diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 90147370b..d9cce54 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -1904,6 +1904,7 @@
 	int sync_req;
 	int nospares = 0;
 
+	mddev->utime = get_seconds();
 	if (mddev->external)
 		return;
 repeat:
@@ -1933,7 +1934,6 @@
 		nospares = 0;
 
 	sync_req = mddev->in_sync;
-	mddev->utime = get_seconds();
 
 	/* If this is just a dirty<->clean transition, and the array is clean
 	 * and 'events' is odd, we can roll back to the previous clean state */