diff --git a/routers/web/repo/repo.go b/routers/web/repo/repo.go
index 88cbd701d21..715ce34e64d 100644
--- a/routers/web/repo/repo.go
+++ b/routers/web/repo/repo.go
@@ -575,23 +575,27 @@ func SearchRepo(ctx *context.Context) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	var err error
+	// To improve performance when only the count is requested
+	if ctx.FormBool("count_only") {
+		if count, err := repo_model.CountRepository(ctx, opts); err != nil {
+			log.Error("CountRepository: %v", err)
+			ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, nil) // frontend JS doesn't handle error response (same as below)
+		} else {
+			ctx.SetTotalCountHeader(count)
+			ctx.JSONOK()
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
 	repos, count, err := repo_model.SearchRepository(ctx, opts)
 	if err != nil {
-		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, api.SearchError{
-			OK:    false,
-			Error: err.Error(),
-		})
+		log.Error("SearchRepository: %v", err)
+		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, nil)
 		return
 	}
 
 	ctx.SetTotalCountHeader(count)
 
-	// To improve performance when only the count is requested
-	if ctx.FormBool("count_only") {
-		return
-	}
-
 	// collect the latest commit of each repo
 	// at most there are dozens of repos (limited by MaxResponseItems), so it's not a big problem at the moment
 	repoBranchNames := make(map[int64]string, len(repos))
diff --git a/web_src/js/components/DashboardRepoList.vue b/web_src/js/components/DashboardRepoList.vue
index f7cea32fb63..11ca6a6ac7c 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/DashboardRepoList.vue
+++ b/web_src/js/components/DashboardRepoList.vue
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ const sfc = {
         if (!this.reposTotalCount) {
           const totalCountSearchURL = `${this.subUrl}/repo/search?count_only=1&uid=${this.uid}&team_id=${this.teamId}&q=&page=1&mode=`;
           response = await GET(totalCountSearchURL);
-          this.reposTotalCount = response.headers.get('X-Total-Count');
+          this.reposTotalCount = response.headers.get('X-Total-Count') ?? '?';
         }
 
         response = await GET(searchedURL);