diff --git a/lib/exe/indexer.php b/lib/exe/indexer.php
index c07c33408db63a250ec2d86c81532930d1c980ca..49b532507213691b3e092b71789afac1b5185d33 100644
--- a/lib/exe/indexer.php
+++ b/lib/exe/indexer.php
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ function runIndexer(){
     // try to aquire a lock
     $lock = $conf['lockdir'].'/_indexer.lock';
     while(!@mkdir($lock,0777)){
+        usleep(50);
         if(time()-@filemtime($lock) > 60*5){
             // looks like a stale lock - remove it
             @rmdir($lock);