ret = btrfs_make_block_group(trans, extent_root, 0, flags,
                     BTRFS_FIRST_CHUNK_TREE_OBJECTID, start, num_bytes);
        BUG_ON(ret);
-       mutex_unlock(&extent_root->fs_info->chunk_mutex);
 out:
+       mutex_unlock(&extent_root->fs_info->chunk_mutex);
        return 0;
 }
 
                                continue;
                        }
                }
-               mutex_unlock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
                ret = readahead_tree_block(root, bytenr, blocksize,
                                           btrfs_node_ptr_generation(node, i));
                last = bytenr + blocksize;
                cond_resched();
-               mutex_lock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
                if (ret)
                        break;
        }
 }
 
+/*
+ * we want to avoid as much random IO as we can with the alloc mutex
+ * held, so drop the lock and do the lookup, then do it again with the
+ * lock held.
+ */
+int drop_snap_lookup_refcount(struct btrfs_root *root, u64 start, u64 len,
+                             u32 *refs)
+{
+       mutex_unlock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
+       lookup_extent_ref(NULL, root, start, len, refs);
+       mutex_lock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
+       return lookup_extent_ref(NULL, root, start, len, refs);
+}
+
 /*
  * helper function for drop_snapshot, this walks down the tree dropping ref
  * counts as it goes.
 
        WARN_ON(*level < 0);
        WARN_ON(*level >= BTRFS_MAX_LEVEL);
-       ret = lookup_extent_ref(trans, root,
-                               path->nodes[*level]->start,
+       ret = drop_snap_lookup_refcount(root, path->nodes[*level]->start,
                                path->nodes[*level]->len, &refs);
        BUG_ON(ret);
        if (refs > 1)
                ptr_gen = btrfs_node_ptr_generation(cur, path->slots[*level]);
                blocksize = btrfs_level_size(root, *level - 1);
 
-               ret = lookup_extent_ref(trans, root, bytenr, blocksize, &refs);
+               ret = drop_snap_lookup_refcount(root, bytenr, blocksize, &refs);
                BUG_ON(ret);
                if (refs != 1) {
                        parent = path->nodes[*level];
                next = btrfs_find_tree_block(root, bytenr, blocksize);
                if (!next || !btrfs_buffer_uptodate(next, ptr_gen)) {
                        free_extent_buffer(next);
+                       mutex_unlock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
+
                        reada_walk_down(root, cur, path->slots[*level]);
 
-                       mutex_unlock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
                        next = read_tree_block(root, bytenr, blocksize,
                                               ptr_gen);
                        mutex_lock(&root->fs_info->alloc_mutex);
 
                        /* we've dropped the lock, double check */
-                       ret = lookup_extent_ref(trans, root, bytenr,
+                       ret = drop_snap_lookup_refcount(root, bytenr,
                                                blocksize, &refs);
                        BUG_ON(ret);
                        if (refs != 1) {