diff --git a/lisp/startup.el b/lisp/startup.el
index 364689ccdbf..d9682eef4c8 100644
--- a/lisp/startup.el
+++ b/lisp/startup.el
@@ -463,9 +463,6 @@ or `CVS', and any subdirectory that contains a file named `.nosearch'."
 	    (and (string-match "\\`[[:alnum:]]" file)
 		 ;; The lower-case variants of RCS and CVS are for DOS/Windows.
 		 (not (member file '("RCS" "CVS" "rcs" "cvs")))
-		 ;; Avoid doing a `stat' when it isn't necessary because
-		 ;; that can cause trouble when an NFS server is down.
-		 (not (string-match "\\.elc?\\'" file))
 		 (file-directory-p file)
 		 (let ((expanded (expand-file-name file)))
 		   (or (file-exists-p (expand-file-name ".nosearch" expanded))