diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/channel_gk20a.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/channel_gk20a.c
index f839bfbc2..7481e747a 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/channel_gk20a.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/gk20a/channel_gk20a.c
@@ -1802,7 +1802,8 @@ int gk20a_alloc_channel_gpfifo(struct channel_gk20a *c,
 clean_up_priv_cmd:
 	channel_gk20a_free_priv_cmdbuf(c);
 clean_up_prealloc:
-	channel_gk20a_free_prealloc_resources(c);
+	if (args->num_inflight_jobs)
+		channel_gk20a_free_prealloc_resources(c);
 clean_up_sync:
 	gk20a_channel_sync_destroy(c->sync);
 	c->sync = NULL;