HP DL180 G5 and NC522SFP+ - No luck

[Matute]

Hi, first post so forgive me if I'm doing anything wrong in the posting process. I've been researching all day long but no luck. Fact is I installed a brand new NC522 SFP+ card in a DL180 G5 server but it doesn't boot. It reaches the menu with the options F7 - Boot menu, F10 - Settings, F12 PXE and the only option I can choose is F10, both other options (as well as waiting) take me to a freeze state with the legend: "Checking nvram.. Update OK!" and that's all. 

Things I've done: 
- Reset CMOS /NVRam (pressing switch 2 in the ssytem board)
- Change the NC522 from a PCi slot to another slot
- Took the card away (and it boots normally)
- Replace the card with another NC522 (**bleep**, I bought two to have a spare one!)
- double checked compatibility, and should be ok as stated here: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c01720419#N1004B
- also the normal stuff: praised, lit candles, etc.

Any help would be really appreciated, I need to get this server up and running as soon as I can. 

Thanks a lot.

[Matute]

Thanks for moving the post to a better place. 

I'll add a couple of things: 
- updated BMC firmware to 3.20 (was in 3.05) but same thing happens
- sometimes I get the Updated Ok! and sometimes it freezes with just the "checking nvram.." part
- I see the card in the Bios as a boot option, so it's not totally incompatible. 

Thanks for any advice you can give me. 

[Matute]

BTW I'm trying to update the server Bios Firmware, but the only updates I found said "BIOS (Entitlement Required) - System ROM", does that mean that in order to get a Bios update for this server I need a support contract? am I looking in the wrong place? 
Thanks for any data you can share with this or the above problem with the NC522. 

[Matute · Accepted solution]

OK, just in the not-so-probable case that someone finds himself in the same crossroad, I managed to get it working by flashing a new BIOS and Voilá. Now I'm fighting with FreeBSD and the qlx driver but that's a whole different story. That's alll regarding the boot problem.