diff --git a/rpi-eeprom-config b/rpi-eeprom-config
index 0a6ce5e..6ce96a4 100755
--- a/rpi-eeprom-config
+++ b/rpi-eeprom-config
@@ -163,11 +163,11 @@ def read_current_config():
     nvmem_base = "/sys/bus/nvmem/devices/"
 
     if os.path.exists(fw_base + "/aliases/blconfig"):
-        with open(fw_base + "/aliases/blconfig") as f:
-            nvmem_ofnode_path = fw_base + f.read().encode('ascii')
+        with open(fw_base + "/aliases/blconfig", "rb") as f:
+            nvmem_ofnode_path = fw_base + f.read().decode('utf-8')
             for d in os.listdir(nvmem_base):
                 if os.path.realpath(nvmem_base + d + "/of_node") in os.path.normpath(nvmem_ofnode_path):
-                    return (open(nvmem_base + d + "/nvmem").read(), "blconfig device")
+                    return (open(nvmem_base + d + "/nvmem", "rb").read().decode('utf-8'), "blconfig device")
 
     return (shell_cmd(['vcgencmd', 'bootloader_config']), "vcgencmd bootloader_config")