diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/owl-uart.c b/drivers/tty/serial/owl-uart.c
index 5250bd7d390a4ad7d64f41a59d96201b5443d51a..5ff7c89aeb065730f0afa481291d66a2076481c7 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/owl-uart.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/owl-uart.c
@@ -184,9 +184,6 @@ static void owl_uart_send_chars(struct uart_port *port)
 	struct circ_buf *xmit = &port->state->xmit;
 	unsigned int ch;
 
-	if (uart_tx_stopped(port))
-		return;
-
 	if (port->x_char) {
 		while (!(owl_uart_read(port, OWL_UART_STAT) & OWL_UART_STAT_TFFU))
 			cpu_relax();
@@ -195,6 +192,9 @@ static void owl_uart_send_chars(struct uart_port *port)
 		port->x_char = 0;
 	}
 
+	if (uart_tx_stopped(port))
+		return;
+
 	while (!(owl_uart_read(port, OWL_UART_STAT) & OWL_UART_STAT_TFFU)) {
 		if (uart_circ_empty(xmit))
 			break;