diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/errors.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/errors.go
index 116122f0a..93bc85c80 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/errors.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/errors.go
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ const (
 	ErrorCodeNone int16 = 0
 
 	// General server errors
-	ErrorCodeUnknownServerError           int16 = 1
-	ErrorCodeOffsetOutOfRange             int16 = 2
+	ErrorCodeUnknownServerError           int16 = -1
+	ErrorCodeOffsetOutOfRange             int16 = 1
 	ErrorCodeCorruptMessage               int16 = 3 // Also UNKNOWN_TOPIC_OR_PARTITION
 	ErrorCodeUnknownTopicOrPartition      int16 = 3
 	ErrorCodeInvalidFetchSize             int16 = 4
diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
index 8aeb3ad96..2768793d2 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/handler.go
@@ -2342,7 +2342,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleCreateTopicsV2To4(correlationID uint32, requestBody []by
 		} else {
 			// Use schema-aware topic creation
 			if err := h.createTopicWithSchemaSupport(t.name, int32(t.partitions)); err != nil {
-				errCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+				errCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 			}
 		}
 		eb := make([]byte, 2)
@@ -2472,7 +2472,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleCreateTopicsV0V1(correlationID uint32, requestBody []byt
 		} else {
 			// Create the topic in SeaweedMQ with schema support
 			if err := h.createTopicWithSchemaSupport(topicName, int32(numPartitions)); err != nil {
-				errorCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+				errorCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -2747,7 +2747,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleCreateTopicsV2Plus(correlationID uint32, apiVersion uint
 		} else {
 			// Use corrected values for error checking and topic creation with schema support
 			if err := h.createTopicWithSchemaSupport(t.name, int32(actualPartitions)); err != nil {
-				errCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+				errCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 			}
 		}
 		eb := make([]byte, 2)
@@ -2879,7 +2879,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleDeleteTopics(correlationID uint32, requestBody []byte) (
 		} else {
 			// Delete the topic from SeaweedMQ
 			if err := h.seaweedMQHandler.DeleteTopic(topicName); err != nil {
-				errorCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+				errorCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 				errorMessage = err.Error()
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/produce.go b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/produce.go
index 73cdb46cb..0c806f807 100644
--- a/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/produce.go
+++ b/weed/mq/kafka/protocol/produce.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleProduceV0V1(ctx context.Context, correlationID uint32, a
 						if h.isSchemaValidationError(err) {
 							time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond) // Brief delay for schema validation failures
 						}
-						errorCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+						errorCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 					} else {
 						baseOffset = offset
 					}
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleProduceV2Plus(ctx context.Context, correlationID uint32,
 								if h.isSchemaValidationError(prodErr) {
 									time.Sleep(200 * time.Millisecond) // Brief delay for schema validation failures
 								}
-								errorCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+								errorCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 								break
 							}
 
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleProduceV2Plus(ctx context.Context, correlationID uint32,
 						for idx, kv := range records {
 							offsetProduced, prodErr := h.produceSchemaBasedRecord(ctx, topicName, int32(partitionID), kv.Key, kv.Value)
 							if prodErr != nil {
-								errorCode = 1 // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR
+								errorCode = 0xFFFF // UNKNOWN_SERVER_ERROR (-1 as uint16)
 								break
 							}
 							if idx == 0 {