diff --git a/Firmware/ConfigurationStore.cpp b/Firmware/ConfigurationStore.cpp
index 2156b2306..4c4cd47ac 100644
--- a/Firmware/ConfigurationStore.cpp
+++ b/Firmware/ConfigurationStore.cpp
@@ -215,10 +215,10 @@ static bool is_uninitialized(void* addr, uint8_t len)
 bool Config_RetrieveSettings()
 {
   bool previous_settings_retrieved = true;
-    char ver[4]=EEPROM_VERSION;
+    static const char ver[4] PROGMEM = EEPROM_VERSION;
     eeprom_read_block(reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(cs.version), reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(EEPROM_M500_base->version), sizeof(cs.version));
     //  SERIAL_ECHOLN("Version: [" << ver << "] Stored version: [" << cs.version << "]");
-    if (strncmp(ver,cs.version,3) == 0)  // version number match
+    if (strncmp_P(ver, cs.version, sizeof(EEPROM_VERSION)) == 0)  // version number match
     {
         eeprom_read_block(reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(&cs), reinterpret_cast<uint8_t*>(EEPROM_M500_base), sizeof(cs));
         calculate_extruder_multipliers();