diff --git a/headers/private/system/safemode_defs.h b/headers/private/system/safemode_defs.h
index 7bd2435bdd..e5d5a3ea6a 100644
--- a/headers/private/system/safemode_defs.h
+++ b/headers/private/system/safemode_defs.h
@@ -21,5 +21,7 @@
 #	define B_SAFEMODE_DISABLE_LATENCY_CHECK	"disable_latency_check"
 #endif
 
+#define B_SAFEMODE_ENABLE_IOAPIC			"enable_ioapic"
+	// TODO: temprary opt-in, can be removed once IO-APIC code is broadly tested
 
 #endif	/* _SYSTEM_SAFEMODE_DEFS_H */
diff --git a/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/smp.cpp b/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/smp.cpp
index 3b152eb699..0f635d37ac 100644
--- a/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/smp.cpp
+++ b/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/smp.cpp
@@ -580,13 +580,19 @@ smp_add_safemode_menus(Menu *menu)
 	MenuItem *item;
 
 	if (gKernelArgs.arch_args.ioapic_phys != 0) {
+#if 0
 		menu->AddItem(item = new(nothrow) MenuItem("Disable IO-APIC"));
 		item->SetType(MENU_ITEM_MARKABLE);
-		item->SetMarked(true);
-			// TODO: disabled by default for now
 		item->SetData(B_SAFEMODE_DISABLE_IOAPIC);
-		item->SetHelpText("Disables using the IO APIC for interrupt handling, "
-			"forcing instead the use of the PIC.");
+		item->SetHelpText("Disables using the IO APIC for interrupt routing, "
+			"forcing the use of the legacy PIC instead.");
+#else
+		// TODO: This can be removed once IO-APIC code is broadly tested
+		menu->AddItem(item = new(nothrow) MenuItem("Enable IO-APIC"));
+		item->SetType(MENU_ITEM_MARKABLE);
+		item->SetData(B_SAFEMODE_ENABLE_IOAPIC);
+		item->SetHelpText("Enables using the IO APIC for interrupt routing.");
+#endif
 	}
 
 	if (gKernelArgs.arch_args.apic_phys != 0) {
diff --git a/src/system/kernel/arch/x86/arch_int.cpp b/src/system/kernel/arch/x86/arch_int.cpp
index 7a9eae624c..6bc31eff71 100644
--- a/src/system/kernel/arch/x86/arch_int.cpp
+++ b/src/system/kernel/arch/x86/arch_int.cpp
@@ -614,11 +614,20 @@ ioapic_init(kernel_args* args)
 	if (sIOAPIC == NULL)
 		return;
 
-	if (get_safemode_boolean(B_SAFEMODE_DISABLE_IOAPIC, true)) {
+#if 0
+	if (get_safemode_boolean(B_SAFEMODE_DISABLE_IOAPIC, false)) {
 		dprintf("ioapic explicitly disabled, not using ioapics for interrupt "
 			"routing\n");
 		return;
 	}
+#else
+	// TODO: This can be removed once IO-APIC code is broadly tested
+	if (!get_safemode_boolean(B_SAFEMODE_ENABLE_IOAPIC, false)) {
+		dprintf("ioapic not enabled, not using ioapics for interrupt "
+			"routing\n");
+		return;
+	}
+#endif
 
 	uint32 version = ioapic_read_32(IO_APIC_VERSION);
 	if (version == 0xffffffff) {