diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
index 4fd9d41..274369f 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
@@ -5156,6 +5156,7 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 	XLogRecord *record;
 	uint32		freespace;
 	TransactionId oldestActiveXID;
+	bool		bgwriterLaunched = false;
 
 	XLogCtl->SharedRecoveryInProgress = true;
 
@@ -5472,7 +5473,11 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 			 * process in addition to postmaster!
 			 */
 			if (InArchiveRecovery && IsUnderPostmaster)
+			{
+				SetForwardFsyncRequests();
 				SendPostmasterSignal(PMSIGNAL_RECOVERY_STARTED);
+				bgwriterLaunched = true;
+			}
 
 			/*
 			 * main redo apply loop
@@ -5742,7 +5747,17 @@ StartupXLOG(void)
 		 * assigning a new TLI, using a shutdown checkpoint allows us to have
 		 * the rule that TLI only changes in shutdown checkpoints, which
 		 * allows some extra error checking in xlog_redo.
+		 *
+		 * If bgwriter is active, we can't do the necessary fsyncs in the
+		 * startup process because bgwriter has accumulated fsync requests
+		 * into its private memory. So we request a last forced restart point,
+		 * which will flush them to disk, before performing the actual
+		 * checkpoint. It's safe to flush the buffers first, because no other
+		 * process can do (WAL-logged) changes to data pages in between.
 		 */
+		if (bgwriterLaunched)
+			RequestCheckpoint(CHECKPOINT_IMMEDIATE | CHECKPOINT_FORCE |
+							  CHECKPOINT_WAIT);
 		CreateCheckPoint(CHECKPOINT_IS_SHUTDOWN | CHECKPOINT_IMMEDIATE);
 
 		/*
@@ -6219,27 +6234,11 @@ CreateCheckPoint(int flags)
 
 	/*
 	 * Acquire CheckpointLock to ensure only one checkpoint happens at a time.
-	 * During normal operation, bgwriter is the only process that creates
-	 * checkpoints, but at the end of archive recovery, the bgwriter can be
-	 * busy creating a restartpoint while the startup process tries to perform
-	 * the startup checkpoint.
+	 * (This is just pro forma, since in the present system structure there is
+	 * only one process that is allowed to issue checkpoints at any given
+	 * time.)
 	 */
-	if (!LWLockConditionalAcquire(CheckpointLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE))
-	{
-		Assert(InRecovery);
-
-		/*
-		 * A restartpoint is in progress. Wait until it finishes. This can
-		 * cause an extra restartpoint to be performed, but that's OK because
-		 * we're just about to perform a checkpoint anyway. Flushing the
-		 * buffers in this restartpoint can take some time, but that time is
-		 * saved from the upcoming checkpoint so the net effect is zero.
-		 */
-		ereport(DEBUG2, (errmsg("hurrying in-progress restartpoint")));
-		RequestCheckpoint(CHECKPOINT_IMMEDIATE | CHECKPOINT_WAIT);
-
-		LWLockAcquire(CheckpointLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE);
-	}
+	LWLockAcquire(CheckpointLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE);
 
 	/*
 	 * Prepare to accumulate statistics.
@@ -6660,8 +6659,9 @@ CreateRestartPoint(int flags)
 	 * restartpoint. It's assumed that flushing the buffers will do that as a
 	 * side-effect.
 	 */
-	if (XLogRecPtrIsInvalid(lastCheckPointRecPtr) ||
-		XLByteLE(lastCheckPoint.redo, ControlFile->checkPointCopy.redo))
+	if (!(flags & CHECKPOINT_FORCE) &&
+		(XLogRecPtrIsInvalid(lastCheckPointRecPtr) ||
+		 XLByteLE(lastCheckPoint.redo, ControlFile->checkPointCopy.redo)))
 	{
 		XLogRecPtr	InvalidXLogRecPtr = {0, 0};
 
diff --git a/src/backend/storage/smgr/md.c b/src/backend/storage/smgr/md.c
index d42e86a..56824d5 100644
--- a/src/backend/storage/smgr/md.c
+++ b/src/backend/storage/smgr/md.c
@@ -204,6 +204,21 @@ mdinit(void)
 }
 
 /*
+ * In archive recovery, we rely on bgwriter to do fsyncs(), but we don't
+ * know that we do archive recovery at process startup when pendingOpsTable
+ * has already been created. Calling this function drops pendingOpsTable
+ * and causes any subsequent requests to be forwarded to bgwriter.
+ */
+void
+SetForwardFsyncRequests(void)
+{
+	/* Perform any pending ops we may have queued up */
+	if (pendingOpsTable)
+		mdsync();
+	pendingOpsTable = NULL;
+}
+
+/*
  *	mdexists() -- Does the physical file exist?
  *
  * Note: this will return true for lingering files, with pending deletions
@@ -908,9 +923,18 @@ mdsync(void)
 	/*
 	 * This is only called during checkpoints, and checkpoints should only
 	 * occur in processes that have created a pendingOpsTable.
+	 *
+	 * Startup process performing a startup checkpoint after archive recovery
+	 * is an exception. It has no pendingOpsTable, but that's OK because it
+	 * has requested bgwriter to perform a restartpoint before the checkpoint
+	 * which does mdsync() instead.
 	 */
 	if (!pendingOpsTable)
+	{
+		if (InRecovery)
+			return;
 		elog(ERROR, "cannot sync without a pendingOpsTable");
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * If we are in the bgwriter, the sync had better include all fsync
diff --git a/src/include/storage/smgr.h b/src/include/storage/smgr.h
index 7556b14..fd79d7b 100644
--- a/src/include/storage/smgr.h
+++ b/src/include/storage/smgr.h
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ extern void mdpreckpt(void);
 extern void mdsync(void);
 extern void mdpostckpt(void);
 
+extern void SetForwardFsyncRequests(void);
 extern void RememberFsyncRequest(RelFileNode rnode, ForkNumber forknum,
 					 BlockNumber segno);
 extern void ForgetRelationFsyncRequests(RelFileNode rnode, ForkNumber forknum);