diff --git a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
index 7ec1409..af8e117 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.c
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@
 	int idle;
 };
 
+static int __btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers);
+
 /*
  * btrfs_start_workers uses kthread_run, which can block waiting for memory
  * for a very long time.  It will actually throttle on page writeback,
@@ -88,27 +90,10 @@
 {
 	struct worker_start *start;
 	start = container_of(work, struct worker_start, work);
-	btrfs_start_workers(start->queue, 1);
+	__btrfs_start_workers(start->queue);
 	kfree(start);
 }
 
-static int start_new_worker(struct btrfs_workers *queue)
-{
-	struct worker_start *start;
-	int ret;
-
-	start = kzalloc(sizeof(*start), GFP_NOFS);
-	if (!start)
-		return -ENOMEM;
-
-	start->work.func = start_new_worker_func;
-	start->queue = queue;
-	ret = btrfs_queue_worker(queue->atomic_worker_start, &start->work);
-	if (ret)
-		kfree(start);
-	return ret;
-}
-
 /*
  * helper function to move a thread onto the idle list after it
  * has finished some requests.
@@ -153,12 +138,20 @@
 static void check_pending_worker_creates(struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker)
 {
 	struct btrfs_workers *workers = worker->workers;
+	struct worker_start *start;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
 	rmb();
 	if (!workers->atomic_start_pending)
 		return;
 
+	start = kzalloc(sizeof(*start), GFP_NOFS);
+	if (!start)
+		return;
+
+	start->work.func = start_new_worker_func;
+	start->queue = workers;
+
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&workers->lock, flags);
 	if (!workers->atomic_start_pending)
 		goto out;
@@ -170,10 +163,11 @@
 
 	workers->num_workers_starting += 1;
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&workers->lock, flags);
-	start_new_worker(workers);
+	btrfs_queue_worker(workers->atomic_worker_start, &start->work);
 	return;
 
 out:
+	kfree(start);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&workers->lock, flags);
 }
 
@@ -462,56 +456,55 @@
  * starts new worker threads.  This does not enforce the max worker
  * count in case you need to temporarily go past it.
  */
-static int __btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers,
-				 int num_workers)
+static int __btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers)
 {
 	struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker;
 	int ret = 0;
-	int i;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
-		worker = kzalloc(sizeof(*worker), GFP_NOFS);
-		if (!worker) {
-			ret = -ENOMEM;
-			goto fail;
-		}
-
-		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->pending);
-		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->prio_pending);
-		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->worker_list);
-		spin_lock_init(&worker->lock);
-
-		atomic_set(&worker->num_pending, 0);
-		atomic_set(&worker->refs, 1);
-		worker->workers = workers;
-		worker->task = kthread_run(worker_loop, worker,
-					   "btrfs-%s-%d", workers->name,
-					   workers->num_workers + i);
-		if (IS_ERR(worker->task)) {
-			ret = PTR_ERR(worker->task);
-			kfree(worker);
-			goto fail;
-		}
-		spin_lock_irq(&workers->lock);
-		list_add_tail(&worker->worker_list, &workers->idle_list);
-		worker->idle = 1;
-		workers->num_workers++;
-		workers->num_workers_starting--;
-		WARN_ON(workers->num_workers_starting < 0);
-		spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
+	worker = kzalloc(sizeof(*worker), GFP_NOFS);
+	if (!worker) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto fail;
 	}
+
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->pending);
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->prio_pending);
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&worker->worker_list);
+	spin_lock_init(&worker->lock);
+
+	atomic_set(&worker->num_pending, 0);
+	atomic_set(&worker->refs, 1);
+	worker->workers = workers;
+	worker->task = kthread_run(worker_loop, worker,
+				   "btrfs-%s-%d", workers->name,
+				   workers->num_workers + 1);
+	if (IS_ERR(worker->task)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(worker->task);
+		kfree(worker);
+		goto fail;
+	}
+	spin_lock_irq(&workers->lock);
+	list_add_tail(&worker->worker_list, &workers->idle_list);
+	worker->idle = 1;
+	workers->num_workers++;
+	workers->num_workers_starting--;
+	WARN_ON(workers->num_workers_starting < 0);
+	spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
+
 	return 0;
 fail:
-	btrfs_stop_workers(workers);
+	spin_lock_irq(&workers->lock);
+	workers->num_workers_starting--;
+	spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
 	return ret;
 }
 
-int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, int num_workers)
+int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers)
 {
 	spin_lock_irq(&workers->lock);
-	workers->num_workers_starting += num_workers;
+	workers->num_workers_starting++;
 	spin_unlock_irq(&workers->lock);
-	return __btrfs_start_workers(workers, num_workers);
+	return __btrfs_start_workers(workers);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -568,6 +561,7 @@
 	struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker;
 	unsigned long flags;
 	struct list_head *fallback;
+	int ret;
 
 again:
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&workers->lock, flags);
@@ -584,7 +578,9 @@
 			workers->num_workers_starting++;
 			spin_unlock_irqrestore(&workers->lock, flags);
 			/* we're below the limit, start another worker */
-			__btrfs_start_workers(workers, 1);
+			ret = __btrfs_start_workers(workers);
+			if (ret)
+				goto fallback;
 			goto again;
 		}
 	}
@@ -665,7 +661,7 @@
 /*
  * places a struct btrfs_work into the pending queue of one of the kthreads
  */
-int btrfs_queue_worker(struct btrfs_workers *workers, struct btrfs_work *work)
+void btrfs_queue_worker(struct btrfs_workers *workers, struct btrfs_work *work)
 {
 	struct btrfs_worker_thread *worker;
 	unsigned long flags;
@@ -673,7 +669,7 @@
 
 	/* don't requeue something already on a list */
 	if (test_and_set_bit(WORK_QUEUED_BIT, &work->flags))
-		goto out;
+		return;
 
 	worker = find_worker(workers);
 	if (workers->ordered) {
@@ -712,7 +708,4 @@
 	if (wake)
 		wake_up_process(worker->task);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&worker->lock, flags);
-
-out:
-	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.h b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.h
index 5077746..f34cc31 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/async-thread.h
+++ b/fs/btrfs/async-thread.h
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@
 	char *name;
 };
 
-int btrfs_queue_worker(struct btrfs_workers *workers, struct btrfs_work *work);
-int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, int num_workers);
+void btrfs_queue_worker(struct btrfs_workers *workers, struct btrfs_work *work);
+int btrfs_start_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers);
 int btrfs_stop_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers);
 void btrfs_init_workers(struct btrfs_workers *workers, char *name, int max,
 			struct btrfs_workers *async_starter);
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c b/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
index 94abc25..3f9d555 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/disk-io.c
@@ -2194,19 +2194,27 @@
 	fs_info->endio_meta_write_workers.idle_thresh = 2;
 	fs_info->readahead_workers.idle_thresh = 2;
 
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->generic_worker, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->submit_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->delalloc_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->fixup_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_meta_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_meta_write_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_write_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_freespace_worker, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->delayed_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->caching_workers, 1);
-	btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->readahead_workers, 1);
+	/*
+	 * btrfs_start_workers can really only fail because of ENOMEM so just
+	 * return -ENOMEM if any of these fail.
+	 */
+	ret = btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->generic_worker);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->submit_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->delalloc_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->fixup_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_meta_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_meta_write_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_write_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->endio_freespace_worker);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->delayed_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->caching_workers);
+	ret |= btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->readahead_workers);
+	if (ret) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto fail_sb_buffer;
+	}
 
 	fs_info->bdi.ra_pages *= btrfs_super_num_devices(disk_super);
 	fs_info->bdi.ra_pages = max(fs_info->bdi.ra_pages,
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/scrub.c b/fs/btrfs/scrub.c
index c27bcb6..ddf2c90 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/scrub.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/scrub.c
@@ -1535,18 +1535,22 @@
 static noinline_for_stack int scrub_workers_get(struct btrfs_root *root)
 {
 	struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info = root->fs_info;
+	int ret = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&fs_info->scrub_lock);
 	if (fs_info->scrub_workers_refcnt == 0) {
 		btrfs_init_workers(&fs_info->scrub_workers, "scrub",
 			   fs_info->thread_pool_size, &fs_info->generic_worker);
 		fs_info->scrub_workers.idle_thresh = 4;
-		btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->scrub_workers, 1);
+		ret = btrfs_start_workers(&fs_info->scrub_workers);
+		if (ret)
+			goto out;
 	}
 	++fs_info->scrub_workers_refcnt;
+out:
 	mutex_unlock(&fs_info->scrub_lock);
 
-	return 0;
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static noinline_for_stack void scrub_workers_put(struct btrfs_root *root)