diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e/ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e/ethtool.c
index dbed30943ef4..a8b35ae41141 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e/ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e/ethtool.c
@@ -583,20 +583,25 @@ static int e1000_set_eeprom(struct net_device *netdev,
 		/* need read/modify/write of first changed EEPROM word */
 		/* only the second byte of the word is being modified */
 		ret_val = e1000_read_nvm(hw, first_word, 1, &eeprom_buff[0]);
+		if (ret_val)
+			goto out;
+
+		/* Device's eeprom is always little-endian, word addressable */
+		le16_to_cpus(&eeprom_buff[0]);
+
 		ptr++;
 	}
-	if (((eeprom->offset + eeprom->len) & 1) && (!ret_val))
+	if ((eeprom->offset + eeprom->len) & 1) {
 		/* need read/modify/write of last changed EEPROM word */
 		/* only the first byte of the word is being modified */
 		ret_val = e1000_read_nvm(hw, last_word, 1,
 					 &eeprom_buff[last_word - first_word]);
+		if (ret_val)
+			goto out;
 
-	if (ret_val)
-		goto out;
-
-	/* Device's eeprom is always little-endian, word addressable */
-	for (i = 0; i < last_word - first_word + 1; i++)
-		le16_to_cpus(&eeprom_buff[i]);
+		/* Device's eeprom is always little-endian, word addressable */
+		le16_to_cpus(&eeprom_buff[last_word - first_word]);
+	}
 
 	memcpy(ptr, bytes, eeprom->len);