diff --git a/drivers/mtd/nand/diskonchip.c b/drivers/mtd/nand/diskonchip.c
index ab9f5c5db38..0e72153b329 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/nand/diskonchip.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/nand/diskonchip.c
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ static int doc_ecc_decode(struct rs_control *rs, uint8_t *data, uint8_t *ecc)
 		}
 	}
 	/* If the parity is wrong, no rescue possible */
-	return parity ? -1 : nerr;
+	return parity ? -EBADMSG : nerr;
 }
 
 static void DoC_Delay(struct doc_priv *doc, unsigned short cycles)
@@ -1034,7 +1034,7 @@ static int doc200x_correct_data(struct mtd_info *mtd, u_char *dat,
 		WriteDOC(DOC_ECC_DIS, docptr, Mplus_ECCConf);
 	else
 		WriteDOC(DOC_ECC_DIS, docptr, ECCConf);
-	if (no_ecc_failures && (ret == -1)) {
+	if (no_ecc_failures && (ret == -EBADMSG)) {
 		printk(KERN_ERR "suppressing ECC failure\n");
 		ret = 0;
 	}
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/nand/nand_ecc.c b/drivers/mtd/nand/nand_ecc.c
index fde593e5e63..9003a135e05 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/nand/nand_ecc.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/nand/nand_ecc.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ int nand_correct_data(struct mtd_info *mtd, u_char *dat,
 	if(countbits(s0 | ((uint32_t)s1 << 8) | ((uint32_t)s2 <<16)) == 1)
 		return 1;
 
-	return -1;
+	return -EBADMSG;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(nand_correct_data);
 
diff --git a/lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c b/lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c
index 65bc718f0dc..0ec3f257ffd 100644
--- a/lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c
+++ b/lib/reed_solomon/decode_rs.c
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
 		 * deg(lambda) unequal to number of roots => uncorrectable
 		 * error detected
 		 */
-		count = -1;
+		count = -EBADMSG;
 		goto finish;
 	}
 	/*
diff --git a/lib/reed_solomon/reed_solomon.c b/lib/reed_solomon/reed_solomon.c
index 5b0d8522b7c..3ea2db94d5b 100644
--- a/lib/reed_solomon/reed_solomon.c
+++ b/lib/reed_solomon/reed_solomon.c
@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(encode_rs8);
  *  The syndrome and parity uses a uint16_t data type to enable
  *  symbol size > 8. The calling code must take care of decoding of the
  *  syndrome result and the received parity before calling this code.
+ *  Returns the number of corrected bits or -EBADMSG for uncorrectable errors.
  */
 int decode_rs8(struct rs_control *rs, uint8_t *data, uint16_t *par, int len,
 	       uint16_t *s, int no_eras, int *eras_pos, uint16_t invmsk,
@@ -363,6 +364,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(encode_rs16);
  *  @corr:	buffer to store correction bitmask on eras_pos
  *
  *  Each field in the data array contains up to symbol size bits of valid data.
+ *  Returns the number of corrected bits or -EBADMSG for uncorrectable errors.
  */
 int decode_rs16(struct rs_control *rs, uint16_t *data, uint16_t *par, int len,
 		uint16_t *s, int no_eras, int *eras_pos, uint16_t invmsk,