diff --git a/pkt-line.c b/pkt-line.c
index ffd7220544..c9ed780d0b 100644
--- a/pkt-line.c
+++ b/pkt-line.c
@@ -350,16 +350,17 @@ enum packet_read_status packet_read_with_status(int fd, char **src_buffer,
 		return PACKET_READ_EOF;
 	}
 
-	if ((options & PACKET_READ_DIE_ON_ERR_PACKET) &&
-	    starts_with(buffer, "ERR "))
-		die(_("remote error: %s"), buffer + 4);
-
 	if ((options & PACKET_READ_CHOMP_NEWLINE) &&
 	    len && buffer[len-1] == '\n')
 		len--;
 
 	buffer[len] = 0;
 	packet_trace(buffer, len, 0);
+
+	if ((options & PACKET_READ_DIE_ON_ERR_PACKET) &&
+	    starts_with(buffer, "ERR "))
+		die(_("remote error: %s"), buffer + 4);
+
 	*pktlen = len;
 	return PACKET_READ_NORMAL;
 }
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index 747dc4c31d..98ef71b48c 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ do
 			git fetch ../testrepo/.git $SHA1_2 &&
 			git cat-file commit $SHA1_2 &&
 			test_must_fail git fetch ../testrepo/.git $SHA1_3 2>err &&
-			test_i18ngrep "remote error:.*not our ref" err
+			test_i18ngrep "remote error:.*not our ref.*$SHA1_3\$" err
 		)
 	'
 done