diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/FSHDFSUtils.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/FSHDFSUtils.java
index ae500e9343e..6ec8881fb06 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/FSHDFSUtils.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/util/FSHDFSUtils.java
@@ -54,8 +54,6 @@ public class FSHDFSUtils extends FSUtils{
    * in o.a.h.hdfs.protocol.HdfsConstants cause of HDFS-1620.
    */
   public static final long LEASE_SOFTLIMIT_PERIOD = 60 * 1000;
-  
-  public static final String TEST_TRIGGER_DFS_APPEND = "hbase.test.trigger.dfs.append";
 
   @Override
   public void recoverFileLease(final FileSystem fs, final Path p, Configuration conf)
@@ -74,35 +72,22 @@ public class FSHDFSUtils extends FSUtils{
 
     // Trying recovery
     boolean recovered = false;
-    long recoveryTimeout = conf.getInt("hbase.lease.recovery.timeout", 300000);
-    // conf parameter passed from unit test, indicating whether fs.append() should be triggered
-    boolean triggerAppend = conf.getBoolean(TEST_TRIGGER_DFS_APPEND, false);
-    Exception ex = null;
     while (!recovered) {
       try {
         try {
           DistributedFileSystem dfs = (DistributedFileSystem) fs;
-          if (triggerAppend) throw new IOException();
-          try {
-            recovered = (Boolean) DistributedFileSystem.class.getMethod(
-              "recoverLease", new Class[] { Path.class }).invoke(dfs, p);
-          } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
-            // function was properly called, but threw it's own exception
-            throw (IOException) ite.getCause();
-          }
+          DistributedFileSystem.class.getMethod("recoverLease", new Class[] { Path.class }).invoke(
+              dfs, p);
+        } catch (InvocationTargetException ite) {
+          // function was properly called, but threw it's own exception
+          throw (IOException) ite.getCause();
         } catch (Exception e) {
           LOG.debug("Failed fs.recoverLease invocation, " + e.toString() +
-              ", trying fs.append instead");
-          ex = e;
-        }
-        if (ex != null || System.currentTimeMillis() - startWaiting > recoveryTimeout) {
-          ex = null; // assume the following append() call would succeed
-          LOG.debug("trying fs.append for " + p);
+            ", trying fs.append instead");
           FSDataOutputStream out = fs.append(p);
           out.close();
-          recovered = true;
         }
-        if (recovered) break;
+        recovered = true;
       } catch (IOException e) {
         e = RemoteExceptionHandler.checkIOException(e);
         if (e instanceof AlreadyBeingCreatedException) {
@@ -126,9 +111,9 @@ public class FSHDFSUtils extends FSUtils{
       }
       try {
         Thread.sleep(1000);
-      } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
+      } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
         InterruptedIOException iioe = new InterruptedIOException();
-        iioe.initCause(ie);
+        iioe.initCause(ex);
         throw iioe;
       }
     }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLog.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLog.java
index f704b0c2ba9..d85c1d85a65 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLog.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/wal/TestHLog.java
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.*;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.wal.HLog.Reader;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.wal.HLogUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSHDFSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.FSUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.Coprocessor;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.CoprocessorHost;
@@ -50,6 +49,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.MiniDFSCluster;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.protocol.FSConstants;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.datanode.DataNode;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.LeaseManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.io.SequenceFile;
 import org.apache.log4j.Level;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class TestHLog  {
   private final static HBaseTestingUtility TEST_UTIL = new HBaseTestingUtility();
   private static Path hbaseDir;
   private static Path oldLogDir;
-  
+
   @Before
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
 
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@ public class TestHLog  {
     // Make block sizes small.
     TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setInt("dfs.blocksize", 1024 * 1024);
     // needed for testAppendClose()
-    TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean("dfs.support.broken.append", true);
     TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean("dfs.support.append", true);
     // quicker heartbeat interval for faster DN death notification
     TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setInt("heartbeat.recheck.interval", 5000);
@@ -371,30 +370,18 @@ public class TestHLog  {
     }
   }
   
-  /*
-   * We pass different values to recoverFileLease() so that different code paths are covered
-   * 
-   * For this test to pass, requires:
-   * 1. HDFS-200 (append support)
-   * 2. HDFS-988 (SafeMode should freeze file operations
-   *              [FSNamesystem.nextGenerationStampForBlock])
-   * 3. HDFS-142 (on restart, maintain pendingCreates)
-   */
+  // For this test to pass, requires:
+  // 1. HDFS-200 (append support)
+  // 2. HDFS-988 (SafeMode should freeze file operations
+  //              [FSNamesystem.nextGenerationStampForBlock])
+  // 3. HDFS-142 (on restart, maintain pendingCreates)
   @Test
   public void testAppendClose() throws Exception {
-    testAppendClose(true);
-    testAppendClose(false);
-  }
-  
-  /*
-   * @param triggerDirectAppend whether to trigger direct call of fs.append()
-   */
-  public void testAppendClose(final boolean triggerDirectAppend) throws Exception {
     byte [] tableName = Bytes.toBytes(getName());
     HRegionInfo regioninfo = new HRegionInfo(tableName,
              HConstants.EMPTY_START_ROW, HConstants.EMPTY_END_ROW, false);
 
-    HLog wal = HLogFactory.createHLog(fs, dir, "hlogdir" + triggerDirectAppend, 
+    HLog wal = HLogFactory.createHLog(fs, dir, "hlogdir", 
         "hlogdir_archive", conf);
     final int total = 20;
 
@@ -469,7 +456,6 @@ public class TestHLog  {
       public Exception exception = null;
       public void run() {
           try {
-            rlConf.setBoolean(FSHDFSUtils.TEST_TRIGGER_DFS_APPEND, triggerDirectAppend);
             FSUtils.getInstance(fs, rlConf)
               .recoverFileLease(recoveredFs, walPath, rlConf);
           } catch (IOException e) {