Optiplex 760 Bios error with any pci-e card installed

any ideas ?

I am having the same problem on a optiplex 780.

yea I think there is a glitch in the bios or something, hopefully someone on here will have an answer for us, I cannot put any pci-e card in and have the machine boot.  it hangs at boot.  when I see it hang if I plug something into the vga port I see the bios error.  If I remove any pci-e card (and I have several which all work fine on a 745 and 755 whether the bios is on auto or not) the machine will not boot, period.  This has to be some kind of bug.

I think that's exactly what it is.  It makes the machine worthless unless you want to use a single vga monitor on it's built in vga port which is NOT what I want to be able to do.  I also see that nobody from Dell has responded yet so maybe they will eventually and we can have some path to take.  

With all the posts of people having the same problem, it would be nice if dell would respond. I am trying to use dual monitors which are dvi so the VGA is worthless for me as well.  I am using the computer for work and this is really setting me back.

Joe b: I have been doing some ready about my 780 problem. I have a display port and according to dells site the port will support 3 monitors up to 1080p.  So I have ordered a display port to dvi dongle off of eBay for 7 bucks.  In the description it shows compatibility for the optiplex 760 and 780.  I already have a dvi splitter that I will use to connect both monitors. I will let you know in about a week if this works.  Here is the link to the display port adapter I purchased on eBay, seller has one more left.  The dvi to y dvi splitters (or dvi to y vGA) are cheap as well on eBay. Maybe this may be an option for us?

Look at this on eBay:

DELL DisplayPort to DVI-D Adapter Cable 23NVR #w#

http://bit.ly/SYLpPe

Joe B:  Update on my problem.  I contacted Dell support and they determined it was a bad mobo.  They came and replaced the board and everything is working so far.  I will post again if the problem re-occurs.

The DVI Adapter is Display Port to DVI.  Should work without issues.

The problem is if any card is put into the 760's pci-e slow the system will not boot.  If you then plug a monitor into the vga port you get the error about an invalid configuration.  All pci-e cards I tried will NOT work, period.  They work fine on a 745 and a 755.  This has to be a motherboard problem.  Is there a known problem and what do I do about it please.  The machine is worthless as I cannot use the pci-e slot for a video card.  It does not matter which setting the BIOS is in concerning the video card either.

I never did. I decided to revert to optiplex 755's which have no issues, support the same cpu's as the 760 does and the same type memory (DDR2).  Only reason I could see anyone thinking there is an advantage to the 760 over the 755 is if they plan to use on-board graphics, which of course I'm not interested in doing. I bought a new board and it had the same issues. I'm done with 760's, Dell can keep them !!  If you find a solution, please share it, thanks!

I'll give that a try; although, the same card that worked previously wouldn't work either.

I have the exact same issue with an Optiplex 780.  Went to swap out an old PCI-e card that had been running fine for years with a newer card and now I have the problem mentioned in the OP with every card i've tried, even the one that had been in the machine and working fine previously.  Tried clearing the CMOS.  Nothing.  Did anyone find a solution to this that did not involve replacing the mobo?

Look in the Bios under Maintenance for PCI SERR message and disable it.

Maintenance

Service Tag Displays the service tag for your computer.

SERR Message (On default)
Some graphics cards require that the SERR message be disabled.