diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/linux/timers.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/linux/timers.c
index 2953902e4..5786b240e 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/linux/timers.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/linux/timers.c
@@ -54,12 +54,9 @@ static int nvgpu_timeout_is_pre_silicon(struct nvgpu_timeout *timeout)
  *
  * If neither %NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER or %NVGPU_TIMER_RETRY_TIMER is passed then
  * a CPU timer is used by default.
- *
- * A negative duration is interpreted as the maximum possible, which for our
- * purposes means infinite wait.
  */
 int nvgpu_timeout_init(struct gk20a *g, struct nvgpu_timeout *timeout,
-		       int duration, unsigned long flags)
+		       u32 duration, unsigned long flags)
 {
 	if (flags & ~NVGPU_TIMER_FLAG_MASK)
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -69,9 +66,6 @@ int nvgpu_timeout_init(struct gk20a *g, struct nvgpu_timeout *timeout,
 	timeout->g = g;
 	timeout->flags = flags;
 
-	if (duration < 0)
-		duration = INT_MAX;
-
 	if (flags & NVGPU_TIMER_RETRY_TIMER)
 		timeout->retries.max = duration;
 	else
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/pmu/pmu_ipc.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/pmu/pmu_ipc.c
index 0dbc2df34..6dffdf0fc 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/pmu/pmu_ipc.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/common/pmu/pmu_ipc.c
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ static int pmu_write_cmd(struct nvgpu_pmu *pmu, struct pmu_cmd *cmd,
 	nvgpu_log_fn(g, " ");
 
 	queue = &pmu->queue[queue_id];
-	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, (int)timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
+	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
 
 	do {
 		err = pmu_queue_open_write(pmu, queue, cmd->hdr.size);
@@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ int pmu_wait_message_cond(struct nvgpu_pmu *pmu, u32 timeout_ms,
 	struct nvgpu_timeout timeout;
 	unsigned long delay = GR_IDLE_CHECK_DEFAULT;
 
-	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, (int)timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
+	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
 
 	do {
 		if (*var == val)
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gk20a.h b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gk20a.h
index f365ac94c..dd5f0d17a 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gk20a.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gk20a.h
@@ -1287,7 +1287,7 @@ struct gk20a {
 static inline unsigned long gk20a_get_gr_idle_timeout(struct gk20a *g)
 {
 	return g->timeouts_enabled ?
-		g->gr_idle_timeout_default : MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT;
+		g->gr_idle_timeout_default : ULONG_MAX;
 }
 
 enum BAR0_DEBUG_OPERATION {
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gr_gk20a.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gr_gk20a.c
index c5dab0b53..4dfb6ee83 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gr_gk20a.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/gr_gk20a.c
@@ -344,8 +344,7 @@ int gr_gk20a_wait_idle(struct gk20a *g, unsigned long duration_ms,
 
 	gr_engine_id = gk20a_fifo_get_gr_engine_id(g);
 
-	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, (int)duration_ms,
-			   NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
+	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, duration_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
 
 	do {
 		/* fmodel: host gets fifo_engine_status(gr) from gr
@@ -398,8 +397,7 @@ int gr_gk20a_wait_fe_idle(struct gk20a *g, unsigned long duration_ms,
 
 	gk20a_dbg_fn("");
 
-	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, (int)duration_ms,
-			   NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
+	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, duration_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
 
 	do {
 		val = gk20a_readl(g, gr_status_r());
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gm20b/pmu_gm20b.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gm20b/pmu_gm20b.c
index ee55c8ef6..0f99c67e6 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gm20b/pmu_gm20b.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gm20b/pmu_gm20b.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ static int pmu_gm20b_ctx_wait_lsf_ready(struct gk20a *g, u32 timeout_ms,
 	gk20a_dbg_fn("");
 	reg = gk20a_readl(g, gr_fecs_ctxsw_mailbox_r(0));
 
-	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, (int)timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
+	nvgpu_timeout_init(g, &timeout, timeout_ms, NVGPU_TIMER_CPU_TIMER);
 
 	do {
 		reg = gk20a_readl(g, gr_fecs_ctxsw_mailbox_r(0));
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/include/nvgpu/timers.h b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/include/nvgpu/timers.h
index 5265437e9..482f92b71 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/include/nvgpu/timers.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/include/nvgpu/timers.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2016, NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2016-2017, NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
  * under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License,
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ struct nvgpu_timeout {
 	union {
 		s64		 time;
 		struct {
-			int	 max;
-			int	 attempted;
+			u32	 max;
+			u32	 attempted;
 		} retries;
 	};
 };
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ struct nvgpu_timeout {
 					 NVGPU_TIMER_SILENT_TIMEOUT)
 
 int nvgpu_timeout_init(struct gk20a *g, struct nvgpu_timeout *timeout,
-		       int duration, unsigned long flags);
+		       u32 duration, unsigned long flags);
 int nvgpu_timeout_peek_expired(struct nvgpu_timeout *timeout);
 
 #define nvgpu_timeout_expired(__timeout)				\