diff --git a/astrai/inference/scheduler.py b/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
index 2d09590..e9614db 100644
--- a/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
+++ b/astrai/inference/scheduler.py
@@ -204,18 +204,22 @@ class InferenceScheduler:
             for _ in range(n):
                 to_add.append(self.waiting_queue.pop(0))
 
+        failed: List[Task] = []
         for task in to_add:
             prompt_len = len(task.prompt_ids)
             n_pages = self._n_pages_for(prompt_len)
             task.page_table = self.page_cache.alloc_n(n_pages)
             if not task.page_table:
-                with self._lock:
-                    self.waiting_queue.insert(0, task)
-                break
+                failed.append(task)
+                continue
             task.n_pages = len(task.page_table)
             task.status = TaskStatus.RUNNING
             self.active_tasks.append(task)
 
+        if failed:
+            with self._lock:
+                self.waiting_queue[:0] = failed
+
     def _execute_prefill(self) -> None:
         to_prefill = [t for t in self.active_tasks if t.output_tokens == 0]
         if not to_prefill:
@@ -330,11 +334,10 @@ class InferenceScheduler:
                 self._remove_finished_tasks()
                 self._refill_active_batch()
 
-                with self._lock:
-                    if not self.active_tasks and not self.waiting_queue:
-                        self._task_event.clear()
-                        self._task_event.wait(timeout=0.01)
-                        continue
+                if not self.active_tasks and not self.waiting_queue:
+                    self._task_event.clear()
+                    self._task_event.wait(timeout=1.0)
+                    continue
 
                 self._execute_prefill()
 
@@ -345,10 +348,6 @@ class InferenceScheduler:
                 if pos_groups:
                     best_pos = max(pos_groups, key=lambda p: len(pos_groups[p]))
                     self._execute_decode(pos_groups[best_pos], best_pos)
-
-                if not self.waiting_queue and len(self.active_tasks) <= 1:
-                    self._task_event.wait(timeout=0.005)
-                    self._task_event.clear()
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Scheduler loop crashed: {e}", exc_info=True)
             for task in self.active_tasks: