Abstract: A method and apparatus for automatic configuration of a computer system is provided wherein one or more system peripheral or I/O devices can be interfaced to the computer system through I/O boards that plug into a system motherboard. Each of the I/O devices includes a controlling device driver module that operates under a program code stored in a read only memory resident on the I/O board and by which the device driver module allows the computer system to communicate with its associated peripheral and I/O devices. Accordingly, a system user is not required to change the computer operating system kernel to support each new I/O device or system configuration change.