diff --git a/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp b/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
index b391d76..604aea6 100644
--- a/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
+++ b/cmds/dumpstate/dumpstate.cpp
@@ -198,6 +198,9 @@
         // The drawback of calling execl directly is that we're not timing out if it hangs.
         MYLOGD("Running '/system/bin/atrace --async_dump', which can take several seconds");
         execl("/system/bin/atrace", "/system/bin/atrace", "--async_dump", nullptr);
+        // execl should never return, but it doesn't hurt to handle that scenario
+        MYLOGD("execl on '/system/bin/atrace --async_dump' returned control");
+        _exit(-1);
     } else {
         close(pipefd[1]);  // close the write end of the pipe in the parent
         add_zip_entry_from_fd("systrace.txt", pipefd[0]); // write output to zip file
diff --git a/cmds/dumpstate/utils.cpp b/cmds/dumpstate/utils.cpp
index 89c9653..d07ca8c 100644
--- a/cmds/dumpstate/utils.cpp
+++ b/cmds/dumpstate/utils.cpp
@@ -737,6 +737,8 @@
 
         execvp(command, (char**) args);
         // execvp's result will be handled after waitpid_with_timeout() below...
+        MYLOGD("execvp on command %s (plus args) returned control; calling _exit(-1)", command)
+        _exit(-1); // ...but it doesn't hurt to force exit, just in case
     }
 
     /* handle parent case */
@@ -848,7 +850,7 @@
     std::string args_string;
     format_args(am_index + 1, am_args, &args_string);
     MYLOGD("send_broadcast command: %s\n", args_string.c_str());
-    run_command_always(NULL, 5, true, am_args);
+    run_command_always(NULL, 20, true, am_args);
 }
 
 size_t num_props = 0;