Comment 1 for bug 1475945

I have found that iTCO_wdt doesn't work without previously loading i2c-i801 (you can see a pair of references in http://linux-kernel.2935.n7.nabble.com/PATCH-0-5-iTCO-wdt-Add-support-for-Intel-Sunrisepoint-td1160031.html and in https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/9/10/157) As it's blacklisted, it doesn't load even when putting it on /etc/modules.
As stated by OP on launchpad discussion, it seems that the original decission to blacklist i2-i801, as correct as it was in its moment, seems to be creating more problems now for modern systems.