diff --git a/src/sound/snd_ac97_via.c b/src/sound/snd_ac97_via.c
index 9d46dfccd..1349d0849 100644
--- a/src/sound/snd_ac97_via.c
+++ b/src/sound/snd_ac97_via.c
@@ -378,18 +378,16 @@ ac97_via_sgd_write(uint16_t addr, uint8_t val, void *priv)
 					if (val & 1) { /* return 0x00 on unaligned reads */
 						dev->sgd_regs[0x80] = dev->sgd_regs[0x81] = 0x00;
 					} else {
-						dev->sgd_regs[0x80] = dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val] = ac97_codec_read(codec, val);
-						val |= 1;
-						dev->sgd_regs[0x81] = dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val] = ac97_codec_read(codec, val);
+						dev->sgd_regs[0x80] = dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val]     = ac97_codec_read(codec, val);
+						dev->sgd_regs[0x81] = dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val | 1] = ac97_codec_read(codec, val | 1);
 					}
 
 					/* Flag data/status/index for this codec as valid. */
 					if (val & 0x80)
 						dev->sgd_regs[0x83] |= 0x02 << (i << 1);
 				} else if (!(val & 1)) { /* do nothing on unaligned writes */
-					ac97_codec_write(codec, val, dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val] = dev->sgd_regs[0x80]);
-					val |= 1;
-					ac97_codec_write(codec, val, dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val] = dev->sgd_regs[0x81]);
+					ac97_codec_write(codec, val,     dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val]     = dev->sgd_regs[0x80]);
+					ac97_codec_write(codec, val | 1, dev->codec_shadow[modem].regs_codec[i][val | 1] = dev->sgd_regs[0x81]);
 
 					/* Update primary audio codec state if that codec was written to. */
 					if (!modem && !i)