diff --git a/libsrc4/nc4hdf.c b/libsrc4/nc4hdf.c
index 39f87dfc9..0061d8f35 100644
--- a/libsrc4/nc4hdf.c
+++ b/libsrc4/nc4hdf.c
@@ -567,12 +567,19 @@ nc4_put_vara(NC_FILE_INFO_T *nc, int ncid, int varid, const size_t *startp,
       count[i] = countp[i];
    }
    
-   /* Open this databset if necessary. */
+   /* Open this databset if necessary, also checking for a weird case:
+    * a non-coordinate variable that has the same name as a
+    * dimension. */
+   if (var->hdf5_name && strlen(var->hdf5_name) >= strlen(NON_COORD_PREPEND) && 
+			  strncmp(var->hdf5_name, NON_COORD_PREPEND, strlen(NON_COORD_PREPEND)) == 0)
+       if ((var->hdf_datasetid = H5Dopen2(grp->hdf_grpid, var->hdf5_name,
+					  H5P_DEFAULT)) < 0)
+	   return NC_ENOTVAR;
    if (!var->hdf_datasetid)
-      if ((var->hdf_datasetid = H5Dopen2(grp->hdf_grpid, var->name,
-	      H5P_DEFAULT)) < 0)
-         return NC_ENOTVAR;
-
+       if ((var->hdf_datasetid = H5Dopen2(grp->hdf_grpid, var->name,
+					  H5P_DEFAULT)) < 0)
+	   return NC_ENOTVAR;
+       
    /* Get file space of data. */
    if ((file_spaceid = H5Dget_space(var->hdf_datasetid)) < 0) 
       BAIL(NC_EHDFERR);
diff --git a/ncdump/nciter.c b/ncdump/nciter.c
index 28c9e8e5d..c821f0302 100644
--- a/ncdump/nciter.c
+++ b/ncdump/nciter.c
@@ -380,7 +380,10 @@ nc_next_iter(nciter_t *iter,	/* returned opaque iteration state */
 	    /* adjust count to stay in range of dimsizes */
 	    for(i = 0; i < iter->rank; i++) {
 		int leftover = iter->dimsizes[i] - start[i];
-		count[i] = iter->chunksizes[i];
+		if(iter->chunksizes[i] <= iter->dimsizes[i])
+		    count[i] = iter->chunksizes[i];
+		else /* can happen for variables with only unlimited dimensions */
+		    count[i] = iter->dimsizes[i];
 		if(leftover < count[i]) 
 		    count[i] = leftover;
 	    }