diff --git a/open-sse/services/combo.ts b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
index b06577af4a..894c79033c 100644
--- a/open-sse/services/combo.ts
+++ b/open-sse/services/combo.ts
@@ -1524,7 +1524,8 @@ async function handleComboChatInner({
             );
             if (persistedRetrySkip) {
               log.info("COMBO", persistedRetrySkip);
-              return { ok: false, reason: "persisted_cooldown" };
+              if (i > 0) fallbackCount++;
+              return null;
             }
           }