diff --git a/lib/updates.ml b/lib/updates.ml
index 98a6f54d5..7c56b9fa0 100644
--- a/lib/updates.ml
+++ b/lib/updates.ml
@@ -132,36 +132,34 @@ let t_of_rpc rpc =
 	  m = Mutex.create ();
 }
 	
-
-let get dbg from timeout t =
+let get dbg ?(with_cancel=(fun _ f -> f ())) from timeout t =
 	let from = Opt.default U.initial from in
 	let cancel = ref false in
-	let id = Opt.map (fun timeout ->
-		Scheduler.one_shot (Scheduler.Delta timeout) dbg
+	let cancel_fn () =
+		debug "Cancelling: Update.get";
+		Mutex.execute t.m
 			(fun () ->
-				debug "Cancelling: Update.get after %d" timeout;
-				Mutex.execute t.m
-					(fun () ->
-						cancel := true;
-						Condition.broadcast t.c
-					)
-			)
+				cancel := true;
+				Condition.broadcast t.c
+			)  
+	in
+	let id = Opt.map (fun timeout ->
+		Scheduler.one_shot (Scheduler.Delta timeout) dbg cancel_fn
 	) timeout in
-	finally
-		(fun () ->
-			Mutex.execute t.m
-				(fun () ->
-					let is_empty (x,y,_) = x=[] && y=[] in
-
-					let rec wait () =
-						let result = U.get from t.u in
-						if is_empty result && not (!cancel) then 
-							begin Condition.wait t.c t.m; wait () end
-						else result
-					in
-					wait ()
-				)
-		) (fun () -> Opt.iter Scheduler.cancel id)
+	with_cancel cancel_fn (fun () -> 
+		finally (fun () ->
+			Mutex.execute t.m (fun () ->
+				let is_empty (x,y,_) = x=[] && y=[] in
+
+				let rec wait () =
+					let result = U.get from t.u in
+					if is_empty result && not (!cancel) then 
+					begin Condition.wait t.c t.m; wait () end
+					else result
+				in
+				wait ()
+			)
+		) (fun () -> Opt.iter Scheduler.cancel id))
 
 let last_id dbg t =
 	Mutex.execute t.m
diff --git a/xc/xenops_server_xen.ml b/xc/xenops_server_xen.ml
index 7dfab303a..c09d7764e 100644
--- a/xc/xenops_server_xen.ml
+++ b/xc/xenops_server_xen.ml
@@ -87,16 +87,22 @@ end
 let updates = Updates.empty ()
 
 let event_wait task timeout p =
-	let finished = ref false in
-	let success = ref false in
-	let event_id = ref None in
-	while not !finished do
-		let _, deltas, next_id = Updates.get (Printf.sprintf "event_wait task %s" task.Xenops_task.id) !event_id timeout updates in
-		if deltas = [] then finished := true;
-		List.iter (fun d -> if p d then (success := true; finished := true)) deltas;
-		event_id := Some next_id;
-	done;
-	!success
+	let start = Unix.gettimeofday () in
+	let rec inner remaining event_id =
+		if (remaining > 0.0) then begin
+			let _, deltas, next_id = Updates.get (Printf.sprintf "event_wait task %s" task.Xenops_task.id) 
+				~with_cancel:(Xenops_task.with_cancel task) event_id (Some (remaining |> ceil |> int_of_float)) updates in
+			let success = List.fold_left (fun acc d -> acc || (p d)) false deltas in
+			let finished = success || deltas = [] in
+			if not finished
+			then
+				let elapsed = Unix.gettimeofday () -. start in
+				inner (timeout -. elapsed) (Some next_id)
+			else
+				success
+		end else false
+	in 
+	inner timeout None
 
 let safe_rm xs path =
 	debug "xenstore-rm %s" path;
@@ -1038,7 +1044,7 @@ module VM = struct
 			) Oldest task vm
 
 	let wait_shutdown task vm reason timeout =
-		event_wait task (Some (timeout |> ceil |> int_of_float))
+		event_wait task timeout
 			(function
 				| Dynamic.Vm id when id = vm.Vm.id ->
 					debug "EVENT on our VM: %s" id;