diff --git a/compiler/ir1util.lisp b/compiler/ir1util.lisp
index f710851c809e9e10fc4db38ad25e006785f07eca..fcf4ea1d7614679d4ddd34475d5abd82391af865 100644
--- a/compiler/ir1util.lisp
+++ b/compiler/ir1util.lisp
@@ -1308,7 +1308,7 @@
     (setq *last-source-context* nil)
     (setq *last-format-string* nil))
   (apply #'format *compiler-error-output* format-string format-args)
-  (force-output))
+  (force-output *compiler-error-output*))
 
 
 ;;; Find-Component-Name  --  Interface