diff --git a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
index 68a23583f44c..4b76ef9336c7 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
@@ -1060,7 +1060,7 @@ call_bind_status(struct rpc_task *task)
 		goto retry_timeout;
 	case -EPFNOSUPPORT:
 		/* server doesn't support any rpcbind version we know of */
-		dprintk("RPC: %5u remote rpcbind service unavailable\n",
+		dprintk("RPC: %5u unrecognized remote rpcbind service\n",
 				task->tk_pid);
 		break;
 	case -EPROTONOSUPPORT:
@@ -1069,6 +1069,21 @@ call_bind_status(struct rpc_task *task)
 		task->tk_status = 0;
 		task->tk_action = call_bind;
 		return;
+	case -ECONNREFUSED:		/* connection problems */
+	case -ECONNRESET:
+	case -ENOTCONN:
+	case -EHOSTDOWN:
+	case -EHOSTUNREACH:
+	case -ENETUNREACH:
+	case -EPIPE:
+		dprintk("RPC: %5u remote rpcbind unreachable: %d\n",
+				task->tk_pid, task->tk_status);
+		if (!RPC_IS_SOFTCONN(task)) {
+			rpc_delay(task, 5*HZ);
+			goto retry_timeout;
+		}
+		status = task->tk_status;
+		break;
 	default:
 		dprintk("RPC: %5u unrecognized rpcbind error (%d)\n",
 				task->tk_pid, -task->tk_status);
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/rpcb_clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/rpcb_clnt.c
index 401154094ee1..3e3772d8eb92 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/rpcb_clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/rpcb_clnt.c
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ static struct rpc_task *rpcb_call_async(struct rpc_clnt *rpcb_clnt, struct rpcbi
 		.rpc_message = &msg,
 		.callback_ops = &rpcb_getport_ops,
 		.callback_data = map,
-		.flags = RPC_TASK_ASYNC,
+		.flags = RPC_TASK_ASYNC | RPC_TASK_SOFTCONN,
 	};
 
 	return rpc_run_task(&task_setup_data);