return 0;
                }
 
+               if (unlikely((*bmc & COUNTER_MAX) == COUNTER_MAX)) {
+                       DEFINE_WAIT(__wait);
+                       /* note that it is safe to do the prepare_to_wait
+                        * after the test as long as we do it before dropping
+                        * the spinlock.
+                        */
+                       prepare_to_wait(&bitmap->overflow_wait, &__wait,
+                                       TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
+                       spin_unlock_irq(&bitmap->lock);
+                       bitmap->mddev->queue
+                               ->unplug_fn(bitmap->mddev->queue);
+                       schedule();
+                       finish_wait(&bitmap->overflow_wait, &__wait);
+                       continue;
+               }
+
                switch(*bmc) {
                case 0:
                        bitmap_file_set_bit(bitmap, offset);
                case 1:
                        *bmc = 2;
                }
-               BUG_ON((*bmc & COUNTER_MAX) == COUNTER_MAX);
+
                (*bmc)++;
 
                spin_unlock_irq(&bitmap->lock);
                if (!success && ! (*bmc & NEEDED_MASK))
                        *bmc |= NEEDED_MASK;
 
+               if ((*bmc & COUNTER_MAX) == COUNTER_MAX)
+                       wake_up(&bitmap->overflow_wait);
+
                (*bmc)--;
                if (*bmc <= 2) {
                        set_page_attr(bitmap,
        spin_lock_init(&bitmap->lock);
        atomic_set(&bitmap->pending_writes, 0);
        init_waitqueue_head(&bitmap->write_wait);
+       init_waitqueue_head(&bitmap->overflow_wait);
 
        bitmap->mddev = mddev;