if (!nvme_change_ctrl_state(&ctrl->ctrl, NVME_CTRL_RESETTING))
                return;
 
+       dev_warn(ctrl->ctrl.device, "starting error recovery\n");
        queue_work(nvme_reset_wq, &ctrl->err_work);
 }
 
        return 0;
 }
 
+static void nvme_rdma_complete_timed_out(struct request *rq)
+{
+       struct nvme_rdma_request *req = blk_mq_rq_to_pdu(rq);
+       struct nvme_rdma_queue *queue = req->queue;
+       struct nvme_rdma_ctrl *ctrl = queue->ctrl;
+
+       /* fence other contexts that may complete the command */
+       mutex_lock(&ctrl->teardown_lock);
+       nvme_rdma_stop_queue(queue);
+       if (!blk_mq_request_completed(rq)) {
+               nvme_req(rq)->status = NVME_SC_HOST_ABORTED_CMD;
+               blk_mq_complete_request(rq);
+       }
+       mutex_unlock(&ctrl->teardown_lock);
+}
+
 static enum blk_eh_timer_return
 nvme_rdma_timeout(struct request *rq, bool reserved)
 {
        dev_warn(ctrl->ctrl.device, "I/O %d QID %d timeout\n",
                 rq->tag, nvme_rdma_queue_idx(queue));
 
-       /*
-        * Restart the timer if a controller reset is already scheduled. Any
-        * timed out commands would be handled before entering the connecting
-        * state.
-        */
-       if (ctrl->ctrl.state == NVME_CTRL_RESETTING)
-               return BLK_EH_RESET_TIMER;
-
        if (ctrl->ctrl.state != NVME_CTRL_LIVE) {
                /*
-                * Teardown immediately if controller times out while starting
-                * or we are already started error recovery. all outstanding
-                * requests are completed on shutdown, so we return BLK_EH_DONE.
+                * If we are resetting, connecting or deleting we should
+                * complete immediately because we may block controller
+                * teardown or setup sequence
+                * - ctrl disable/shutdown fabrics requests
+                * - connect requests
+                * - initialization admin requests
+                * - I/O requests that entered after unquiescing and
+                *   the controller stopped responding
+                *
+                * All other requests should be cancelled by the error
+                * recovery work, so it's fine that we fail it here.
                 */
-               flush_work(&ctrl->err_work);
-               nvme_rdma_teardown_io_queues(ctrl, false);
-               nvme_rdma_teardown_admin_queue(ctrl, false);
+               nvme_rdma_complete_timed_out(rq);
                return BLK_EH_DONE;
        }
 
-       dev_warn(ctrl->ctrl.device, "starting error recovery\n");
+       /*
+        * LIVE state should trigger the normal error recovery which will
+        * handle completing this request.
+        */
        nvme_rdma_error_recovery(ctrl);
-
        return BLK_EH_RESET_TIMER;
 }