diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c b/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
index 132de8b28dbb066fdbf33edb7eb05a3ec97c8698..3becc8a35bee1737bf9d3343ab5d11d2c9ccc53a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-annotate.c
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ static int load_kernel(void)
 		return -1;
 
 	err = dso__load_kernel(kernel_dso, vmlinux, NULL, verbose);
-	if (err) {
+	if (err <= 0) {
 		dso__delete(kernel_dso);
 		kernel_dso = NULL;
 	} else
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
index be1b7584796dd53668815d21568fb63c4957a681..58d1612894ffad3c8cd68a8ea01e6ffaf81f9730 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ static int load_kernel(void)
 		return -1;
 
 	err = dso__load_kernel(kernel_dso, vmlinux, NULL, verbose);
-	if (err) {
+	if (err <= 0) {
 		dso__delete(kernel_dso);
 		kernel_dso = NULL;
 	} else
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index cdc74cfb15178fc7f0b1147f3cfaaece066077f0..97fde1d84365540cffce7738ea17ef8f2121f2d7 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ static int parse_symbols(void)
 	if (kernel_dso == NULL)
 		return -1;
 
-	if (dso__load_kernel(kernel_dso, NULL, symbol_filter, 1) != 0)
+	if (dso__load_kernel(kernel_dso, NULL, symbol_filter, 1) <= 0)
 		goto out_delete_dso;
 
 	node = rb_first(&kernel_dso->syms);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
index 78c2efde01b7bee7a52665969cf0fcb87917b481..c077b6a146904de76604b30210d8d262f9ef9452 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ static int dso__load_kallsyms(struct dso *self, symbol_filter_t filter, int verb
 	char *line = NULL;
 	size_t n;
 	FILE *file = fopen("/proc/kallsyms", "r");
+	int count = 0;
 
 	if (file == NULL)
 		goto out_failure;
@@ -188,8 +189,10 @@ static int dso__load_kallsyms(struct dso *self, symbol_filter_t filter, int verb
 
 		if (filter && filter(self, sym))
 			symbol__delete(sym, self->sym_priv_size);
-		else
+		else {
 			dso__insert_symbol(self, sym);
+			count++;
+		}
 	}
 
 	/*
@@ -212,7 +215,7 @@ static int dso__load_kallsyms(struct dso *self, symbol_filter_t filter, int verb
 	free(line);
 	fclose(file);
 
-	return 0;
+	return count;
 
 out_delete_line:
 	free(line);
@@ -639,7 +642,7 @@ int dso__load_kernel(struct dso *self, const char *vmlinux,
 	if (vmlinux)
 		err = dso__load_vmlinux(self, vmlinux, filter, verbose);
 
-	if (err < 0)
+	if (err <= 0)
 		err = dso__load_kallsyms(self, filter, verbose);
 
 	return err;