diff --git a/fs/cifs/connect.c b/fs/cifs/connect.c
index a521c705b0d7a..a3e4811b7871e 100644
--- a/fs/cifs/connect.c
+++ b/fs/cifs/connect.c
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ extern bool disable_legacy_dialects;
 #define TLINK_IDLE_EXPIRE	(600 * HZ)
 
 /* Drop the connection to not overload the server */
-#define NUM_STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT   5
+#define MAX_STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT   5
 
 struct mount_ctx {
 	struct cifs_sb_info *cifs_sb;
@@ -965,6 +965,7 @@ cifs_demultiplex_thread(void *p)
 	struct mid_q_entry *mids[MAX_COMPOUND];
 	char *bufs[MAX_COMPOUND];
 	unsigned int noreclaim_flag, num_io_timeout = 0;
+	bool pending_reconnect = false;
 
 	noreclaim_flag = memalloc_noreclaim_save();
 	cifs_dbg(FYI, "Demultiplex PID: %d\n", task_pid_nr(current));
@@ -1004,6 +1005,8 @@ cifs_demultiplex_thread(void *p)
 		cifs_dbg(FYI, "RFC1002 header 0x%x\n", pdu_length);
 		if (!is_smb_response(server, buf[0]))
 			continue;
+
+		pending_reconnect = false;
 next_pdu:
 		server->pdu_size = pdu_length;
 
@@ -1063,10 +1066,13 @@ cifs_demultiplex_thread(void *p)
 		if (server->ops->is_status_io_timeout &&
 		    server->ops->is_status_io_timeout(buf)) {
 			num_io_timeout++;
-			if (num_io_timeout > NUM_STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT) {
-				cifs_reconnect(server);
+			if (num_io_timeout > MAX_STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT) {
+				cifs_server_dbg(VFS,
+						"Number of request timeouts exceeded %d. Reconnecting",
+						MAX_STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT);
+
+				pending_reconnect = true;
 				num_io_timeout = 0;
-				continue;
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -1113,6 +1119,11 @@ cifs_demultiplex_thread(void *p)
 			buf = server->smallbuf;
 			goto next_pdu;
 		}
+
+		/* do this reconnect at the very end after processing all MIDs */
+		if (pending_reconnect)
+			cifs_reconnect(server);
+
 	} /* end while !EXITING */
 
 	/* buffer usually freed in free_mid - need to free it here on exit */