diff --git a/code/tools/asm/q3asm.c b/code/tools/asm/q3asm.c
index 191a9db6..54c6ab1e 100644
--- a/code/tools/asm/q3asm.c
+++ b/code/tools/asm/q3asm.c
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ static unsigned int HashString (const char *key)
     acc = (acc << 2) | (acc >> 30);
     acc &= 0xffffffffU;
     }
-    return abs(acc);
+    return acc;
 }
 
 
@@ -1644,4 +1644,3 @@ Motivation: not wanting to scrollback for pages to find asm error.
 
 	return errorCount;
 }
-