diff --git a/src/pacman/util.c b/src/pacman/util.c
index e2c99003..0862de0c 100644
--- a/src/pacman/util.c
+++ b/src/pacman/util.c
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ int check_syncdbs(size_t need_repos, int check_valid)
 int sync_syncdbs(int level, alpm_list_t *syncs)
 {
 	alpm_list_t *i;
-	unsigned int success = 0;
+	unsigned int success = 1;
 
 	for(i = syncs; i; i = alpm_list_next(i)) {
 		alpm_db_t *db = i->data;
@@ -156,21 +156,14 @@ int sync_syncdbs(int level, alpm_list_t *syncs)
 		if(ret < 0) {
 			pm_printf(ALPM_LOG_ERROR, _("failed to update %s (%s)\n"),
 					alpm_db_get_name(db), alpm_strerror(alpm_errno(config->handle)));
+			success = 0;
 		} else if(ret == 1) {
 			printf(_(" %s is up to date\n"), alpm_db_get_name(db));
-			success++;
-		} else {
-			success++;
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* We should always succeed if at least one DB was upgraded - we may possibly
-	 * fail later with unresolved deps, but that should be rare, and would be
-	 * expected
-	 */
 	if(!success) {
-		pm_printf(ALPM_LOG_ERROR, _("failed to synchronize any databases\n"));
-		trans_init_error();
+		pm_printf(ALPM_LOG_ERROR, _("failed to synchronize all databases\n"));
 	}
 	return (success > 0);
 }