diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 43bd5d72ee..0cae632bdf 100644
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -3363,15 +3363,15 @@ Charlie 25 Mar 2009
         gui_rpc_client.h
 
 Charlie 26 Mar 2009
-    - Mac: revise XCode project to use OS 10.4 SDK for building PowerPC libraries 
-        and executables so that we can use weak-linking for APIs not available 
-        before OS 10.4, such as uselocale().
-    - MGR: Modify SET_LOCALE constructor and destructor to change locale only on 
-        those systems without support for setting locale on a per-thread basis, 
-        such as OS 10.3.9.
-    NOTE: At this point it appears that Ubuntu and Fedora both support uselocale().
-        If any platform does not support it, change the "#if 0" gui_rpc_client.h 
-        to "#if defined(some_OS)".
+    - Mac: revise XCode project to use OS 10.4 SDK for building PowerPC
+        libraries and executables so that we can use weak-linking for
+        APIs not available before OS 10.4, such as uselocale().
+    - MGR: Modify SET_LOCALE constructor and destructor to change locale
+        only on those systems without support for setting locale
+        on a per-thread basis, such as OS 10.3.9.
+    NOTE: At this point it appears that Ubuntu and Fedora both support
+        uselocale().  If any platform does not support it,
+        change the "#if 0" gui_rpc_client.h to "#if defined(some_OS)".
 
     clientgui/
         AsyncRPC.cpp
@@ -3380,3 +3380,11 @@ Charlie 26 Mar 2009
     mac_build/
         boinc.xcodeproj/
             project.pbxproj
+
+David  26 Mar 2009
+    - client: clear resource backoffs on user-requested RPC
+    - client: randomize resource backoffs to avoid lockstep
+
+    client/
+        cs_scheduler.cpp
+        work_fetch.cpp
diff --git a/client/cs_scheduler.cpp b/client/cs_scheduler.cpp
index b1d6a5ff68..a3fec1c061 100644
--- a/client/cs_scheduler.cpp
+++ b/client/cs_scheduler.cpp
@@ -362,11 +362,12 @@ bool CLIENT_STATE::scheduler_rpc_poll() {
         //
         p = next_project_sched_rpc_pending();
         if (p) {
-			// if the user requested the RPC, clear backoffs to allow work requests
+			// if the user requested the RPC,
+            // clear backoffs to allow work requests
 			//
 			if (p->sched_rpc_pending == RPC_REASON_USER_REQ) {
-				p->cpu_pwf.backoff_time = 0;
-				p->cuda_pwf.backoff_time = 0;
+				p->cpu_pwf.clear_backoff();
+				p->cuda_pwf.clear_backoff();
 			}
             work_fetch.compute_work_request(p);
 			scheduler_op->init_op_project(p, p->sched_rpc_pending);
diff --git a/client/work_fetch.cpp b/client/work_fetch.cpp
index 6af527e2ff..cbedd0b8b6 100644
--- a/client/work_fetch.cpp
+++ b/client/work_fetch.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 // You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 // along with BOINC.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+#include "util.h"
+
 #include "client_types.h"
 #include "client_msgs.h"
 #ifdef SIM
@@ -743,10 +745,11 @@ void RSC_PROJECT_WORK_FETCH::backoff(PROJECT* p, char* name) {
     } else {
         backoff_interval = MIN_BACKOFF_INTERVAL;
     }
-    backoff_time = gstate.now + backoff_interval;
+    double x = drand()*backoff_interval;
+    backoff_time = gstate.now + x;
     if (log_flags.work_fetch_debug) {
         msg_printf(p, MSG_INFO,
-            "[wfd] backing off %s %.0f sec", name, backoff_interval
+            "[wfd] backing off %s %.0f sec", name, x
         );
     }
 }