diff --git a/nova/tests/fixtures.py b/nova/tests/fixtures.py
index df270a1d7452..e32d6cdfef55 100644
--- a/nova/tests/fixtures.py
+++ b/nova/tests/fixtures.py
@@ -1479,7 +1479,6 @@ class CinderFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
     def __init__(self, test):
         super(CinderFixture, self).__init__()
         self.test = test
-        self.swap_error = False
         self.swap_volume_instance_uuid = None
         self.swap_volume_instance_error_uuid = None
         self.reserved_volumes = list()
@@ -1588,11 +1587,6 @@ class CinderFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
             if volume_id in self.reserved_volumes:
                 self.reserved_volumes.remove(volume_id)
 
-            # Signaling that swap_volume has encountered the error
-            # from initialize_connection and is working on rolling back
-            # the reservation on SWAP_ERR_NEW_VOL.
-            self.swap_error = True
-
         def fake_attach(_self, context, volume_id, instance_uuid,
                         mountpoint, mode='rw'):
             # Check to see if the volume is already attached to any server.
@@ -1675,7 +1669,6 @@ class CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow(fixtures.Fixture):
     def __init__(self, test):
         super(CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow, self).__init__()
         self.test = test
-        self.swap_error = False
         self.swap_volume_instance_uuid = None
         self.swap_volume_instance_error_uuid = None
         self.attachment_error_id = None
@@ -1819,9 +1812,6 @@ class CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow(fixtures.Fixture):
             _, attachment, attachments = _find_attachment(attachment_id)
             attachments.remove(attachment)
 
-            if attachment_id == CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow.SWAP_ERR_ATTACH_ID:
-                self.swap_error = True
-
         def fake_attachment_update(_self, context, attachment_id, connector,
                                    mountpoint=None):
             # Ensure the attachment exists
@@ -1832,6 +1822,8 @@ class CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow(fixtures.Fixture):
                                                   {'foo': 'bar',
                                                    'target_lun': '1'}}}
             if attachment_id == CinderFixtureNewAttachFlow.SWAP_ERR_ATTACH_ID:
+                # This intentionally triggers a TypeError for the
+                # instance.volume_swap.error versioned notification tests.
                 attachment_ref = {'connection_info': ()}
             return attachment_ref
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_instance.py b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_instance.py
index de2d8c98eaff..f4432d97a782 100644
--- a/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_instance.py
+++ b/nova/tests/functional/notification_sample_tests/test_instance.py
@@ -336,13 +336,6 @@ class TestInstanceNotificationSample(
             time.sleep(0.5)
         self.fail('Volume swap operation failed.')
 
-    def _wait_until_swap_volume_error(self):
-        for i in range(50):
-            if self.cinder.swap_error:
-                return
-            time.sleep(0.5)
-        self.fail("Timed out waiting for volume swap error to occur.")
-
     def test_instance_action(self):
         # A single test case is used to test most of the instance action
         # notifications to avoid booting up an instance for every action
@@ -1534,13 +1527,9 @@ class TestInstanceNotificationSample(
 
         self._volume_swap_server(server, self.cinder.SWAP_ERR_OLD_VOL,
                                  self.cinder.SWAP_ERR_NEW_VOL)
-        self._wait_until_swap_volume_error()
+        self._wait_for_notification('compute.exception')
 
-        # Seven versioned notifications are generated. We only rely on the
-        # first six because _wait_until_swap_volume_error will return True
-        # after volume_api.unreserve is called on the cinder fixture, and that
-        # happens before the instance fault is handled in the compute manager
-        # which generates the last notification (compute.exception).
+        # Eight versioned notifications are generated.
         # 0. instance-create-start
         # 1. instance-create-end
         # 2. instance-update