diff --git a/libraries/Util.class.php b/libraries/Util.class.php
index 60fac94d5c..e694cedcd4 100644
--- a/libraries/Util.class.php
+++ b/libraries/Util.class.php
@@ -603,7 +603,8 @@ class PMA_Util
     }
 
     /**
-     * Displays a MySQL error message in the right frame.
+     * Displays a MySQL error message in the right frame when $exit is true.
+     * Returns the error message otherwise.
      *
      * @param string $error_message  the error message
      * @param string $the_query      the sql query that failed
@@ -611,7 +612,7 @@ class PMA_Util
      * @param string $back_url       the "back" link url (full path is not required)
      * @param bool   $exit           EXIT the page?
      *
-     * @return void
+     * @return mixed
      *
      * @global  string    the curent table
      * @global  string    the current db
@@ -765,7 +766,7 @@ class PMA_Util
             echo $error_msg;
             exit;
         } else {
-            echo $error_msg;
+            return $error_msg;
         }
     } // end of the 'mysqlDie()' function
 
diff --git a/libraries/plugins/auth/AuthenticationConfig.class.php b/libraries/plugins/auth/AuthenticationConfig.class.php
index 7719a1d4d6..6bfc5e352d 100644
--- a/libraries/plugins/auth/AuthenticationConfig.class.php
+++ b/libraries/plugins/auth/AuthenticationConfig.class.php
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ class AuthenticationConfig extends AuthenticationPlugin
                     ), E_USER_WARNING
                 );
             }
-            PMA_Util::mysqlDie(
+            echo PMA_Util::mysqlDie(
                 $conn_error, '', true, '', false
             );
         }
diff --git a/tbl_create.php b/tbl_create.php
index 490a49c13a..bc6524e2e4 100644
--- a/tbl_create.php
+++ b/tbl_create.php
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ if (isset($_REQUEST['do_save_data'])) {
             $response->isSuccess(false);
             $response->addJSON('message', PMA_DBI_getError());
         } else {
-            PMA_Util::mysqlDie('', '', '', $err_url, false);
+            echo PMA_Util::mysqlDie('', '', '', $err_url, false);
             // An error happened while inserting/updating a table definition.
             // To prevent total loss of that data, we embed the form once again.
             // The variable $regenerate will be used to restore data in
diff --git a/tbl_relation.php b/tbl_relation.php
index 6854d22c0d..f42c1a88c6 100644
--- a/tbl_relation.php
+++ b/tbl_relation.php
@@ -210,12 +210,9 @@ if (isset($_REQUEST['destination_foreign'])) {
             if (substr($tmp_error_create, 1, 4) == '1216'
                 ||  substr($tmp_error_create, 1, 4) == '1452'
             ) {
-                ob_start();
-                PMA_Util::mysqlDie(
+                $html_output .= PMA_Util::mysqlDie(
                     $tmp_error_create, $create_query, false, '', false
                 );
-                $html_output .= ob_get_contents();
-                ob_end_clean();
                 $html_output .= PMA_Util::showMySQLDocu(
                     'manual_Table_types', 'InnoDB_foreign_key_constraints'
                 ) . "\n";