diff --git a/testing/release/common/check_updates.sh b/testing/release/common/check_updates.sh
index d16dbf7a50bc..ff3a77f2bbd2 100755
--- a/testing/release/common/check_updates.sh
+++ b/testing/release/common/check_updates.sh
@@ -57,9 +57,21 @@ check_updates () {
     return 1
   fi
 
-  diff -r \
-    -x installed-chrome.txt \
-    -x removed-files \
-    source/$platform_dirname target/$platform_dirname 
-  return $?
+  diff -r source/$platform_dirname target/$platform_dirname  > results.diff
+  err=$?
+  cat results.diff
+  grep '^Binary files' results.diff > /dev/null
+  if [ $? == 0 ]
+  then
+    echo "FAIL: binary files found in diff"
+    return 1
+  elif [ -s results.diff ]
+  then
+    echo "WARN: non-binary files found in diff"
+    return 2
+  else
+    # unknown error
+    echo "FAIL: Unknown error from diff exit code: $err"
+    return 3
+  fi
 }
diff --git a/testing/release/updates/verify.sh b/testing/release/updates/verify.sh
index d7a38c26fee0..11c9e4324d83 100755
--- a/testing/release/updates/verify.sh
+++ b/testing/release/updates/verify.sh
@@ -130,9 +130,14 @@ do
         target_file=`basename "$to_path"`
         check_updates "$platform" "downloads/$source_file" "downloads/$target_file" $locale
         err=$?
-        if [ "$err" != "0" ]; then
-          echo "WARN: check_update returned non-zero exit code for $platform downloads/$source_file vs. downloads/$target_file: $err"
+        if [ "$err" == "0" ]; then
           continue
+        elif [ "$err" == "1" ]; then
+          echo "FAIL: check_updates returned failure for $platform downloads/$source_file vs. downloads/$target_file: $err"
+        elif [ "$err" == "2" ]; then
+          echo "WARN: check_updates returned warning for $platform downloads/$source_file vs. downloads/$target_file: $err"
+        else
+          echo "FAIL: check_updates returned unknown error for $platform downloads/$source_file vs. downloads/$target_file: $err"
         fi
       fi
     done