@ -1045,7 +1045,7 @@
 
 	/* First, check for the "real" dirty limit. */
 	if (dirty > soft_dirty_limit) {
-		if (dirty > hard_dirty_limit)
+		if (dirty > hard_dirty_limit && !(current->flags & PF_NOIO))
 			return 1;
 		return 0;
 	}
diff -urN 2.4.17pre6/include/linux/sched.h loop-deadlock/include/linux/sched.h
--- 2.4.17pre6/include/linux/sched.h	Fri Nov 23 08:21:04 2001
+++ loop-deadlock/include/linux/sched.h	Sun Dec  9 17:07:49 2001
@@ -426,6 +426,7 @@
 #define PF_MEMALLOC	0x00000800	/* Allocating memory */
 #define PF_MEMDIE	0x00001000	/* Killed for out-of-memory */
 #define PF_FREE_PAGES	0x00002000	/* per process page freeing */
+#define PF_NOIO		0x00004000	/* avoid generating further I/O */
 
 #define PF_USEDFPU	0x00100000	/* task used FPU this quantum (SMP) */