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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

Cyclone IV GX dev kit HSMC connection buned MAXII BGA chip

Hi all,

I have a serious question here. Please spend some time to read through my explanation below as I really need some help! I appreciate your time very much.

Previously I used the Cyclone III starter board, with its HSMC connected to a self-designed extension board for my own application. The HSMC connection is treated as expansion IO for me to pass data to and from between the Cyclone III started board and my own extension application board. My FPGA program is functioning well.

Then I decided to migrate to Cyclone IV GX development kit. The same extension board of my own is used. The HSMC connection was made to the HSMC A of C4GX as I know HSMC B is sharing with PCIe. So I use the HSMC A port to be at the safe side.

Before I powered on the C4GX, I plugged the HSMC A connection to my extension board properly. Then, once I powered on C4GX through the PCIe 12V, in just 1-2seconds time, smoke came out from the MAXII EPM2210GF256C3N CPLD and I quickly powered off. The MAXII is burned! I am confused as I do not understand why this happened.

I have a few things to make clear:

1) My own extension board is fully functional without any short circuit and it is waiting for voltage supply from HSMC. Before and after the incident, I tested my extension board on C3starter kit and it is still fully functional.

2) I have not yet programmed the C4GX. Once it is powered on, it will load the factory programmed code inside flash memory. Is this the culprit? But I have checked the C:\altera\11.0\kits\cycloneIVGX_4cgx150_fpga\examples\board_update_portal program code that is supposed to be the factory pre-program code, it seems that it doesnt do any pin assignment to the HSMC A port. So I suppose it is not causing the problem.

3) I am not sure whether the C4GX FPGA is damaged or not because i cant test it. But for sure is I saw smoke from MAXII and its package case is slightly cracked.

4) I am sure that the PCIE connection for voltage supply is correct because before this I did use the C4GX dev kit to run some other PCIe ref design and as well as other programs. All this while I use the PCIe connection to power up the C4GX dev kit during development.

5) I have checked the reference manual of C4GX dev kit and it seems that MAXII does not have direct connection to HSMC A. Correct me if I am wrong. So I cant understand why the MAX II burned.

So, please, anyone can provide me with some help/advices. I appreciate very much. I really need to find out the reason of why this occured.

thank you.

14 Replies

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  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    13 years ago

    From the C4GX DevKit Reference Manual, table 2-8 Board-Specific LEDs: "D1 PSNTN A

    Green LED. Illuminates when the HSMC port A has a board or cable

    plugged-in such that pin 160 becomes grounded. Driven by the add-in

    card."

    So your daughter board should connect the PSNTn pin directly to the GND.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    13 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    From the C4GX DevKit Reference Manual, table 2-8 Board-Specific LEDs: "D1 PSNTN A

    Green LED. Illuminates when the HSMC port A has a board or cable

    plugged-in such that pin 160 becomes grounded. Driven by the add-in

    card."

    So your daughter board should connect the PSNTn pin directly to the GND.

    --- Quote End ---

    I see.. I appreciate very much.

    I think this might be one of the possible reason of why the MAXII burned.

    Because at the daughter card, I am actually supplying voltage to the HSMA_PSNTn line into C4GX dev kit.

    However, since this HSMA_PSTNn also connecting to C4GX FPGA, I affraid the FPGA might have already burned as well. I need to check on that.

    By the way, what is the function of EPCS128 used for?

    Because I detected that my voltage supply of 3.3V from LTC3850 is shorted and I identified that EPCS uses 3.3V supply. I affraid this IC is damaged too. May I know what's the function of this IC?

    thank you.

    Thank you again.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    13 years ago

    Hi all,

    for C4GX dev kit HSMC port A, pin 96 (HSMA_CLK_IN_P1), 98 (HSMA_CLK_IN_N1), 156 (HSMA_CLK_PIN_P2), 158 (HSMA_CLK_IN_N2), I would like to use these 4 pins as output.

    In c4gx reference manual, pg40, Table 2-32, it describes these pins as e.g. LVDS or CMOS clock in 1 or CMOS bit 37.

    How or what configuration I need in order to use these clocks input pins as normal general purpose output pin?

    thank you
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    13 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Hi all,

    for C4GX dev kit HSMC port A, pin 96 (HSMA_CLK_IN_P1), 98 (HSMA_CLK_IN_N1), 156 (HSMA_CLK_PIN_P2), 158 (HSMA_CLK_IN_N2), I would like to use these 4 pins as output.

    In c4gx reference manual, pg40, Table 2-32, it describes these pins as e.g. LVDS or CMOS clock in 1 or CMOS bit 37.

    How or what configuration I need in order to use these clocks input pins as normal general purpose output pin?

    thank you

    --- Quote End ---

    As before, you need to get the schematics for the C4GX reference board, they have all the information you need.

    Find out which FPGA pins those HSMC nets are connected to and if you can, assign them as outputs.

    [Edit] I see you have the schematics. Create a series of outputs and assign them to the pins those nets are connected to. If Quartus allows the pin assignment in the FPGA build then you're done. [/Edit]

    Nial