[SOLVED] Optiplex 760 recognizes PCI-Express card as SDVO

[ashold7]

Hello,
I plugged a hp nc364t network card into the PCI-Express slot of my Optiplex 760. The NIC is fully working I tested it in another PC. However the Optiplex just recognizes the NIC as a SDVO card according to the BIOS. If I plug an Ethernet cable into a port of the NIC nothing happens... The Lights which normally indicate that a port is used are not lightning up. Any help is appreciated. I already removed the BIOS battery. My BIOS Version is A16.

 

[william p]

I'm guessing you don't have the MT (tower) version which has a 1x PCIe slot. The other versions the only PCIe slot will be the 16x slot.
I used a PCI network card for my Optiplex 380 and left the 16x PCIe for a graphics card. Those assume that the PCIe slot will be used for a graphics card. You're lucky it didn't disable the onboard GPU.

 

[ashold7]

I'm guessing you don't have the MT (tower) version which has a 1x PCIe slot. The other versions the only PCIe slot will be the 16x slot.
I used a PCI network card for my Optiplex 380 and left the 16x PCIe for a graphics card. Those assume that the PCIe slot will be used for a graphics card. You're lucky it didn't disable the onboard GPU.

Ok, interesting... Because in the manual there is nothing which indicates that only GPUs can be plugged into that PCIe slot.... Do you know any possibility to turn this behavior off?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

As already stated the PCIe slot in the "pizza box" machines is reserved for a video card. No, you cannot turn that functionality off.

 

[william p]

Dell BIOS is a take it or leave it kind of thing. They selll thousand of them to offices with warranty and extended tech support. They're intentionally hard to modify. It will allow a modest GPU upgrade limited in size and power. But that's about all it's set up to do. PCI network cards exist and work just fine. In the manual under installing a video card it will probably say installing a card in the 16x slot disables the onboard video. Fortunately it has detected a card there, but not disabled the onboard GPU "yet".
The manual suggests disabling the onboard NIC in BIOS if you install a network card. and there is an option to specify using the onboard GPU. Maybe that will free up the slot. But Dell really isn't concerned about supporting options that they didn't sell with the computers. You can ask at Dell Community Forums. maybe another user has solved this already.