Method and apparatus for recovering from a failed I/O controller in an information handling system

A method comprising:

• using a first I/O controller to control a first and a second I/O slot;
• using a second I/O controller to control a third and a fourth I/O slot;
• providing a power on self test (POST) routine for detecting an I/O controller failure;
• detecting a failure of one of the first I/O controller and the second I/O controller using the POST routine;
• providing switching means, responsive to the detected I/O controller failure, for operatively coupling/decoupling the first and second I/O slot to/from the first I/O controller, for operatively coupling/decoupling the third and fourth I/O slot to/from the second I/O controller, and for operatively decoupling/coupling the first and second I/O slot from/to the third and fourth I/O slot according to an I/O failure recovery protocol, the I/O failure recovery protocol being provided for adapting one of either the first and second I/O controllers to operatively couple to the first, second, third and fourth I/O slots as a function of the detected I/O controller failure;
• and wherein the first and second I/O controllers include PCI controllers and the first, second, third, and fourth I/O slots each include a PCI slot;
• using the provided switching means to couple the first, second, third, and fourth I/O slots to one of the first and the second I/O controllers;
• and
• using one of the first and second I/O controllers to control the first, second, third, and fourth I/O slots, wherein the one of the first and second I/O controllers is set to half bus speed.