diff --git a/core/rs/core/src/changes_vtab_write.rs b/core/rs/core/src/changes_vtab_write.rs
index a543f78ab..bb95b2fab 100644
--- a/core/rs/core/src/changes_vtab_write.rs
+++ b/core/rs/core/src/changes_vtab_write.rs
@@ -714,8 +714,8 @@ unsafe fn merge_insert(
     if res.is_ok() && !insert_site_id.is_empty() {
         if let Err(rc) = insert_db_version((*tab).pExtData, insert_site_id, insert_db_vrsn) {
             let err = CString::new(format!(
-                "Unable to insert db version {} for site id {:?}",
-                insert_db_vrsn, insert_site_id
+                "Unable to insert db version {} for site id {:?}: {:?}",
+                insert_db_vrsn, insert_site_id, rc
             ))?;
             *errmsg = err.into_raw();
             return Err(rc);
diff --git a/core/rs/core/src/db_version.rs b/core/rs/core/src/db_version.rs
index a888a676c..72e86c3bd 100644
--- a/core/rs/core/src/db_version.rs
+++ b/core/rs/core/src/db_version.rs
@@ -251,22 +251,17 @@ pub fn insert_db_version(
             reset_cached_stmt((*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt)?;
             return Err(rc);
         }
-        match (*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt.step() {
-            Ok(ResultCode::ROW) => {
-                last_db_versions.insert(
-                    insert_site_id.to_vec(),
-                    (*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt.column_int64(0),
-                );
-            }
-            Ok(_) => {}
-            Err(rc) => {
-                reset_cached_stmt((*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt)?;
-                return Err(rc);
-            }
-        }
+
+        let res = (*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt.step();
         reset_cached_stmt((*ext_data).pSetDbVersionStmt)?;
+        if let Err(rc) = res {
+            return Err(rc);
+        }
+
+        // this is still the biggest db version we've seen in this transaction.
+        last_db_versions.insert(insert_site_id.to_vec(), insert_db_vrsn);
+        Ok(())
     }
-    Ok(())
 }
 
 pub unsafe fn get_or_set_site_ordinal(