diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/intel_gt_requests.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/intel_gt_requests.c
index 66fcbf9d0fdd..cca285185dc4 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/intel_gt_requests.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/gt/intel_gt_requests.c
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ out_active:	spin_lock(&timelines->lock);
 	if (flush_submission(gt, timeout)) /* Wait, there's more! */
 		active_count++;
 
-	return active_count ? timeout : 0;
+	return active_count ? timeout ?: -ETIME : 0;
 }
 
 int intel_gt_wait_for_idle(struct intel_gt *gt, long timeout)