An apparatus for detecting and correcting errors in a received codeword includes a syndrome calculator, error locator polynomial generator, and symbol corrector. The syndrome calculator has a first input to receive a first plurality of symbols, a second input to receive a second plurality of symbols, and a plurality of processing stages each coupled to the first and second inputs. Each processing stage is configured to process a symbol of the first plurality of symbols, and a symbol of the second plurality of symbols, during each of a plurality of iterations to generate a respective syndrome value after the iterations. The syndrome calculator also has a syndrome output configured to output the respective syndrome values. The error locator polynomial generator has a syndrome input coupled to both the syndrome output and an error location output, and the symbol corrector has an error location input coupled to the error location output.