PRB: Legacy-Free System with PCI Card May Install Slowly

If you install Microsoft Windows XP on a legacy-free system that has a combination of a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) card with a serial port and special BIOS settings, installation may take a lot longer.

Some original equipment manufacturers may permanently map in their BIOS an I/O range of 03F8 to 03FF to a COM port on a PCI card. This mapping is done so that developers can debug applications and drivers on legacy-free devices in a debugging tool. On such systems, if you insert a PCI legacy card and then you try to install Windows XP, you may experience a delay of up to three hours during installation.

To avoid this delay, remove the PCI card.

Alternatively, you can disable the PCI slot in the BIOS (if that action is supported) before you install Windows XP. After Windows XP is installed, reinsert the PCI card (or re-enable the slot in the BIOS if you disabled the slot earlier).

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