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Altera_Forum
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18 years ago

Problems with Cyclone III - NIOS II Embedded Evaluation kit

Hi everyone,

I just received my Cyclone III devkit last week, and this weekend I spent some time trying to get it to work. I still haven't had any luck. Hopefully, someone here can point me in the right direction, because I've gone through the user manual and it isn't helping.

1. I powered up the board after inserting the included SD card, and nothing appears on the screen. The user manual says that I might have to press the reconfigure button twice, but that doesn't help. I have confirmed that the SD card does have the sample apps installed.

2. I then used the nios2-flash-programmer to reload the factory image .flash file. After doing that, I received the following status:

Using cable "USB-Blaster [USB-0]", device 1, instance 0x00

Resetting and pausing target processor: OK

Checksummed/read 1069kB in 1301.0s

Erase not required

Programmed 1101KB in 0.0s

No change to device contents

Leaving target processor paused

I'm not sure why the target processor is paused, but I would bet that's why the application selector isn't running. :) Can anyone tell me how to fix this?

3. I cannot get any sample apps to run in Quartus II v7.2. Every time I try to compile a sample app, it gives me errors related to my license file not having support for SD_MMC_..., or other options. I have a free 150 day (?) license, and already pointed Quartus II at this license file. If I can't compile and run any sample applications, what good was it to even buy this devkit?

4. When I run the NIOS 2 IDE and try the hello_world sample application, it won't run because I don't have a JTAG connected. Do I really have to buy more hardware just to print "hello world"?

Thanks in advance for any ideas / suggestions!

21 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    Hi dmatsumoto,

    I've also bought the eval Kit. Maybe I can help you a bit, but I'm also a newbie.

    1. I've inserted my SD-card and powered up the board. So the application selector started without doing something else.

    2. I've never used the flash programmer.

    3. When you load the standard processor design in Quartus2, the compilation fails, because of the license for the the el_camino_sd_card_controller, this component is from el_camino and needs a separate license. So I think you have to remove this component from the design for a new processor design.

    4.You should install the driver for the usb-blaster to get a JTAG connection. After that, you can use the NIOS standard design in the NIOS IDE for the sample applications. Use the Quartus Programmer to download the standard design to the FPGA.

    Sorry, I think my english isn't the best:rolleyes:

    Mfg

    Ponte
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    Hi, thanks for the reply. Sounds like your luck was better than mine. I did realize that the sample apps are worthless, so I'll end up starting from a new project and just try to blink lights and use the buttons. After that, it looks like I'll have to make a custom board for that special connector if I want to do anything useful.

    I ended up getting everything to work, but the weird thing is that I somehow "jump started" the board by power cycling it a bunch of times, with one of the buttons pressed. After I did that, it always booted fine...

    Unfortunately, now I have less time available to work on the devkit, so we'll see when I ever get something together. Have you gotten a simple app with lights and the buttons working? If so, would you mind posting your quartus project? :)

    Thanks!
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    I'm working for my own design and application.

    I've made my own small design, which works.

    This design includes:

    -NIOS CPU / fast

    -on-chip memory

    -jtag/uart

    -sys_clk_timer

    -sysid

    -led_pio

    -button_pio

    The hello_world and counter sample works fine.

    My next step is to include the 4 buttons to my program. But in the moment the buttons make no interrupt so I'm standing still in this point.

    I've some problems when I try to use the standard design, included in the evalkit.

    The pin for LED2 in the standard design isn't correct, so only LED1 works.

    Unfortunately I can't find any design files for the cyclone3 3c25F324.

    Compile my project in Quartus. Use the Design in the NIOS IDE with a sample application. I prefer the counting example. Before you build your project. In System Library Properties activate Program never exits and Small C Library. Anything else deactivate, because of the small memory size:rolleyes:

    Mfg

    Ponte
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I'm working for my own design and application.

    I've made my own small design, which works.

    This design includes:

    -NIOS CPU / fast

    -on-chip memory

    -jtag/uart

    -sys_clk_timer

    -sysid

    -led_pio

    -button_pio

    The hello_world and counter sample works fine.

    My next step is to include the 4 buttons to my program. But in the moment the buttons make no interrupt so I'm standing still in this point.

    I've some problems when I try to use the standard design, included in the evalkit.

    The pin for LED2 in the standard design isn't correct, so only LED1 works.

    Unfortunately I can't find any design files for the cyclone3 3c25F324.

    Compile my project in Quartus. Use the Design in the NIOS IDE with a sample application. I prefer the counting example. Before you build your project. In System Library Properties activate Program never exits and Small C Library. Anything else deactivate, because of the small memory size:rolleyes:

    Mfg

    Ponte

    --- Quote End ---

    FANTASTIC! Thanks for posting this. Finally, hopefully a little momentum for those of us that are just starting to learn about FPGAs. :)
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    I also new to FPGA programming.

    Please give me feedback, if the design works correctly on your board.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I also new to FPGA programming.

    Please give me feedback, if the design works correctly on your board.

    --- Quote End ---

    Will do... I'll try to load it up on my dev board by tomorrow night!
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    ... After that, it looks like I'll have to make a custom board for that special connector if I want to do anything useful.

    --- Quote End ---

    I would check out Terasic. They make an HSMC (the special connector) to GPIO Daughter Board for the kit that is useful and probably a lot easier than making your own for $50.

    http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=39&no=218 (http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=39&no=218)
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I would check out Terasic. They make an HSMC (the special connector) to GPIO Daughter Board for the kit that is useful and probably a lot easier than making your own for $50.

    http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=39&no=218 (http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=39&no=218)

    --- Quote End ---

    Thanks for the info! I actually just purchased one because of your recommendation, as it looks like it'll save me time overall. I purchased two because of the minimal shipping price increase. If anyone needs one, I can ship one to you for $70, which saves you a little over $10!
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    I can't believe this, my dev kit stopped working again. It's been left unused for a couple of weeks now, and I just powered it up and all I have is a blank screen. This is really annoying.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    17 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I'm working for my own design and application.

    Compile my project in Quartus. Use the Design in the NIOS IDE with a sample application. I prefer the counting example. Before you build your project. In System Library Properties activate Program never exits and Small C Library. Anything else deactivate, because of the small memory size:rolleyes:

    --- Quote End ---

    Hi Ponte82, despite my problems booting the demo application again, I'm trying to get your project compiled anyway. Please bear with me, as I am a total newbie with these FPGA devices. :)

    First of all, I got hundreds of warnings in Quartus 2 when compiling Design2.qpf. Is this okay?

    Secondly, I'm going to follow your NIOS instructions. So if I understand correctly, you want me to open up a sample program, which is /altera/72/nios2eds/examples/software/count_binary, correct? My current problem is that I thought I'd need to open some sort of project, but I only see the cpp and h files. I also don't know where the System Library Properties dialog is at, after poking through all of the menus in the IDE. Can you please help me out?

    EDIT -- ok, I think I'm catching on here.... I'm supposed to create a new project from scratch, but select Count Binary as the base project. I found System Library Properties, and we'll see how much farther I get. :)