diff --git a/arch/mips/include/asm/system.h b/arch/mips/include/asm/system.h
index fcf5f98..587a48a 100644
--- a/arch/mips/include/asm/system.h
+++ b/arch/mips/include/asm/system.h
@@ -193,10 +193,6 @@ extern __u64 __xchg_u64_unsupported_on_32bit_kernels(volatile __u64 * m, __u64 v
 #define __xchg_u64 __xchg_u64_unsupported_on_32bit_kernels
 #endif
 
-/* This function doesn't exist, so you'll get a linker error
-   if something tries to do an invalid xchg().  */
-extern void __xchg_called_with_bad_pointer(void);
-
 static inline unsigned long __xchg(unsigned long x, volatile void * ptr, int size)
 {
 	switch (size) {
@@ -205,11 +201,17 @@ static inline unsigned long __xchg(unsigned long x, volatile void * ptr, int siz
 	case 8:
 		return __xchg_u64(ptr, x);
 	}
-	__xchg_called_with_bad_pointer();
+
 	return x;
 }
 
-#define xchg(ptr, x) ((__typeof__(*(ptr)))__xchg((unsigned long)(x), (ptr), sizeof(*(ptr))))
+#define xchg(ptr, x)							\
+({									\
+	BUILD_BUG_ON(sizeof(*(ptr)) & ~0xc);				\
+									\
+	((__typeof__(*(ptr)))						\
+		__xchg((unsigned long)(x), (ptr), sizeof(*(ptr))));	\
+})
 
 extern void set_handler(unsigned long offset, void *addr, unsigned long len);
 extern void set_uncached_handler(unsigned long offset, void *addr, unsigned long len);