diff --git a/zircon/kernel/dev/uart/motmot/uart.cc b/zircon/kernel/dev/uart/motmot/uart.cc
index 321eae6..6b288c05 100644
--- a/zircon/kernel/dev/uart/motmot/uart.cc
+++ b/zircon/kernel/dev/uart/motmot/uart.cc
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@
     return result.value();
   }
 
-  return ZX_ERR_INTERNAL;
+  return result.error_value();
 }
 
 // panic-time getc/putc
diff --git a/zircon/kernel/platform/generic-arm/platform.cc b/zircon/kernel/platform/generic-arm/platform.cc
index 79d35e0..c918dbe 100644
--- a/zircon/kernel/platform/generic-arm/platform.cc
+++ b/zircon/kernel/platform/generic-arm/platform.cc
@@ -487,14 +487,16 @@
   if (uart_disabled) {
     return ZX_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED;
   }
+
   int ret = uart_getc(wait);
-  // uart_getc returns ZX_ERR_INTERNAL if no input was read
-  if (!wait && ret == ZX_ERR_INTERNAL)
+  if (ret >= 0) {
+    *c = static_cast<char>(ret);
+    return 1;
+  }
+  if (ret == ZX_ERR_SHOULD_WAIT) {
     return 0;
-  if (ret < 0)
-    return ret;
-  *c = static_cast<char>(ret);
-  return 1;
+  }
+  return ret;
 }
 
 void platform_pputc(char c) {