diff --git a/components/freertos/event_groups.c b/components/freertos/event_groups.c
index 1aa95e084..0eafab10a 100644
--- a/components/freertos/event_groups.c
+++ b/components/freertos/event_groups.c
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ typedef struct xEventGroupDefinition
 
 
 /* Again: one mux for all events. Maybe this can be made more granular. ToDo: look into that. -JD */
-static portMUX_TYPE xEventGroupMux;
+static portMUX_TYPE xEventGroupMux = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;
 static BaseType_t xMuxInitialized = pdFALSE;
 
 
diff --git a/components/freertos/heap_regions.c b/components/freertos/heap_regions.c
index d1ab6240b..491a1fe6e 100644
--- a/components/freertos/heap_regions.c
+++ b/components/freertos/heap_regions.c
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ typedef struct A_BLOCK_LINK
 } BlockLink_t;
 
 //Mux to protect the memory status data
-static portMUX_TYPE xMallocMutex;
+static portMUX_TYPE xMallocMutex = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;
 
 /*-----------------------------------------------------------*/
 
diff --git a/components/freertos/include/freertos/portmacro.h b/components/freertos/include/freertos/portmacro.h
index b659a8271..bb574a1aa 100644
--- a/components/freertos/include/freertos/portmacro.h
+++ b/components/freertos/include/freertos/portmacro.h
@@ -147,6 +147,19 @@ typedef struct {
 #define portMUX_VAL_MASK		0x000000FF
 #define portMUX_VAL_SHIFT		0
 
+//Keep this in sync with the portMUX_TYPE struct definition please.
+#ifdef portMUX_DEBUG
+#define portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED { 					\
+		.mux = portMUX_MAGIC_VAL|portMUX_FREE_VAL 		\
+	}
+#else
+#define portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED { 					\
+		.mux = portMUX_MAGIC_VAL|portMUX_FREE_VAL, 		\
+		.lastLockedFn = "(never locked)", 				\
+		.lastLockedLine = -1							\
+	}
+#endif
+
 /* Critical section management. NW-TODO: replace XTOS_SET_INTLEVEL with more efficient version, if any? */
 // These cannot be nested. They should be used with a lot of care and cannot be called from interrupt level.
 #define portDISABLE_INTERRUPTS()      do { XTOS_SET_INTLEVEL(XCHAL_EXCM_LEVEL); portbenchmarkINTERRUPT_DISABLE(); } while (0)
diff --git a/components/freertos/port.c b/components/freertos/port.c
index fd7760e01..8f0a617af 100644
--- a/components/freertos/port.c
+++ b/components/freertos/port.c
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ void vPortCPUAcquireMutex(portMUX_TYPE *mux) {
 #ifdef portMUX_DEBUG
 	uint32_t cnt=(1<<16);
 	if ( (mux->mux & portMUX_MAGIC_MASK) != portMUX_MAGIC_VAL ) {
-		ets_printf("ERROR: vPortCPUAcquireMutex: mux %p is uninitialized (0x%X)!\n", mux, mux->mux);
+		ets_printf("ERROR: vPortCPUAcquireMutex: mux %p is uninitialized (0x%X)! Called from %s line %d.\n", mux, mux->mux, fnName, line);
 		mux->mux=portMUX_FREE_VAL;
 	}
 #endif
diff --git a/components/freertos/queue.c b/components/freertos/queue.c
index 337352fca..92e182a62 100644
--- a/components/freertos/queue.c
+++ b/components/freertos/queue.c
@@ -460,6 +460,8 @@ int8_t *pcAllocatedBuffer;
 			vListInitialise( &( pxNewQueue->xTasksWaitingToSend ) );
 			vListInitialise( &( pxNewQueue->xTasksWaitingToReceive ) );
 
+			vPortCPUInitializeMutex(&pxNewQueue->mux);
+
 			traceCREATE_MUTEX( pxNewQueue );
 
 			/* Start with the semaphore in the expected state. */
diff --git a/components/freertos/tasks.c b/components/freertos/tasks.c
index d747708eb..f0e4fb120 100644
--- a/components/freertos/tasks.c
+++ b/components/freertos/tasks.c
@@ -273,8 +273,8 @@ PRIVILEGED_DATA static volatile UBaseType_t uxSchedulerSuspended[ portNUM_PROCES
 PRIVILEGED_DATA static portBASE_TYPE xMutexesInitialised = pdFALSE;
 /* For now, we use just one mux for all the critical sections. ToDo: give evrything a bit more granularity;
   that could improve performance by not needlessly spinning in spinlocks for unrelated resources. */
-PRIVILEGED_DATA static portMUX_TYPE xTaskQueueMutex;
-PRIVILEGED_DATA static portMUX_TYPE xTickCountMutex;
+PRIVILEGED_DATA static portMUX_TYPE xTaskQueueMutex = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;
+PRIVILEGED_DATA static portMUX_TYPE xTickCountMutex = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;
 
 #if ( configGENERATE_RUN_TIME_STATS == 1 )
 
diff --git a/components/freertos/timers.c b/components/freertos/timers.c
index 7c0ba5bd9..92e4bf94a 100644
--- a/components/freertos/timers.c
+++ b/components/freertos/timers.c
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ PRIVILEGED_DATA static List_t *pxOverflowTimerList;
 PRIVILEGED_DATA static QueueHandle_t xTimerQueue = NULL;
 
 /* Mux. We use a single mux for all the timers for now. ToDo: maybe increase granularity here? */
-PRIVILEGED_DATA portMUX_TYPE xTimerMux;
+PRIVILEGED_DATA portMUX_TYPE xTimerMux = portMUX_INITIALIZER_UNLOCKED;
 
 #if ( INCLUDE_xTimerGetTimerDaemonTaskHandle == 1 )