diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
index ca1701081c56..5ab86949014f 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c
@@ -3215,6 +3215,8 @@ static void ironlake_crtc_enable(struct drm_crtc *crtc)
 	u32 temp;
 	bool is_pch_port;
 
+	WARN_ON(!crtc->enabled);
+
 	/* XXX: For compatability with the crtc helper code, call the encoder's
 	 * enable function unconditionally for now. */
 	if (intel_crtc->active)
@@ -3391,6 +3393,8 @@ static void i9xx_crtc_enable(struct drm_crtc *crtc)
 	int pipe = intel_crtc->pipe;
 	int plane = intel_crtc->plane;
 
+	WARN_ON(!crtc->enabled);
+
 	/* XXX: For compatability with the crtc helper code, call the encoder's
 	 * enable function unconditionally for now. */
 	if (intel_crtc->active)
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_drv.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_drv.h
index 673e8d484bfa..36991dee2d40 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_drv.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_drv.h
@@ -158,7 +158,15 @@ struct intel_crtc {
 	enum plane plane;
 	u8 lut_r[256], lut_g[256], lut_b[256];
 	int dpms_mode;
-	bool active; /* is the crtc on? independent of the dpms mode */
+	/*
+	 * Whether the crtc and the connected output pipeline is active. Implies
+	 * that crtc->enabled is set, i.e. the current mode configuration has
+	 * some outputs connected to this crtc.
+	 *
+	 * Atm crtc->enabled is unconditionally updated _before_ the hw state is
+	 * changed, hence we can only check this when enabling the crtc.
+	 */
+	bool active;
 	bool primary_disabled; /* is the crtc obscured by a plane? */
 	bool lowfreq_avail;
 	struct intel_overlay *overlay;