for (;;) {
                struct thread_info *owner;
 
-               /*
-                * If there are pending waiters, join them.
-                */
-               if (!list_empty(&lock->wait_list))
-                       break;
-
                /*
                 * If there's an owner, wait for it to either
                 * release the lock or go to sleep.
                if (owner && !mutex_spin_on_owner(lock, owner))
                        break;
 
+               if (atomic_cmpxchg(&lock->count, 1, 0) == 1) {
+                       lock_acquired(&lock->dep_map, ip);
+                       mutex_set_owner(lock);
+                       preempt_enable();
+                       return 0;
+               }
+
                /*
                 * When there's no owner, we might have preempted between the
                 * owner acquiring the lock and setting the owner field. If
                if (!owner && (need_resched() || rt_task(task)))
                        break;
 
-               if (atomic_cmpxchg(&lock->count, 1, 0) == 1) {
-                       lock_acquired(&lock->dep_map, ip);
-                       mutex_set_owner(lock);
-                       preempt_enable();
-                       return 0;
-               }
-
                /*
                 * The cpu_relax() call is a compiler barrier which forces
                 * everything in this loop to be re-loaded. We don't need