Here is a revised version (not a patch because it doesn't support all of the various modes) and the results. It doesn't return anything beyond what was mentioned in previous mails. For the following code: ret = i2c_smbus_read_word_data(chip->client, reg << 1); val[0] = (u16)ret & 0xFF; val[1] = (u16)ret >> 8; do we want to see: put_unaligned(val,i2c_smbus_read_word_data(chip->client, reg << 1));