diff --git a/src/FITS/fits_save_fit/fits_load_fit.sl b/src/FITS/fits_save_fit/fits_load_fit.sl
index 3c33396a6aa3ae831c0cc54c83b0c678ec7c919a..b1a8a4032457c226fdfc93bf99ba0575a521176b 100644
--- a/src/FITS/fits_save_fit/fits_load_fit.sl
+++ b/src/FITS/fits_save_fit/fits_load_fit.sl
@@ -75,6 +75,25 @@ define fits_load_fit()
        }
 
        Rmf_OGIP_Compliance = 2;
+
+       
+       %set the systematic error fraction
+       ifnot (qualifier_exists("noerr"))
+	 {
+	    % Extract sys_err values
+	    variable sys_err = fits_read_table(fitsfile + "[1]").sys_err;
+	    sys_err = strchop(sys_err[0], '\n', 0);
+	    
+	    % set sys_err values for each dataset
+	    variable j=0;
+	    _for j (0, length(sys_err)-1, 1)
+	      {
+		 set_sys_err_frac(all_data[-1-j], string2sys_err_array(sys_err[-1-j]));
+	      }
+	 }
+       
+       
+       
       % notice and rebin the data
       ifnot (qualifier_exists("norebin"))
       {
@@ -115,21 +134,6 @@ define fits_load_fit()
     set_params(params);
   }
 
-  %set the systematic error fraction
-  ifnot (qualifier_exists("noerr"))
-  {
-    % Extract sys_err values
-    variable sys_err = fits_read_table(fitsfile + "[1]").sys_err;
-    sys_err = strchop(sys_err[0], '\n', 0);
-
-    % set sys_err values for each dataset
-    variable j=0;
-    _for j (0, length(sys_err)-1, 1)
-    {
-      set_sys_err_frac(all_data[-1-j], string2sys_err_array(sys_err[-1-j]));
-    }
-  }
-
   % evaluate the model
   ifnot (qualifier_exists("nodata") || qualifier_exists("noeval"))
   {