Problems uploading flash memory -- part 2

If you have Quartus II 9.1 SP1 installed, you no longer need to program the device first and then read it back as .flash file.

To convert a .sof to a .flash file, use the following command in Quartus II 9.1 SP1:

sof2flash --pfl --optionbit=<option bit address offset> --input=<your SOF.sof> --output=<output.flash> --offset=<desired image offset>

For example, to create a .flash file for the Stratix IV GX Development kit

sof2flash --input=<yourfile>.sof --output=<yourfile>.flash --offset=0xC20000 --pfl --optionbit=0x18000

Output:

• A FLASH file containing the SOF data.

• A FLASH file containing single image option bits for the PFL located at the address you specified with the --optionbit=<offset> option.

You should only program the *.map.flash file to flash if either of the following applies:

1. You don't have existing option bits at the appropriate location in flash

2. You only need to configure a single image.

Note that most of the Altera development board should already have the option bits, so there is no need to program the *.map.flash