diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl-debugfs.c b/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl-debugfs.c
index f837f32..978a1d4 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl-debugfs.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl-debugfs.c
@@ -2131,9 +2131,10 @@
 
 	if (trace) {
 		priv->event_log.ucode_trace = true;
-		/* schedule the ucode timer to occur in UCODE_TRACE_PERIOD */
-		mod_timer(&priv->ucode_trace,
-			jiffies + msecs_to_jiffies(UCODE_TRACE_PERIOD));
+		if (iwl_is_alive(priv->shrd)) {
+			/* start collecting data now */
+			mod_timer(&priv->ucode_trace, jiffies);
+		}
 	} else {
 		priv->event_log.ucode_trace = false;
 		del_timer_sync(&priv->ucode_trace);