diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 2f60cec410..df47695266 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -2050,7 +2050,6 @@ func MakeChainDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) ethdb.
 	var (
 		cache   = ctx.Int(CacheFlag.Name) * ctx.Int(CacheDatabaseFlag.Name) / 100
 		handles = MakeDatabaseHandles(ctx.Int(FDLimitFlag.Name))
-
 		err     error
 		chainDb ethdb.Database
 	)
@@ -2059,10 +2058,9 @@ func MakeChainDatabase(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node, readonly bool) ethdb.
 		log.Info("Using remote db", "url", ctx.String(RemoteDBFlag.Name), "headers", len(ctx.StringSlice(HttpHeaderFlag.Name)))
 		var client *rpc.Client
 		client, err = DialRPCWithHeaders(ctx.String(RemoteDBFlag.Name), ctx.StringSlice(HttpHeaderFlag.Name))
-		if err != nil {
-			break
+		if err == nil {
+			chainDb = remotedb.New(client)
 		}
-		chainDb = remotedb.New(client)
 	case ctx.String(SyncModeFlag.Name) == "light":
 		chainDb, err = stack.OpenDatabase("lightchaindata", cache, handles, "", readonly)
 	default:
@@ -2087,7 +2085,6 @@ func tryMakeReadOnlyChainDB(ctx *cli.Context, stack *node.Node) ethdb.Database {
 	var (
 		cache   = ctx.Int(CacheFlag.Name) * ctx.Int(CacheDatabaseFlag.Name) / 100
 		handles = MakeDatabaseHandles(ctx.Int(FDLimitFlag.Name))
-
 		err     error
 		chainDb ethdb.Database
 	)