diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/qxl/qxl_cmd.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/qxl/qxl_cmd.c
index 08b0823c93d5..f86771481317 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/qxl/qxl_cmd.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/qxl/qxl_cmd.c
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ int qxl_alloc_bo_reserved(struct qxl_device *qdev, unsigned long size,
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int wait_for_io_cmd_user(struct qxl_device *qdev, uint8_t val, long port)
+static int wait_for_io_cmd_user(struct qxl_device *qdev, uint8_t val, long port, bool intr)
 {
 	int irq_num;
 	long addr = qdev->io_base + port;
@@ -285,20 +285,29 @@ static int wait_for_io_cmd_user(struct qxl_device *qdev, uint8_t val, long port)
 
 	mutex_lock(&qdev->async_io_mutex);
 	irq_num = atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd);
-
-
 	if (qdev->last_sent_io_cmd > irq_num) {
-		ret = wait_event_interruptible(qdev->io_cmd_event,
-					       atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num);
-		if (ret)
+		if (intr)
+			ret = wait_event_interruptible_timeout(qdev->io_cmd_event,
+							       atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num, 5*HZ);
+		else
+			ret = wait_event_timeout(qdev->io_cmd_event,
+						 atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num, 5*HZ);
+		/* 0 is timeout, just bail the "hw" has gone away */
+		if (ret <= 0)
 			goto out;
 		irq_num = atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd);
 	}
 	outb(val, addr);
 	qdev->last_sent_io_cmd = irq_num + 1;
-	ret = wait_event_interruptible(qdev->io_cmd_event,
-				       atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num);
+	if (intr)
+		ret = wait_event_interruptible_timeout(qdev->io_cmd_event,
+						       atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num, 5*HZ);
+	else
+		ret = wait_event_timeout(qdev->io_cmd_event,
+					 atomic_read(&qdev->irq_received_io_cmd) > irq_num, 5*HZ);
 out:
+	if (ret > 0)
+		ret = 0;
 	mutex_unlock(&qdev->async_io_mutex);
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -308,7 +317,7 @@ static void wait_for_io_cmd(struct qxl_device *qdev, uint8_t val, long port)
 	int ret;
 
 restart:
-	ret = wait_for_io_cmd_user(qdev, val, port);
+	ret = wait_for_io_cmd_user(qdev, val, port, false);
 	if (ret == -ERESTARTSYS)
 		goto restart;
 }
@@ -340,7 +349,7 @@ int qxl_io_update_area(struct qxl_device *qdev, struct qxl_bo *surf,
 	mutex_lock(&qdev->update_area_mutex);
 	qdev->ram_header->update_area = *area;
 	qdev->ram_header->update_surface = surface_id;
-	ret = wait_for_io_cmd_user(qdev, 0, QXL_IO_UPDATE_AREA_ASYNC);
+	ret = wait_for_io_cmd_user(qdev, 0, QXL_IO_UPDATE_AREA_ASYNC, true);
 	mutex_unlock(&qdev->update_area_mutex);
 	return ret;
 }