diff --git a/arch/arm/mach-ep93xx/include/mach/uncompress.h b/arch/arm/mach-ep93xx/include/mach/uncompress.h
index d2afb4dd82ab..b5cc77d2380b 100644
--- a/arch/arm/mach-ep93xx/include/mach/uncompress.h
+++ b/arch/arm/mach-ep93xx/include/mach/uncompress.h
@@ -47,9 +47,13 @@ static void __raw_writel(unsigned int value, unsigned int ptr)
 
 static inline void putc(int c)
 {
-	/* Transmit fifo not full?  */
-	while (__raw_readb(PHYS_UART_FLAG) & UART_FLAG_TXFF)
-		;
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
+		/* Transmit fifo not full? */
+		if (!(__raw_readb(PHYS_UART_FLAG) & UART_FLAG_TXFF))
+			break;
+	}
 
 	__raw_writeb(c, PHYS_UART_DATA);
 }