diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/horde/Horde/SyncML.php b/phpgwapi/inc/horde/Horde/SyncML.php
index cf9e5254bc..c6a12ae5cc 100644
--- a/phpgwapi/inc/horde/Horde/SyncML.php
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/horde/Horde/SyncML.php
@@ -151,8 +151,15 @@ class Horde_SyncML_SyncMLHdr extends Horde_SyncML_ContentHandler {
         session_destroy();
 
 		// we need to (re-)load the eGW session-handler, as session_destroy unloads custom session-handlers
-		egw_session::init_handler();
-
+		// there seems to be a bug in php5.1 that calls from class methods to session_set_save_handler always fail ...
+		if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION,'5.2','<') && function_exists('init_session_handler'))
+		{
+			init_session_handler();
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			egw_session::init_handler();
+		}
 		// Reload the Horde SessionHandler if necessary.
         Horde::setupSessionHandler();