diff --git a/src/mds/RecoveryQueue.cc b/src/mds/RecoveryQueue.cc
index 46a7e8cce0a..d23acc1cbdd 100644
--- a/src/mds/RecoveryQueue.cc
+++ b/src/mds/RecoveryQueue.cc
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ void RecoveryQueue::_recovered(CInode *in, int r, uint64_t size, utime_t mtime)
   if (r != 0) {
     dout(0) << "recovery error! " << r << dendl;
     if (r == -EBLACKLISTED) {
-      mds->suicide();
+      mds->respawn();
       return;
     }
     assert(0 == "unexpected error from osd during recovery");