diff --git a/driver/linux/crystalhd_misc.c b/driver/linux/crystalhd_misc.c
index 410ab9d..b3ce457 100644
--- a/driver/linux/crystalhd_misc.c
+++ b/driver/linux/crystalhd_misc.c
@@ -512,7 +512,10 @@ void *crystalhd_dioq_fetch_wait(struct crystalhd_hw *hw, uint32_t to_secs, uint3
 			if(down_interruptible(&hw->fetch_sem))
 				goto sem_error;
 			r_pkt = crystalhd_dioq_fetch(ioq);
-			/* If format change packet, then return with out checking anything */
+			/* If no packet then up and return zero otherwise will *0 BUG the kernel on heavy dioq load */
+			if (!r_pkt) 
+				goto sem_rel_return;
+			/* If format change packet then return without checking anything */
 			if (r_pkt->flags & (COMP_FLAG_PIB_VALID | COMP_FLAG_FMT_CHANGE))
 				goto sem_rel_return;
 			if (hw->adp->pdev->device == BC_PCI_DEVID_LINK) {