diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
index f69be4c8f9f2..1fd5ccf41128 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.c
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ MODULE_PARM_DESC(vram_pushbuf, "Create DMA push buffers in VRAM");
 int nouveau_vram_pushbuf;
 module_param_named(vram_pushbuf, nouveau_vram_pushbuf, int, 0400);
 
+void
+nouveau_channel_kill(struct nouveau_channel *chan)
+{
+	atomic_set(&chan->killed, 1);
+	if (chan->fence)
+		nouveau_fence_context_kill(chan->fence, -ENODEV);
+}
+
 static int
 nouveau_channel_killed(struct nvif_event *event, void *repv, u32 repc)
 {
@@ -47,9 +55,9 @@ nouveau_channel_killed(struct nvif_event *event, void *repv, u32 repc)
 	struct nouveau_cli *cli = (void *)chan->user.client;
 
 	NV_PRINTK(warn, cli, "channel %d killed!\n", chan->chid);
-	atomic_set(&chan->killed, 1);
-	if (chan->fence)
-		nouveau_fence_context_kill(chan->fence, -ENODEV);
+
+	if (unlikely(!atomic_read(&chan->killed)))
+		nouveau_channel_kill(chan);
 
 	return NVIF_EVENT_DROP;
 }
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.h
index bad7466bd0d5..5de2ef4e98c2 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_chan.h
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ int  nouveau_channel_new(struct nouveau_drm *, struct nvif_device *, bool priv,
 			 u32 vram, u32 gart, struct nouveau_channel **);
 void nouveau_channel_del(struct nouveau_channel **);
 int  nouveau_channel_idle(struct nouveau_channel *);
+void nouveau_channel_kill(struct nouveau_channel *);
 
 extern int nouveau_vram_pushbuf;