diff --git a/cmd/server-main.go b/cmd/server-main.go
index 7022f59be..46a6df143 100644
--- a/cmd/server-main.go
+++ b/cmd/server-main.go
@@ -358,6 +358,12 @@ func initServer(ctx context.Context, newObject ObjectLayer) error {
 	r := rand.New(rand.NewSource(time.Now().UnixNano()))
 
 	lockTimeout := newDynamicTimeout(5*time.Second, 3*time.Second)
+	// do not retry to avoid high contention on startup.
+	lockTimeout.retryInterval = -1
+
+	// Do an initial random sleep to avoid stampeding herd of initial
+	// lock request. This will spread locks requests over 1 second.
+	time.Sleep(time.Duration(r.Float64() * float64(time.Second)))
 
 	for {
 		select {
@@ -380,7 +386,8 @@ func initServer(ctx context.Context, newObject ObjectLayer) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			logger.Info("Waiting for all MinIO sub-systems to be initialized.. trying to acquire lock")
 
-			time.Sleep(time.Duration(r.Float64() * float64(5*time.Second)))
+			// Sleep 0 -> 2 seconds to average 1 second retry interval.
+			time.Sleep(time.Duration(r.Float64() * 2 * float64(time.Second)))
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/internal/dsync/drwmutex.go b/internal/dsync/drwmutex.go
index 2c6b4c84a..d82023e64 100644
--- a/internal/dsync/drwmutex.go
+++ b/internal/dsync/drwmutex.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
+	"strconv"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -32,9 +33,23 @@ import (
 // Indicator if logging is enabled.
 var dsyncLog bool
 
+// maximum time to sleep before retrying a failed blocking lock()
+var lockRetryInterval time.Duration
+
 func init() {
 	// Check for MINIO_DSYNC_TRACE env variable, if set logging will be enabled for failed REST operations.
 	dsyncLog = os.Getenv("MINIO_DSYNC_TRACE") == "1"
+
+	// lockRetryInterval specifies the maximum time between retries for failed locks.
+	// Average retry time will be value / 2.
+	lockRetryInterval = 100 * time.Millisecond
+	if lri := os.Getenv("_MINIO_LOCK_RETRY_INTERVAL"); lri != "" {
+		v, err := strconv.Atoi(lri)
+		if err != nil {
+			panic(err)
+		}
+		lockRetryInterval = time.Duration(v) * time.Millisecond
+	}
 }
 
 func log(format string, data ...interface{}) {
@@ -59,9 +74,6 @@ const (
 	// dRWMutexRefreshInterval - default the interval between two refresh calls
 	drwMutexRefreshInterval = 10 * time.Second
 
-	// maximum time to sleep before retrying a failed blocking lock()
-	lockRetryInterval = 50 * time.Millisecond
-
 	drwMutexInfinite = 1<<63 - 1
 )
 
@@ -239,9 +251,12 @@ func (dm *DRWMutex) lockBlocking(ctx context.Context, lockLossCallback func(), i
 			}
 
 			lockRetryInterval := dm.lockRetryInterval
-			if opts.RetryInterval > 0 {
+			if opts.RetryInterval != 0 {
 				lockRetryInterval = opts.RetryInterval
 			}
+			if lockRetryInterval < 0 {
+				return false
+			}
 			time.Sleep(time.Duration(dm.rng.Float64() * float64(lockRetryInterval)))
 		}
 	}