diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
index c165bc97b..9260577db 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config.py
@@ -360,6 +360,12 @@ def validate_config(cfg):
             "eval_table_size and eval_sample_packing are not supported together with sample_packing. Please set 'eval_sample_packing' to false."
         )
 
+    if not cfg.adapter and (cfg.load_in_8bit or cfg.load_in_4bit):
+        raise ValueError(
+            "load_in_8bit and load_in_4bit are not supported without setting an adapter."
+            "If you want to full finetune, please turn off load_in_8bit and load_in_4bit."
+        )
+
     # TODO
     # MPT 7b
     # https://github.com/facebookresearch/bitsandbytes/issues/25
diff --git a/tests/test_validation.py b/tests/test_validation.py
index 98c91da49..dbd030da3 100644
--- a/tests/test_validation.py
+++ b/tests/test_validation.py
@@ -606,3 +606,46 @@ class ValidationTest(unittest.TestCase):
         )
 
         validate_config(cfg)
+
+    def test_load_in_x_bit_without_adapter(self):
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "load_in_4bit": True,
+            }
+        )
+
+        with pytest.raises(
+            ValueError,
+            match=r".*load_in_8bit and load_in_4bit are not supported without setting an adapter.*",
+        ):
+            validate_config(cfg)
+
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "load_in_8bit": True,
+            }
+        )
+
+        with pytest.raises(
+            ValueError,
+            match=r".*load_in_8bit and load_in_4bit are not supported without setting an adapter.*",
+        ):
+            validate_config(cfg)
+
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "load_in_4bit": True,
+                "adapter": "qlora",
+            }
+        )
+
+        validate_config(cfg)
+
+        cfg = DictDefault(
+            {
+                "load_in_8bit": True,
+                "adapter": "lora",
+            }
+        )
+
+        validate_config(cfg)