diff --git a/kernel/softirq.c b/kernel/softirq.c
index ed567babe789..47cb991c6ba4 100644
--- a/kernel/softirq.c
+++ b/kernel/softirq.c
@@ -195,21 +195,21 @@ void local_bh_enable_ip(unsigned long ip)
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(local_bh_enable_ip);
 
 /*
- * We restart softirq processing MAX_SOFTIRQ_RESTART times,
- * and we fall back to softirqd after that.
+ * We restart softirq processing for at most 2 ms,
+ * and if need_resched() is not set.
  *
- * This number has been established via experimentation.
+ * These limits have been established via experimentation.
  * The two things to balance is latency against fairness -
  * we want to handle softirqs as soon as possible, but they
  * should not be able to lock up the box.
  */
-#define MAX_SOFTIRQ_RESTART 10
+#define MAX_SOFTIRQ_TIME  msecs_to_jiffies(2)
 
 asmlinkage void __do_softirq(void)
 {
 	struct softirq_action *h;
 	__u32 pending;
-	int max_restart = MAX_SOFTIRQ_RESTART;
+	unsigned long end = jiffies + MAX_SOFTIRQ_TIME;
 	int cpu;
 	unsigned long old_flags = current->flags;
 
@@ -264,11 +264,12 @@ asmlinkage void __do_softirq(void)
 	local_irq_disable();
 
 	pending = local_softirq_pending();
-	if (pending && --max_restart)
-		goto restart;
+	if (pending) {
+		if (time_before(jiffies, end) && !need_resched())
+			goto restart;
 
-	if (pending)
 		wakeup_softirqd();
+	}
 
 	lockdep_softirq_exit();