diff --git a/ports/stm32/i2c.c b/ports/stm32/i2c.c
index 06e26d9124..5981df11c5 100644
--- a/ports/stm32/i2c.c
+++ b/ports/stm32/i2c.c
@@ -340,8 +340,7 @@ STATIC int i2c_wait_isr_set(i2c_t *i2c, uint32_t mask) {
 int i2c_start_addr(i2c_t *i2c, int rd_wrn, uint16_t addr, size_t len, bool stop) {
     // Enable the peripheral and send the START condition with slave address
     i2c->CR1 |= I2C_CR1_PE;
-    i2c->CR2 = stop << I2C_CR2_AUTOEND_Pos
-        | (len > 1) << I2C_CR2_RELOAD_Pos
+    i2c->CR2 = (len > 1) << I2C_CR2_RELOAD_Pos
         | (len > 0) << I2C_CR2_NBYTES_Pos
         | rd_wrn << I2C_CR2_RD_WRN_Pos
         | (addr & 0x7f) << 1;
@@ -361,6 +360,11 @@ int i2c_start_addr(i2c_t *i2c, int rd_wrn, uint16_t addr, size_t len, bool stop)
         return -MP_ENODEV;
     }
 
+    // Configure automatic STOP if needed
+    if (stop) {
+        i2c->CR2 |= I2C_CR2_AUTOEND;
+    }
+
     // Repurpose OAR1 to indicate that we loaded CR2
     i2c->OAR1 = 1;