diff --git a/src/contrib/streaming/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/streaming/PipeMapRed.java b/src/contrib/streaming/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/streaming/PipeMapRed.java
index 132c0c0..263486e 100644
--- a/src/contrib/streaming/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/streaming/PipeMapRed.java
+++ b/src/contrib/streaming/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/streaming/PipeMapRed.java
@@ -355,6 +355,23 @@ public abstract class PipeMapRed {
         Reporter reporter = Reporter.NULL;//dummy reporter
         startOutputThreads(collector, reporter);
       }
+      checkExitValue();
+      if (outThread_ != null) {
+        outThread_.join(joinDelay_);
+      }
+      if (errThread_ != null) {
+        errThread_.join(joinDelay_);
+      }
+      if (outerrThreadsThrowable != null) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(outerrThreadsThrowable);
+      }
+    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+      //ignore
+    }
+  }
+
+  void checkExitValue() {
+    try{
       int exitVal = sim.waitFor();
       // how'd it go?
       if (exitVal != 0) {
@@ -366,15 +383,6 @@ public abstract class PipeMapRed {
                      + " in " + PipeMapRed.class.getName());
         }
       }
-      if (outThread_ != null) {
-        outThread_.join(joinDelay_);
-      }
-      if (errThread_ != null) {
-        errThread_.join(joinDelay_);
-      }
-      if (outerrThreadsThrowable != null) {
-        throw new RuntimeException(outerrThreadsThrowable);
-      }
     } catch (InterruptedException e) {
       //ignore
     }
@@ -572,7 +580,8 @@ public abstract class PipeMapRed {
         waitOutputThreads();
       } catch (IOException io) {
         LOG.warn(StringUtils.stringifyException(io));
-      }
+        checkExitValue();
+      } 
       if (sim != null) sim.destroy();
       logprintln("mapRedFinished");
     } catch (RuntimeException e) {