Using PCI Express Slot for something other than video

[Kent Dahlgren]

Hi 

We're trying to use the PCIe 16x slot in a Precision 370
for some hardware development. 

We removed the PCIe video card and put an nVIDIA display 
adapter in one of the PCI slots. No problem, the system
booted up uninstalled the PCIe card driver and installed a 
driver for the PCIe card.

The problem begins when we plug the non-video PCIe card
into the 16x slot and try to boot the machine. The PCI video
card does not get initialized and the system does not even
boot.

I'm guessing that the BIOS is setup to expect that the only
card that is plugged into the 16x slot is a video card, and gives
up when it doesn't find one there.

Does anyone have any insight and or solutions?

Thanks,
Kent Dahlgren