PCIe x4 expansion issues

So I have been working on replacing the ReadyNAS os with FreeNAS and have gotten stuck on one thing... the PCIe x4 slot.

The process to install FreeNAS on my ReadyNAS Pro (6 drive) is fairly simple though requires removing the PCIe x4 expansion card since I didn't want to try to find drivers for the proprietary card. Removing this is not problem, the problem is getting my PCIe x1 NIC to work on the port.

I have an x1 NIC that I know works with FreeNAS but for some reason the unit will not even power on with a PCIe x1 card in the slot. By PCIe spec the x4 slot should allow x1 cards but the BIOS or MoBo may not handle this.

I got a x1 riser cable off ebay from China and thought this could be the issue so tried directly plugging in the NIC. To directly plug in the NIC I had to cut off some tabs off the bottom (I know not a good idea)... but that didn't work. Plugging in the old extension adapter (without the card attached) allows the unit to turn on. As a last resort I even cut the extension so the part after the x1 can slide in next to my riser but the unit still doesn't turn on.

The OS installed fine and boots up but without a NIC its not much of a NAS. The next thing to try is a PCIe x4 NIC to see if that is the issue.

Any ideas out there? Anyone familiar with FreeNAS knows that it is a great OS with lots of nice features... not the least of which being zfs.

Oh and my BIOS is v08.00.14 (MoBo FLAME v1.6) and I kind of wiped the OS off the expansion card chip (oops) so not sure if there is a normal way to update the BIOS (if that is a solution to the problem).

Thanks