diff --git a/src/core/ipns/republisher.js b/src/core/ipns/republisher.js
index 7345dceebd..150cb313d7 100644
--- a/src/core/ipns/republisher.js
+++ b/src/core/ipns/republisher.js
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class IpnsRepublisher {
       }
 
       // keychain needs pass to get the cryptographic keys
-      if (this._keychain && Boolean(pass)) {
+      if (pass) {
         this._keychain.listKeys((err, list) => {
           if (err) {
             log.error(err)
diff --git a/src/core/ipns/resolver.js b/src/core/ipns/resolver.js
index 8ea7480c7d..f9fb81ccd5 100644
--- a/src/core/ipns/resolver.js
+++ b/src/core/ipns/resolver.js
@@ -105,34 +105,27 @@ class IpnsResolver {
 
     this._routing.get(routingKey.toBuffer(), (err, res) => {
       if (err) {
+        if (err.code !== 'ERR_NOT_FOUND') {
+          const errMsg = `unexpected error getting the ipns record ${peerId.id}`
+
+          log.error(errMsg)
+          return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_UNEXPECTED_ERROR_GETTING_RECORD'))
+        }
         const errMsg = `record requested was not found for ${name} (${routingKey}) in the network`
 
         log.error(errMsg)
         return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_NO_RECORD_FOUND'))
       }
 
-      if (!res) {
-        const errMsg = `record requested was empty for ${name} (${routingKey}) in the network`
-
-        log.error(errMsg)
-        return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_EMPTY_RECORD_FOUND'))
-      }
-
-      if (!Buffer.isBuffer(res)) {
-        const errMsg = `found ipns record that we couldn't convert to a value`
-
-        log.error(errMsg)
-        return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_INVALID_RECORD_RECEIVED'))
-      }
-
       let ipnsEntry
-
       try {
         const record = Record.deserialize(res)
         ipnsEntry = ipns.unmarshal(record.value)
       } catch (err) {
-        log.error(err)
-        return callback(err)
+        const errMsg = `found ipns record that we couldn't convert to a value`
+
+        log.error(errMsg)
+        return callback(errcode(new Error(errMsg), 'ERR_INVALID_RECORD_RECEIVED'))
       }
 
       ipns.extractPublicKey(peerId, ipnsEntry, (err, pubKey) => {
diff --git a/src/core/ipns/routing/utils.js b/src/core/ipns/routing/utils.js
index 8448d77346..baa9ac16aa 100644
--- a/src/core/ipns/routing/utils.js
+++ b/src/core/ipns/routing/utils.js
@@ -3,5 +3,5 @@
 const multibase = require('multibase')
 
 module.exports.encodeBase32 = (buf) => {
-  return multibase.encode('base32', buf)
+  return multibase.encode('base32', buf).slice(1) // slice off multibase codec
 }
diff --git a/test/core/name.js b/test/core/name.js
index 768a1780ca..790aee384d 100644
--- a/test/core/name.js
+++ b/test/core/name.js
@@ -322,15 +322,15 @@ describe('name', function () {
 
         node.name.resolve(nodeId, { nocache: true }, (err, res) => {
           expect(err).to.exist()
-          expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_NO_RECORD_FOUND')
+          expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_UNEXPECTED_ERROR_GETTING_RECORD')
           stub.restore()
           done()
         })
       })
     })
 
-    it('should publish and then fail to resolve if does not get any data', function (done) {
-      const stub = sinon.stub(node._ipns.resolver._routing, 'get').callsArgWith(1, undefined, undefined)
+    it('should publish and then fail to resolve if does not find the record', function (done) {
+      const stub = sinon.stub(node._ipns.resolver._routing, 'get').callsArgWith(1, { code: 'ERR_NOT_FOUND' })
 
       node.name.publish(ipfsRef, { resolve: false }, (err, res) => {
         expect(err).to.not.exist()
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ describe('name', function () {
 
         node.name.resolve(nodeId, { nocache: true }, (err, res) => {
           expect(err).to.exist()
-          expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_EMPTY_RECORD_FOUND')
+          expect(err.code).to.equal('ERR_NO_RECORD_FOUND')
           stub.restore()
           done()
         })