diff --git a/src/elpa2/elpa2_template.F90 b/src/elpa2/elpa2_template.F90
index f62b849e38bfb8d38847b0ca34461aac03ad5ce7..8d1d93485e92f820f073eb474c1f6954d9804835 100644
--- a/src/elpa2/elpa2_template.F90
+++ b/src/elpa2/elpa2_template.F90
@@ -201,7 +201,10 @@
     endif
     if (kernel .eq. GPU_KERNEL) then
       if (gpu .ne. 1) then
-        write(error_unit,*) "ELPA: Warning, GPU usage has been requested but compute kernel is defined as non-GPU!"
+        write(error_unit,*) "ELPA: Warning, GPU usage has NOT been requested but compute kernel &
+                            &is defined as the GPU kernel!  Aborting..."
+        stop
+        !TODO do error handling properly
       endif
     endif