diff --git a/hw/nvram/eeprom_at24c.c b/hw/nvram/eeprom_at24c.c
index da435500ba..01a3093600 100644
--- a/hw/nvram/eeprom_at24c.c
+++ b/hw/nvram/eeprom_at24c.c
@@ -58,9 +58,10 @@ int at24c_eeprom_event(I2CSlave *s, enum i2c_event event)
 
     switch (event) {
     case I2C_START_SEND:
-    case I2C_START_RECV:
     case I2C_FINISH:
         ee->haveaddr = 0;
+        /* fallthrough */
+    case I2C_START_RECV:
         DPRINTK("clear\n");
         if (ee->blk && ee->changed) {
             int len = blk_pwrite(ee->blk, 0, ee->mem, ee->rsize, 0);
@@ -84,6 +85,10 @@ uint8_t at24c_eeprom_recv(I2CSlave *s)
     EEPROMState *ee = AT24C_EE(s);
     uint8_t ret;
 
+    if (ee->haveaddr == 1) {
+        return 0xff;
+    }
+
     ret = ee->mem[ee->cur];
 
     ee->cur = (ee->cur + 1u) % ee->rsize;