diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.c
index f5bbd3834116de53043e8fb65c1ae4590bb6f333..932c93b486e6c2270f0fdfddb73d72991f5f8ba6 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.c
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ nv04_instmem_alloc(struct nouveau_instmem *imem, struct nouveau_object *parent,
 		   u32 size, u32 align, struct nouveau_object **pobject)
 {
 	struct nouveau_object *engine = nv_object(imem);
-	struct nv04_instmem_priv *priv = (void *)(imem);
 	int ret;
 
 	ret = nouveau_object_ctor(parent, engine, &nv04_instobj_oclass,
@@ -101,14 +100,6 @@ nv04_instmem_alloc(struct nouveau_instmem *imem, struct nouveau_object *parent,
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	/* INSTMEM itself creates objects to reserve (and preserve across
-	 * suspend/resume) various fixed data locations, each one of these
-	 * takes a reference on INSTMEM itself, causing it to never be
-	 * freed.  We drop all the self-references here to avoid this.
-	 */
-	if (unlikely(!priv->created))
-		atomic_dec(&engine->refcount);
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -154,7 +145,6 @@ nv04_instmem_ctor(struct nouveau_object *parent, struct nouveau_object *engine,
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	priv->created = true;
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.h
index 7983d8d9b3585b2932a5fa29bc40355847f9c448..b15b61310236608e88a1bc2b89f58b70f3705f48 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv04.h
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 
 struct nv04_instmem_priv {
 	struct nouveau_instmem base;
-	bool created;
 
 	void __iomem *iomem;
 	struct nouveau_mm heap;
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv40.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv40.c
index da64253201ef3dee20635c67e96f37d0480a2ad1..5aef79748527c6c6beb3e8efb3d0d1d8e6237c8f 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv40.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/core/subdev/instmem/nv40.c
@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ nv40_instmem_ctor(struct nouveau_object *parent, struct nouveau_object *engine,
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
-	priv->created = true;
 	return 0;
 }