diff --git a/rtl/tb/jtag_pkg.sv b/rtl/tb/jtag_pkg.sv
index af26fb61..1606d306 100644
--- a/rtl/tb/jtag_pkg.sv
+++ b/rtl/tb/jtag_pkg.sv
@@ -901,6 +901,30 @@ package jtag_pkg;
 
       endtask
 
+
+      task clear_sbcserrors(
+                            ref logic s_tck,
+                            ref logic s_tms,
+                            ref logic s_trstn,
+                            ref logic s_tdi,
+                            ref logic s_tdo
+                            );
+
+         // writing to the error flags has "clear bit" behavior:
+         // if they are 1 and we write a 0, they will stay 1
+         // all other status/write combinations will leave them cleared, so reading SBCS
+         // and writing the same value back will always clear the error flags
+         dm::sbcs_t sbcs;
+
+         this.read_debug_reg(dm::SBCS, sbcs,
+                             s_tck, s_tms, s_trstn, s_tdi, s_tdo);
+
+         if (sbcs.sbbusyerror || (|sbcs.sberror)) begin
+           this.write_debug_reg(dm::SBCS, sbcs,
+                                s_tck, s_tms, s_trstn, s_tdi, s_tdo);
+         end
+      endtask
+
       task test_read_abstractcs(
          ref logic s_tck,
          ref logic s_tms,
diff --git a/rtl/tb/tb_pulp.sv b/rtl/tb/tb_pulp.sv
index 8c11350f..8c5b5c8a 100644
--- a/rtl/tb/tb_pulp.sv
+++ b/rtl/tb/tb_pulp.sv
@@ -729,6 +729,7 @@ module tb_pulp;
          logic [6:0]  dm_addr;
          logic        error;
          int         num_err;
+         int         rd_cnt;
          automatic logic [9:0]  FC_CORE_ID = {5'd31, 5'd0};
 
          int entry_point;
@@ -736,6 +737,7 @@ module tb_pulp;
 
          error   = 1'b0;
          num_err = 0;
+         rd_cnt = 0;
 
          // read entry point from commandline
          if ($value$plusargs("ENTRY_POINT=%h", entry_point))
@@ -943,8 +945,17 @@ module tb_pulp;
 
             jtag_data[0] = 0;
             while(jtag_data[0][31] == 0) begin
+               // every 10th loop iteration, clear the debug module's SBA unit CSR to make
+               // sure there's no error blocking our reads. Sometimes a TCDM read
+               // request issued by the debug module takes longer than it takes
+               // for the read request to the debug module to arrive and it
+               // stores an error in the SBCS register. By clearing it
+               // periodically we make sure the test can terminate.
+               if (rd_cnt % 10 == 0) begin
+                  debug_mode_if.clear_sbcserrors(s_tck, s_tms, s_trstn, s_tdi, s_tdo);
+               end
                debug_mode_if.readMem(32'h1A1040A0, jtag_data[0], s_tck, s_tms, s_trstn, s_tdi, s_tdo);
-
+               rd_cnt++;
                #50us;
             end