diff --git a/firmware/bootloader/compile_bootloader.sh b/firmware/bootloader/compile_bootloader.sh
index 018528ff2e..a374a38472 100644
--- a/firmware/bootloader/compile_bootloader.sh
+++ b/firmware/bootloader/compile_bootloader.sh
@@ -11,9 +11,8 @@ BOOTLOADER_CODE_DESTINATION_FILE=$BOOTLOADER_CODE_DESTINATION_PATH/bootloader_ge
 echo "$SCRIPT_NAME: Starting bootloader compilation..."
 make -j4 -f src/Makefile $1 $2 $3
 
-rm -f blbuild/$BOOTLOADER_CODE_DESTINATION_FILE
-
-[ $? -eq 0 ] || { echo "ERROR: bootloader compilation failed"; exit 1; }
+# downstream scripts detect error condition by checking if the output file exists so we need to make sure we remove it
+[ $? -eq 0 ] || { echo "ERROR: bootloader compilation failed"; rm -f blbuild/$BOOTLOADER_CODE_DESTINATION_FILE ; exit 1; }
  
 echo "$SCRIPT_NAME: Bootloader build success."