diff --git a/arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/spl_boot.c b/arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/spl_boot.c
index 9f14127dca..080bd580d9 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/spl_boot.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/spl_boot.c
@@ -41,13 +41,12 @@ void board_init_f(ulong bootflag)
 	end_align = (u32)__spl_flash_end;
 
 	/*
-	 * First we need to initialize the SDRAM, so that the real
-	 * U-Boot or the OS (Linux) can be loaded
+	 * On MPC5200, the initial RAM (and gd) is located in the internal
+	 * SRAM. So we can actually call the preloader console init code
+	 * before calling initdram(). This makes serial output (printf)
+	 * available very early, even before SDRAM init, which has been
+	 * an U-Boot priciple from day 1.
 	 */
-	initdram(0);
-
-	/* Clear bss */
-	memset(__bss_start, '\0', __bss_end__ - __bss_start);
 
 	/*
 	 * Init global_data pointer. Has to be done before calling
@@ -70,6 +69,15 @@ void board_init_f(ulong bootflag)
 	 */
 	preloader_console_init();
 
+	/*
+	 * First we need to initialize the SDRAM, so that the real
+	 * U-Boot or the OS (Linux) can be loaded
+	 */
+	initdram(0);
+
+	/* Clear bss */
+	memset(__bss_start, '\0', __bss_end__ - __bss_start);
+
 	/*
 	 * Call board_init_r() (SPL framework version) to load and boot
 	 * real U-Boot or OS