diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual.h b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual.h
index 6c05f55f37..bad60ce0e6 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual.h
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual.h
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_individual_module_finalize (ompio_file_t *file);
 
 extern int mca_sharedfp_individual_priority;
 extern int mca_sharedfp_individual_verbose;
+extern int mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter;
 
 OMPI_MODULE_DECLSPEC extern mca_sharedfp_base_component_2_0_0_t mca_sharedfp_individual_component;
 /*
diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_iwrite.c b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_iwrite.c
index ce24a1922b..82d5d3bb63 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_iwrite.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_iwrite.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_individual_iwrite(ompio_file_t *fh,
                     "mca_sharedfp_individual_iwrite: module not initialized \n");
         return OMPI_ERROR;
     }
+    mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter++;
 
     /* Calculate the number of bytes of data that needs to be written*/
     opal_datatype_type_size ( &datatype->super, &numofbytes);
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_individual_write_ordered_begin(ompio_file_t *fh,
                     "at any given point in time!\n");
         return MPI_ERR_REQUEST;
     }
+    mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter++;
 
     /*Retrieve the sharedfp data structures*/
     sh = fh->f_sharedfp_data;
diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_seek.c b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_seek.c
index 2b097d8fc9..0c7ace7a22 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_seek.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_seek.c
@@ -27,19 +27,18 @@
 #include "ompi/constants.h"
 #include "ompi/mca/sharedfp/sharedfp.h"
 
-static int seek_counter=0;
+int mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter=0;
 
 int mca_sharedfp_individual_seek (ompio_file_t *fh,
                          OMPI_MPI_OFFSET_TYPE offset, int whence)
 {
-    if ( 0 == seek_counter && 
-         0 == offset       && 
-         MPI_SEEK_SET == whence ) {
-        /* This is occuring when setting the default file view. THat is ok.
-        ** The component doesn't support however further seek operations. 
+    if ( 0 == mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter  ) {
+        /* As long as nobody using this module 'inapproprialy', its is ok.
+        ** to call this function, since it might come out of File_set_view.
+        ** however, we have to return an error as soon as people are calling
+        ** this function on this component and expect it to work. 
         */
         
-        seek_counter++;
         return OMPI_SUCCESS;
     }
 
diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_write.c b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_write.c
index fe507f3ff8..2b01600191 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_write.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/individual/sharedfp_individual_write.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_individual_write (ompio_file_t *fh,
                     "sharedfp_individual_write: module not initialized \n");
         return OMPI_ERROR;
     }
+    mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter++;
 
     /* Calculate the number of bytes of data that need to be written*/
     opal_datatype_type_size ( &datatype->super, &numofbytes);
@@ -98,6 +99,8 @@ int mca_sharedfp_individual_write_ordered (ompio_file_t *fh,
         return OMPI_ERROR;
     }
 
+    mca_sharedfp_individual_usage_counter++;
+
     /*Retrieve the sharedfp data structures*/
     sh = fh->f_sharedfp_data;