Update/Edit#2:
After thinking I had beaten the problem I was disappointed to find the problem returned after a few days of "smoother" operation. I was back to the card not starting up and all the same intermittent issues. At the end of my rope I asked a friend if I could borrow their UAD-2 card to test in my system (I took mine to his studio to test mine early on). I picked up his card and returned to my studio to find his card worked every time I started the computer without changing a single setting. I was able to start up and shut down and start again as well as successful restarts. At this point I was certain I had a defective card. 


It was still under warranty and called UA to explain the situation. I had been talking to them all along but we both thought the card wasn't the issue because it worked in other computers. We both agreed a replacement was the best next step. If that didn't work, well... I immediately sent the card off and they dispatched a replacement which I received this morning. Upon installing the card it worked the first, second and third starts, restarts, etc. I am thrilled to have this part of the experience behind me. 

Update/Edit:

The source of the UAD-2 not consistently initializing appears to be a conflict with using the i7 onboard video. If you are having problems with a Z77 chipset and a UAD-2 try installing a video card and then disable the onboard video function. The motherboard I ended up using was a GA77X-UP5H-TH. The video card I had on hand was anATI 4870 HD or something like that. Hopefully I will be saving someone some time with this information. I suspect I could have gotten the Asus board to work too but that one is already packed up to be returned. All three motherboards I tried really seemed excellent and without the UAD-2 issues they would have been keepers. 


Original post below...
In this thread I outlined a problem I'm having getting my UAD-2 to initialize with an ASUS P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT motherboard. Since it appeared there was some incompatibility with this board I ordered a Gigabyte Z77x-UP5 TH as a replacement to build my new system. That board arrived Wednesday and I put it all together last night. It has the same issue with the UAD-2 not initializing. The UAD-2 does initialize and function in my 5 year old Asus based system at the studio currently so according to UA the card is okay. I am not entirely convinced that is the case but I am stuck. I really don't want to go into all the details of the problems because I have a different goal with this thread.

I have some parts I cannot return and I need to build a UAD-2 compatible system around them.

I have:

• Intel i7 3770K LGA 1155 CPU
• 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 Ram
• UAD-2 Quad PCI-E card
• TI chipset equipped PCI firewire card that's friendly with my FW interfaces
• Windows 7/64
• 650 Watt Corsair TX650M powersupply
• A rackmount full ATX case.

Does anyone have a system built with similar parts, particularly the CPU type (LGA1155) that is working with a UAD-2 Quad?



Thanks,


P.S.
I have tried multiple support lines from UA and Asus (I haven't contacted Gigabyte yet). I have been through all sorts of methodical tests. The UAD-2 has successfully initialized a few times out of what is numbering in 100's of attempts to get it started. There has been one situation where the ASUS has initialized the card properly and that is after the system has been shut down for hours. That's obviously not practical for a working studio unless nothing ever crashed, ever.

 Yes, I have an 1155 socket Gigabyte Z68x here. No problems with a UAD-2 solo, a powercore PCIe and 2 powercore MK1 PCI cards. I have everything that I'm not using turned off in the bios
 
 Edit: I just remembered after reading your specs closer, I tried corsair vengance ram for this thing in the summer and was having issues getting my UAD and all other dsp cards to boot up and I had to swap the ram back out to get everything working again. If you have another set around you may want to try that.
 
We have the same corsair PSU as well
 
Hope you get it going , specs make up a killer machine
 

So you had the Vengeance memory and the system would boot but the UAD card wouldn't work? Hmmm, the power supply and memory are the only two things besides the CPU that have not changed. I don't have any reason to suspect the ram to be interfering but stranger things have happened I guess. 


I will pull a stick of DDR3 ram from another machine I have at home to see if makes a difference. It's some kind of fancy OCZ stuff so I'm not sure if it's a good thing to try or not. At this point vanilla everything sounds attractive.

Gigabyte Z68x

ohgrant


   Edit: I just remembered after reading your specs closer, I tried corsair vengance ram for this thing in the summer and was having issues getting my UAD and all other dsp cards to boot up and I had to swap the ram back out to get everything working again. If you have another set around you may want to try that.
 
We have the same corsair PSU as well
 
Hope you get it going , specs make up a killer machine
 

 Yea, computer booted nicely and even gamed a tad better with no over-clocking but I had to boot several times to get the UAD running, once running there were no issues, in fact it did seem a bit quicker at the same MHz as the Kingston hyper z I'm using now but the booting issue wasn't worth it I didn't really see any difference in Sonar.

 I feel for you bro, this was the first one I've built since my old P4 about 9 years ago. At first things didn't go as planned here either.

I finally made it through the desert on this one. Added info to the original post for the next guy to find.

Sorry to hear you had the issues return. hope the new card gets you sorted.

hmmm...I would say...even with your new card...that the problem comes back...or you still have issues down the road pop up.

My understanding..You are using Firewire card on a PCI-E 1x?...and you are also using a PCI-e 1x slot for your UAD card...in what OS?...WIN 7 does not allow you to assign IRQs...and it will share all of em that it can....even those it should not....

That is where my problem lies with trying to use Firewire on one slot, and UAD on another....if you check the Shared IRQs...You will find both of those slots and cards or ports are sharing with things they should not share with....Like chipsets..or controllers....or usb...or internet nic , or etc etc etc....and in that lies the problems you will continue to face while using PC limited IRQ resources.....So...the solution is...to either pull the UAD card, Use the firewire for what it is worths...and use other plugins that do not require IRQ allocation...or Move to USB audio interface, and reinstall the UAD card...and pull the firewire card......

Win 7 will still share IRQs though...so you will always incounter Issues, untill they impliment more of em to go round in physical form .....!...But from the next developements being tabled with win 8/....IRQ states will remain limited to 16 physical.....and 184 or so..virtual...to continue making issues into the future...for now!

Hope this helps?

Be aware that "shared IRQs" are very much less a problem in modern hardware. There are two things new since Windows 2000: APIC hardware and more use of DPC. With APIC hardware (don't disable it!), IRQs are reassigned and the routing for IRQs is directed to separate processors. With DPC, the processing in device drivers to service interrupt routines is rescheduled (to Deferred Procedure Calls) making IRQ routines less intrusive. Depends on well-written drivers.

Don't the Studiocats use that processor and also install UAD2 cards?
WSS