a method and apparatus are provided in which a control scheme is implemented to enable a pci bus to operate more than two pci slots into which pci devices may be installed . the pci slots are checked to determine if a pci device is installed in the slots and the speed at which the installed pci devices are capable of running . if any of the slots has a 33 mhz device installed in any of the slots , the system is enabled to run more than two slots , and all of the pci devices will run at 33 mhz . when no 33 mhz cards or devices are installed in the pci slots , and pci devices are only installed in the first two slots , then the system is enabled to run only the first two slots at the speed of 66 mhz . in one alternative embodiment , a default configuration routine sets the pci bus speed at one of the operating frequencies and modifies that default if it is determined during a system configuration cycle that another speed is more appropriate .