diff --git a/wp-includes/comment.php b/wp-includes/comment.php
index 57eb9faa02..e3499c802c 100644
--- a/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -1382,9 +1382,7 @@ function wp_update_comment($commentarr) {
 		$comment_approved = 1;
 
 	$data = compact('comment_content', 'comment_author', 'comment_author_email', 'comment_approved', 'comment_karma', 'comment_author_url', 'comment_date', 'comment_date_gmt');
-	$wpdb->update($wpdb->comments, $data, compact('comment_ID'));
-
-	$rval = $wpdb->rows_affected;
+	$rval = $wpdb->update( $wpdb->comments, $data, compact( 'comment_ID' ) );
 
 	clean_comment_cache($comment_ID);
 	wp_update_comment_count($comment_post_ID);
diff --git a/xmlrpc.php b/xmlrpc.php
index d52e58d114..7f96316818 100644
--- a/xmlrpc.php
+++ b/xmlrpc.php
@@ -3203,10 +3203,8 @@ class wp_xmlrpc_server extends IXR_Server {
 	  		return new IXR_Error(33, __('The specified target URL cannot be used as a target. It either doesn’t exist, or it is not a pingback-enabled resource.'));
 
 		// Let's check that the remote site didn't already pingback this entry
-		$wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND comment_author_url = %s", $post_ID, $pagelinkedfrom) );
-
-		if ( $wpdb->num_rows ) // We already have a Pingback from this URL
-	  		return new IXR_Error(48, __('The pingback has already been registered.'));
+		if ( $wpdb->get_results( $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_post_ID = %d AND comment_author_url = %s", $post_ID, $pagelinkedfrom) ) )
+			return new IXR_Error( 48, __( 'The pingback has already been registered.' ) );
 
 		// very stupid, but gives time to the 'from' server to publish !
 		sleep(1);