diff --git a/fs/orangefs/xattr.c b/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
index bdc285aea3600fca8fc61d7b3ecfc6d550c66ed1..5e355d9d9a819fb3981e7154c9cdd1299007f258 100644
--- a/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/orangefs/xattr.c
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ static inline int convert_to_internal_xattr_flags(int setxattr_flags)
 static unsigned int xattr_key(const char *key)
 {
 	unsigned int i = 0;
-	while (key)
+	if (!key)
+		return 0;
+	while (*key)
 		i += *key++;
 	return i % 16;
 }
@@ -175,8 +177,8 @@ ssize_t orangefs_inode_getxattr(struct inode *inode, const char *name,
 				cx->length = -1;
 				cx->timeout = jiffies +
 				    orangefs_getattr_timeout_msecs*HZ/1000;
-				hash_add(orangefs_inode->xattr_cache, &cx->node,
-				    xattr_key(cx->key));
+				hlist_add_head( &cx->node,
+                                   &orangefs_inode->xattr_cache[xattr_key(cx->key)]);
 			}
 		}
 		goto out_release_op;
@@ -229,8 +231,8 @@ ssize_t orangefs_inode_getxattr(struct inode *inode, const char *name,
 			memcpy(cx->val, buffer, length);
 			cx->length = length;
 			cx->timeout = jiffies + HZ;
-			hash_add(orangefs_inode->xattr_cache, &cx->node,
-			    xattr_key(cx->key));
+			hlist_add_head(&cx->node,
+				&orangefs_inode->xattr_cache[xattr_key(cx->key)]);
 		}
 	}