diff --git a/libwvdrmengine/cdm/core/src/oemcrypto_adapter_dynamic.cpp b/libwvdrmengine/cdm/core/src/oemcrypto_adapter_dynamic.cpp
index 231ca0da..c780e4bf 100644
--- a/libwvdrmengine/cdm/core/src/oemcrypto_adapter_dynamic.cpp
+++ b/libwvdrmengine/cdm/core/src/oemcrypto_adapter_dynamic.cpp
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ using wvcdm::kLevel3;
 namespace {
 
 static const size_t kMaxGenericEncryptChunkSize = 100*1024;
-OEMCryptoResult kOemCryptoResultVendorSpecificError1 =
+const OEMCryptoResult kOemCryptoResultVendorSpecificError1 =
     static_cast<OEMCryptoResult>(10008);
 
 typedef struct {
@@ -847,6 +847,159 @@ class Adapter {
 
 static Adapter* kAdapter = 0;
 
+void *RunWatchDog(void *watcher);
+
+// The WatchDog looks after a worker thread that is trying to initialize L3.
+// Once in a rare while, the L3 init does not finish and eats up CPU cycles.
+// If that happens, the watchdog thread will give up and return an error.
+class WatchDog {
+ public:
+  // Created by main thread.
+  WatchDog() {
+    pthread_mutex_init(&mutex_, NULL);
+    pthread_cond_init(&condition_, NULL);
+    status_ = OEMCrypto_SUCCESS;
+    gave_up_ = false;
+  }
+
+  // Deleted by either thread.
+  ~WatchDog() {
+    pthread_cond_destroy(&condition_);
+  }
+
+  // Starts worker thread.
+  void StartThread() {
+    running_ = true;
+    if(pthread_create(&thread_, NULL, RunWatchDog, this)) {
+      LOGE("Could not create watch dog thread.");
+      status_ = OEMCrypto_ERROR_INIT_FAILED;
+      running_ = false;
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Called by worker thread.
+  void DoInit() {
+    if (kAdapter) {
+      kAdapter->Terminate();
+      delete kAdapter;
+    }
+    kAdapter = new Adapter();
+    status_ = kAdapter->Initialize();
+  }
+
+  std::string FailureFilename() {
+    std::string path;
+    if (!wvcdm::Properties::GetDeviceFilesBasePath(wvcdm::kSecurityLevelL3,
+                                                   &path)) {
+      LOGW("DeviceFiles::StoreFileRaw: Unable to get base path");
+      return "/data/l3_failure_file";
+    }
+    path += "l3_failure_file";
+    return path;
+  }
+
+  // Check to see if the failure file was created before that last abort.
+  void CheckForPreviousFailure() {
+    wvcdm::FileSystem file_system;
+    std::string filename = FailureFilename();
+    if (!file_system.Exists(filename)) return;
+    wvcdm::File* file = file_system.Open(filename, file_system.kReadOnly);
+    if (file) {
+      uint32_t flag = 0;
+      ssize_t size = sizeof(flag);
+      ssize_t size_read = file->Read(reinterpret_cast<char*>(&flag), size);
+      file->Close();
+      file_system.Remove(filename);
+      if (size == size_read && flag) {
+        LOGE("Previous L3 Init failed.");
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Save the failure file before we abort.
+  void SaveFailureInformation() {
+    wvcdm::FileSystem file_system;
+    std::string filename = FailureFilename();
+    LOGD("failure filename = %s", filename.c_str());
+    wvcdm::File* file = file_system.Open(
+        filename, file_system.kCreate | file_system.kTruncate);
+    if (!file) {
+      LOGE("Could not create file %s", filename.c_str());
+      return;
+    }
+    uint32_t flag = 0x6261640a;  // bad
+    ssize_t size = sizeof(flag);
+    ssize_t size_written = file->Write(reinterpret_cast<char*>(&flag), size);
+    file->Close();
+    if (size != size_written) {
+      LOGE("Wrote %d bytes, not %d, to file %s", size_written, size,
+           filename.c_str());
+    } else {
+      LOGE("I wrote %d to %s", size_written, filename.c_str());
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Called by worker thread after DoInit has finshed.
+  void SignalDoneAndCleanUp() {
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex_);
+    running_ = false;
+    pthread_cond_signal(&condition_);
+    // If the main thread gave up, it won't delete this, so we must.
+    bool should_delete = gave_up_;
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex_);
+    // https://isocpp.org/wiki/faq/freestore-mgmt#delete-this
+    if (should_delete) delete this;
+  }
+
+  // Called by main thread to wait for worker thread.
+  OEMCryptoResult WaitForStatusAndCleanUp() {
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex_);
+    struct timespec time_to_giveup;
+    clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &time_to_giveup);
+    time_to_giveup.tv_sec += 2;  // wait 2 seconds.
+    if (running_) {
+      pthread_cond_timedwait(&condition_, &mutex_, &time_to_giveup);
+    }
+    if (running_) {
+      gave_up_ = true;
+      status_ = OEMCrypto_ERROR_INIT_FAILED;
+      LOGE("XXX WATCH DOG ERROR XXX");
+      SaveFailureInformation();
+      // This is controversial.  The argument for an abort here is that if we
+      // do not abort, we will suck all the life out of the user's battery.  By
+      // saving information to the file system, above, we can still track
+      // metrics.
+      abort();
+    }
+    // If we gave up waiting for init thread, we should not delete the mutex
+    // out from under it.
+    bool should_delete = !gave_up_;
+    OEMCryptoResult status = status_;
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex_);
+    if (should_delete) delete this;
+    return status;
+  }
+
+  OEMCryptoResult status() { return status_; }
+
+ private:
+  OEMCryptoResult status_;
+  pthread_t thread_;
+  pthread_mutex_t mutex_;
+  pthread_cond_t condition_;
+  bool running_;
+  bool gave_up_;
+};
+
+// Function called by new worker thread in pthread_create.
+void *RunWatchDog(void *watcher) {
+  WatchDog* dog = reinterpret_cast<WatchDog *>(watcher);
+  dog->DoInit();
+  dog->SignalDoneAndCleanUp();
+  return NULL;
+}
+
 }  // namespace
 
 namespace wvcdm {
@@ -1067,12 +1220,10 @@ OEMCryptoResult OEMCrypto_CreateOldUsageEntry(
 }  // namespace wvcdm
 
 extern "C" OEMCryptoResult OEMCrypto_Initialize(void) {
-  if (kAdapter) {
-    kAdapter->Terminate();
-    delete kAdapter;
-  }
-  kAdapter = new Adapter();
-  return kAdapter->Initialize();
+  WatchDog *watcher = new WatchDog();
+  watcher->CheckForPreviousFailure();
+  watcher->StartThread();
+  return watcher->WaitForStatusAndCleanUp();
 }
 
 extern "C" OEMCryptoResult OEMCrypto_Terminate(void) {