diff --git a/tests/gold_tests/tls/ssl-post.c b/tests/gold_tests/tls/ssl-post.c
index 35ec0092874..dcb7ace554e 100644
--- a/tests/gold_tests/tls/ssl-post.c
+++ b/tests/gold_tests/tls/ssl-post.c
@@ -134,15 +134,15 @@ spawn_same_session_send(void *arg)
     ret = select(sfd + 1, &reads, &writes, NULL, NULL);
     if (FD_ISSET(sfd, &reads) || FD_ISSET(sfd, &writes)) {
       ret = write_ret = SSL_write(ssl, req_buf, strlen(req_buf));
-      if (write_ret >= 0)
+      if (write_ret > 0)
         post_write_ret = SSL_write(ssl, post_buf, sizeof(post_buf));
     }
   }
 
-  while (write_ret < 0) {
+  while (write_ret <= 0) {
     write_ret = SSL_write(ssl, req_buf, strlen(req_buf));
   }
-  while (post_write_ret < 0) {
+  while (post_write_ret <= 0) {
     post_write_ret = SSL_write(ssl, post_buf, sizeof(post_buf));
   }
 
diff --git a/tools/http_load/http_load.c b/tools/http_load/http_load.c
index da8c74c6bff..59bd5dd6bae 100644
--- a/tools/http_load/http_load.c
+++ b/tools/http_load/http_load.c
@@ -1098,7 +1098,7 @@ start_socket(int url_num, int cnum, struct timeval *nowP)
       r = SSL_write(connections[cnum].ssl, urls[url_num].buf, urls[url_num].buf_bytes);
     else
       r = write(connections[cnum].conn_fd, urls[url_num].buf, urls[url_num].buf_bytes);
-    if (r < 0) {
+    if (r <= 0) {
       perror(urls[url_num].url_str);
       connections[cnum].reusable = 0;
       close_connection(cnum);
@@ -1216,7 +1216,7 @@ handle_connect(int cnum, struct timeval *nowP, int double_check)
     r = SSL_write(connections[cnum].ssl, urls[url_num].buf, urls[url_num].buf_bytes);
   else
     r = write(connections[cnum].conn_fd, urls[url_num].buf, urls[url_num].buf_bytes);
-  if (r < 0) {
+  if (r <= 0) {
     perror(urls[url_num].url_str);
     connections[cnum].reusable = 0;
     close_connection(cnum);