diff --git a/arch/x86/platform/olpc/olpc.c b/arch/x86/platform/olpc/olpc.c
index 8b9940e78e2f..7cce722667b8 100644
--- a/arch/x86/platform/olpc/olpc.c
+++ b/arch/x86/platform/olpc/olpc.c
@@ -161,13 +161,13 @@ int olpc_ec_cmd(unsigned char cmd, unsigned char *inbuf, size_t inlen,
 	if (inbuf && inlen) {
 		/* write data to EC */
 		for (i = 0; i < inlen; i++) {
+			pr_devel("olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x%x\n", inbuf[i]);
+			outb(inbuf[i], 0x68);
 			if (wait_on_ibf(0x6c, 0)) {
 				printk(KERN_ERR "olpc-ec:  timeout waiting for"
 						" EC accept data!\n");
 				goto err;
 			}
-			pr_devel("olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x%x\n", inbuf[i]);
-			outb(inbuf[i], 0x68);
 		}
 	}
 	if (outbuf && outlen) {