diff --git a/database/updates.inc b/database/updates.inc
index ddf3c450084344cdf217387f9f60d16a4637ae24..f3936818cf6d758834d68a2d3d0a413142da084f 100644
--- a/database/updates.inc
+++ b/database/updates.inc
@@ -1566,7 +1566,7 @@ function system_update_172() {
   include_once './modules/comment.module';
 
   $limit = 20;
-  $result = db_query_range("SELECT cid, thread FROM {comments} WHERE cid > %d", $_SESSION['system_update_172'], 0, $limit);
+  $result = db_query_range("SELECT cid, thread FROM {comments} WHERE cid > %d ORDER BY cid ASC", $_SESSION['system_update_172'], 0, $limit);
   while ($comment = db_fetch_object($result)) {
     $_SESSION['system_update_172'] = $comment->cid;
     $thread = explode('.', rtrim($comment->thread, '/'));