diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
index 5224b7abb8a3d0a462a2b89ff46edbc1d646def7..cdf084ef5aaeaf5e575d6e607577c2af03b01ab2 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
@@ -1712,6 +1712,9 @@ u32 *intel_ring_begin(struct drm_i915_gem_request *req,
 	unsigned int total_bytes;
 	u32 *cs;
 
+	/* Packets must be qword aligned. */
+	GEM_BUG_ON(num_dwords & 1);
+
 	total_bytes = bytes + req->reserved_space;
 	GEM_BUG_ON(total_bytes > ring->effective_size);