diff --git a/travis/build_env.sh b/travis/build_env.sh
index 325c2a6a54..e4776dc2c1 100755
--- a/travis/build_env.sh
+++ b/travis/build_env.sh
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ if [[ "$os" == "Linux" ]]; then
 	    if [[ "$MPI_IMPL" != "intel" ]]; then
 		sudo apt-get -y install "$mpi_libdev" "$mpi_bin"
 	    fi
-	    # check for mpif90 command and exit if not present
+
 	    if [[ "$FC" == "gfortran-11" ]] || [[ "$CC" == "gcc-11" ]]; then
 		sudo  add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test 
 		sudo  apt-get -y install gcc-11 gfortran-11 g++-11
@@ -237,4 +237,8 @@ if [[ "$os" == "Linux" ]]; then
 	    which nvfortran
 	fi
     fi
+    # check for mpif90 command and exit if not present
+    if [[ ! $(command -v mpif90) ]]; then echo "mpif90 not present"; exit 1; fi
+    echo "mpif90 -show output is " `mpif90 -show` || true
+    echo "which mpif90 output is " `which mpif90` ||  true
 fi