diff --git a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_actlog.c b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_actlog.c
index 3fbef018ce55..ec9b10cd65dd 100644
--- a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_actlog.c
+++ b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_actlog.c
@@ -82,22 +82,19 @@ void drbd_md_put_buffer(struct drbd_conf *mdev)
 		wake_up(&mdev->misc_wait);
 }
 
-static bool md_io_allowed(struct drbd_conf *mdev)
-{
-	enum drbd_disk_state ds = mdev->state.disk;
-	return ds >= D_NEGOTIATING || ds == D_ATTACHING;
-}
-
-void wait_until_done_or_disk_failure(struct drbd_conf *mdev, struct drbd_backing_dev *bdev,
+void wait_until_done_or_force_detached(struct drbd_conf *mdev, struct drbd_backing_dev *bdev,
 				     unsigned int *done)
 {
 	long dt = bdev->dc.disk_timeout * HZ / 10;
 	if (dt == 0)
 		dt = MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT;
 
-	dt = wait_event_timeout(mdev->misc_wait, *done || !md_io_allowed(mdev), dt);
-	if (dt == 0)
+	dt = wait_event_timeout(mdev->misc_wait,
+			*done || test_bit(FORCE_DETACH, &mdev->flags), dt);
+	if (dt == 0) {
 		dev_err(DEV, "meta-data IO operation timed out\n");
+		drbd_chk_io_error(mdev, 1, DRBD_FORCE_DETACH);
+	}
 }
 
 static int _drbd_md_sync_page_io(struct drbd_conf *mdev,
@@ -137,7 +134,7 @@ static int _drbd_md_sync_page_io(struct drbd_conf *mdev,
 		bio_endio(bio, -EIO);
 	else
 		submit_bio(rw, bio);
-	wait_until_done_or_disk_failure(mdev, bdev, &mdev->md_io.done);
+	wait_until_done_or_force_detached(mdev, bdev, &mdev->md_io.done);
 	ok = bio_flagged(bio, BIO_UPTODATE) && mdev->md_io.error == 0;
 
  out:
diff --git a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_bitmap.c b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_bitmap.c
index dda4e384929e..8d8069758042 100644
--- a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_bitmap.c
+++ b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_bitmap.c
@@ -1090,7 +1090,7 @@ static int bm_rw(struct drbd_conf *mdev, int rw, unsigned flags, unsigned lazy_w
 	 * "in_flight reached zero, all done" event.
 	 */
 	if (!atomic_dec_and_test(&ctx->in_flight))
-		wait_until_done_or_disk_failure(mdev, mdev->ldev, &ctx->done);
+		wait_until_done_or_force_detached(mdev, mdev->ldev, &ctx->done);
 	else
 		kref_put(&ctx->kref, &bm_aio_ctx_destroy);
 
@@ -1105,7 +1105,7 @@ static int bm_rw(struct drbd_conf *mdev, int rw, unsigned flags, unsigned lazy_w
 	}
 
 	if (atomic_read(&ctx->in_flight))
-		err = -EIO; /* Disk failed during IO... */
+		err = -EIO; /* Disk timeout/force-detach during IO... */
 
 	now = jiffies;
 	if (rw == WRITE) {
@@ -1224,11 +1224,11 @@ int drbd_bm_write_page(struct drbd_conf *mdev, unsigned int idx) __must_hold(loc
 	}
 
 	bm_page_io_async(ctx, idx, WRITE_SYNC);
-	wait_until_done_or_disk_failure(mdev, mdev->ldev, &ctx->done);
+	wait_until_done_or_force_detached(mdev, mdev->ldev, &ctx->done);
 
 	if (ctx->error)
 		drbd_chk_io_error(mdev, 1, DRBD_META_IO_ERROR);
-		/* that should force detach, so the in memory bitmap will be
+		/* that causes us to detach, so the in memory bitmap will be
 		 * gone in a moment as well. */
 
 	mdev->bm_writ_cnt++;
diff --git a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_int.h b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_int.h
index 557dd5a2c0cc..619a4944feea 100644
--- a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_int.h
+++ b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_int.h
@@ -1581,8 +1581,8 @@ extern void *drbd_md_get_buffer(struct drbd_conf *mdev);
 extern void drbd_md_put_buffer(struct drbd_conf *mdev);
 extern int drbd_md_sync_page_io(struct drbd_conf *mdev,
 				struct drbd_backing_dev *bdev, sector_t sector, int rw);
-extern void wait_until_done_or_disk_failure(struct drbd_conf *mdev, struct drbd_backing_dev *bdev,
-					    unsigned int *done);
+extern void wait_until_done_or_force_detached(struct drbd_conf *mdev,
+		struct drbd_backing_dev *bdev, unsigned int *done);
 extern void drbd_ov_oos_found(struct drbd_conf*, sector_t, int);
 extern void drbd_rs_controller_reset(struct drbd_conf *mdev);