diff --git a/wgpu-core/src/command/compute.rs b/wgpu-core/src/command/compute.rs
index 9b0026f504e..9f89dead1d1 100644
--- a/wgpu-core/src/command/compute.rs
+++ b/wgpu-core/src/command/compute.rs
@@ -345,6 +345,15 @@ impl Global {
                 }
             }
 
+            if let Some((begin, end)) = beginning_of_pass_write_index.zip(end_of_pass_write_index) {
+                if begin == end {
+                    return make_err(
+                        CommandEncoderError::TimestampWriteIndicesEqual { idx: begin },
+                        arc_desc,
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+
             Some(ArcPassTimestampWrites {
                 query_set,
                 beginning_of_pass_write_index: tw.beginning_of_pass_write_index,
diff --git a/wgpu-core/src/command/mod.rs b/wgpu-core/src/command/mod.rs
index 6c7b26b7867..1f1cafaf5ef 100644
--- a/wgpu-core/src/command/mod.rs
+++ b/wgpu-core/src/command/mod.rs
@@ -654,6 +654,10 @@ pub enum CommandEncoderError {
     InvalidResource(#[from] InvalidResourceError),
     #[error(transparent)]
     MissingFeatures(#[from] MissingFeatures),
+    #[error(
+        "begin and end indices of pass timestamp writes are both set to {idx}, which is not allowed"
+    )]
+    TimestampWriteIndicesEqual { idx: u32 },
     #[error(transparent)]
     TimestampWritesInvalid(#[from] QueryUseError),
 }
diff --git a/wgpu-core/src/command/render.rs b/wgpu-core/src/command/render.rs
index f06249fc789..ff81e80370c 100644
--- a/wgpu-core/src/command/render.rs
+++ b/wgpu-core/src/command/render.rs
@@ -1412,6 +1412,14 @@ impl Global {
                     query_set.validate_query(SimplifiedQueryType::Timestamp, idx, None)?;
                 }
 
+                if let Some((begin, end)) =
+                    beginning_of_pass_write_index.zip(end_of_pass_write_index)
+                {
+                    if begin == end {
+                        return Err(CommandEncoderError::TimestampWriteIndicesEqual { idx: begin });
+                    }
+                }
+
                 Some(ArcPassTimestampWrites {
                     query_set,
                     beginning_of_pass_write_index: tw.beginning_of_pass_write_index,