diff --git a/hw/ppc/ppc440_pcix.c b/hw/ppc/ppc440_pcix.c
index 7829d3e556..91cbcd0504 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/ppc440_pcix.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/ppc440_pcix.c
@@ -449,28 +449,35 @@ static AddressSpace *ppc440_pcix_set_iommu(PCIBus *b, void *opaque, int devfn)
     return &s->bm_as;
 }
 
-/* The default pci_host_data_{read,write} functions in pci/pci_host.c
- * deny access to registers without bit 31 set but our clients want
- * this to work so we have to override these here */
-static void pci_host_data_write(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
-                                uint64_t val, unsigned len)
+/*
+ * Some guests on sam460ex write all kinds of garbage here such as
+ * missing enable bit and low bits set and still expect this to work
+ * (apparently it does on real hardware because these boot there) so
+ * we have to override these ops here and fix it up
+ */
+static void pci_host_config_write(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
+                                  uint64_t val, unsigned len)
 {
     PCIHostState *s = opaque;
-    pci_data_write(s->bus, s->config_reg | (addr & 3), val, len);
+
+    if (addr != 0 || len != 4) {
+        return;
+    }
+    s->config_reg = (val & 0xfffffffcULL) | (1UL << 31);
 }
 
-static uint64_t pci_host_data_read(void *opaque,
-                                   hwaddr addr, unsigned len)
+static uint64_t pci_host_config_read(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
+                                     unsigned len)
 {
     PCIHostState *s = opaque;
-    uint32_t val;
-    val = pci_data_read(s->bus, s->config_reg | (addr & 3), len);
+    uint32_t val = s->config_reg;
+
     return val;
 }
 
-const MemoryRegionOps ppc440_pcix_host_data_ops = {
-    .read = pci_host_data_read,
-    .write = pci_host_data_write,
+const MemoryRegionOps ppc440_pcix_host_conf_ops = {
+    .read = pci_host_config_read,
+    .write = pci_host_config_write,
     .endianness = DEVICE_LITTLE_ENDIAN,
 };
 
@@ -497,9 +504,9 @@ static void ppc440_pcix_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     pci_setup_iommu(h->bus, ppc440_pcix_set_iommu, s);
 
     memory_region_init(&s->container, OBJECT(s), "pci-container", PCI_ALL_SIZE);
-    memory_region_init_io(&h->conf_mem, OBJECT(s), &pci_host_conf_le_ops,
+    memory_region_init_io(&h->conf_mem, OBJECT(s), &ppc440_pcix_host_conf_ops,
                           h, "pci-conf-idx", 4);
-    memory_region_init_io(&h->data_mem, OBJECT(s), &ppc440_pcix_host_data_ops,
+    memory_region_init_io(&h->data_mem, OBJECT(s), &pci_host_data_le_ops,
                           h, "pci-conf-data", 4);
     memory_region_init_io(&s->iomem, OBJECT(s), &pci_reg_ops, s,
                           "pci.reg", PPC440_REG_SIZE);