diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
index bf0195a96d5308c48d273cb492081a8d415ba188..414af1e2973ba0190f927414ce2149222f8e4859 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_ringbuffer.c
@@ -289,8 +289,6 @@ static int init_ring_common(struct intel_ring_buffer *ring)
 	I915_WRITE_HEAD(ring, 0);
 	ring->write_tail(ring, 0);
 
-	/* Initialize the ring. */
-	I915_WRITE_START(ring, obj->gtt_offset);
 	head = I915_READ_HEAD(ring) & HEAD_ADDR;
 
 	/* G45 ring initialization fails to reset head to zero */
@@ -316,6 +314,11 @@ static int init_ring_common(struct intel_ring_buffer *ring)
 		}
 	}
 
+	/* Initialize the ring. This must happen _after_ we've cleared the ring
+	 * registers with the above sequence (the readback of the HEAD registers
+	 * also enforces ordering), otherwise the hw might lose the new ring
+	 * register values. */
+	I915_WRITE_START(ring, obj->gtt_offset);
 	I915_WRITE_CTL(ring,
 			((ring->size - PAGE_SIZE) & RING_NR_PAGES)
 			| RING_VALID);