diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 4cb5e03f9a..059fb0948e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2006-02-03  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* gst/playback/gstdecodebin.c: (try_to_link_1):
+	  Don't put essential function call into
+	  g_return_*() macro, otherwise it'll all be
+	  replaced by NOOPs when compiling with
+	  G_DISABLE_CHECKS defined.
+
 2006-02-03  Edgard Lima <edgard.lima@indt.org.br>
 
 	* ext/ogg/gstoggdemux.c:
diff --git a/gst/playback/gstdecodebin.c b/gst/playback/gstdecodebin.c
index 883d40180a..3631e56dc4 100644
--- a/gst/playback/gstdecodebin.c
+++ b/gst/playback/gstdecodebin.c
@@ -729,6 +729,8 @@ try_to_link_1 (GstDecodeBin * decode_bin, GstElement * srcelement, GstPad * pad,
   isdemux = is_demuxer_element (srcelement);
 
   if (isdemux && factories != NULL) {
+    GstPadLinkReturn dqlink;
+
     /* Insert a queue between demuxer and decoder */
     GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (decode_bin,
         "Element %s is a demuxer, inserting a queue",
@@ -745,8 +747,8 @@ try_to_link_1 (GstDecodeBin * decode_bin, GstElement * srcelement, GstPad * pad,
     queuesinkpad = gst_element_get_pad (queue, "sink");
     usedsrcpad = queuesrcpad = gst_element_get_pad (queue, "src");
 
-    g_return_val_if_fail (gst_pad_link (pad, queuesinkpad) == GST_PAD_LINK_OK,
-        NULL);
+    dqlink = gst_pad_link (pad, queuesinkpad);
+    g_return_val_if_fail (dqlink == GST_PAD_LINK_OK, NULL);
   }
 
   /* loop over the factories */