diff --git a/sys/dev/ata/ata-all.h b/sys/dev/ata/ata-all.h
index 1b98e0407389..436182495cd0 100644
--- a/sys/dev/ata/ata-all.h
+++ b/sys/dev/ata/ata-all.h
@@ -372,6 +372,8 @@ struct ata_request {
 #define         ATA_R_DIRECT            0x00001000
 
 #define         ATA_R_DEBUG             0x10000000
+#define         ATA_R_DANGER1           0x20000000
+#define         ATA_R_DANGER2           0x40000000
 
     u_int8_t                    status;         /* ATA status */
     u_int8_t                    error;          /* ATA error */
@@ -569,8 +571,10 @@ int ata_generic_command(struct ata_request *request);
 /* macros for alloc/free of struct ata_request */
 extern uma_zone_t ata_request_zone;
 #define ata_alloc_request() uma_zalloc(ata_request_zone, M_NOWAIT | M_ZERO)
-#define ata_free_request(request) uma_zfree(ata_request_zone, request)
-
+#define ata_free_request(request) { \
+	if (!(request->flags & ATA_R_DANGER2)) \
+	    uma_zfree(ata_request_zone, request); \
+	}
 /* macros for alloc/free of struct ata_composite */
 extern uma_zone_t ata_composite_zone;
 #define ata_alloc_composite() uma_zalloc(ata_composite_zone, M_NOWAIT | M_ZERO)
diff --git a/sys/dev/ata/ata-queue.c b/sys/dev/ata/ata-queue.c
index 036b0081f9ab..5de54ffadc9e 100644
--- a/sys/dev/ata/ata-queue.c
+++ b/sys/dev/ata/ata-queue.c
@@ -95,12 +95,14 @@ ata_queue_request(struct ata_request *request)
     /* if this is not a callback wait until request is completed */
     if (!request->callback) {
 	ATA_DEBUG_RQ(request, "wait for completition");
-	while (!dumping &&
-	       sema_timedwait(&request->done, request->timeout * hz * 4)) {
+	if (!dumping &&
+	    sema_timedwait(&request->done, request->timeout * hz * 4)) {
 	    device_printf(request->dev,
-		"req=%p %s semaphore timeout !! DANGER Will Robinson !!\n",
-		      request, ata_cmd2str(request));
-	    ata_start(ch->dev);
+			  "WARNING - %s taskqueue timeout "
+			  "- completing request directly\n",
+			  ata_cmd2str(request));
+	    request->flags |= ATA_R_DANGER1;
+	    ata_completed(request, 0);
 	}
 	sema_destroy(&request->done);
     }
@@ -252,6 +254,17 @@ ata_completed(void *context, int dummy)
     struct ata_device *atadev = device_get_softc(request->dev);
     struct ata_composite *composite;
 
+    if (request->flags & ATA_R_DANGER2) {
+	device_printf(request->dev,
+		      "WARNING - %s freeing taskqueue zombie request\n",
+		      ata_cmd2str(request));
+	request->flags &= ~(ATA_R_DANGER1 | ATA_R_DANGER2);
+	ata_free_request(request);
+	return;
+    }
+    if (request->flags & ATA_R_DANGER1)
+	request->flags |= ATA_R_DANGER2
+
     ATA_DEBUG_RQ(request, "completed entered");
 
     /* if we had a timeout, reinit channel and deal with the falldown */