ddr2 problem in quartus 10.0

Question

Hi all.

I am still working on a very simple video pipeline, and still I have lots of trouble.

I picked up the video example (.qar) of the an427, and compiling it in old quartus (9.1 sp2) It worked.

Then, I piked up the .qar onto another pc, this time with Quartus 10.0, and i compiled the project.

I did not change anything, and it didi't work. Instead of video (640 x480) floating onto a 1024x768 test pattern background, I get only a black screen that floats onto my test pattern background.

So, I suppose there is a problem according the DDR2 controller (not the high performance one, trhe older) or something related.

I looked at the errata, but the problems they mention are not similar to mine: I get correct compilation results, but still no video is being processed.

then, I modified again that project mantaining *.sdc files and pin assignments, and still nothing works.

Maybe it is due to the quartus 10.0 version?

Or because I am on win7 64bit while the quartus web edition supports only 32bits?

Any hint would be precious.

Thanks for your help,

Phate.

altera_forum · Answer

the 32-bit app should run on 64-bit platforms without a problem  unfortunately i'm not sure about debugging DDR2 interfaces. have you looked through the compilation report Warnings for clues?

altera_forum · Answer

If you suspect the DDR2 SDRAM is at fault, perhaps you should attempt to perform at least a simple test of the SDRAM by reading and writing to it from the NIOS processor.

altera_forum · Answer

Hello Phate, Could it be a problem with the DDR2 controler licensing? I think if you want to compile DDR2 IP then you must have a valid license. If you have full version licensed for 9.1 SP1 this might work. What about Quartus 10? Do you still have full license or valid IP license installed for DDR2? If yes you may enter a support case with Altera. If no, please make sure if DDR2 compiled with out IP license would work in Q10.

Or when you change the Quartus version do not forget to regenerate your DDR2 core again. This sometime makes the problem. All the best.

altera_forum · Answer

Hi and thanks for the reply.

@thepancake: I read that Altera assures that only quartus2 10.0 full is fully compatible with win7 64 bit. I have tried to use the 30 day trial edition, but it des not generate any pof O_o. Very useful trial.

I've noticed that in warnings, but nothing directly about the ddr2. I'll look better for other warnings, but it seems strange to me that only recompiling the project (exactly the same project!) it does not work on two different quartus.

@resnthil78: I don't think is a licensing problem, both quartus 9.1 and 10.0 I use are web editions, but project compiled with 9.1 works fine O_o

I think I'll do as Kevin said, like testin SDRAM with nios processor and then I'll see what happens.

But what if the sdram works fine, and still the video pipeline not? if not, I think i'll downgrade to quartus 9.1 sp2, and hope it works.

I'll let you know, thanks all for your help

best regards

Phate.

altera_forum · Answer

I tried to regenrate again the project, and this time it worked "fine".

But it gave me three warnings like "timing requirements not meet".

I think that I'll modifiy this working design in order to finish my project, and THEN I'll try to understand how to make the ddr2 work..

If I would like to make a nios read/write to the DDR2, I shgould use a clock adapter, isn'n it?

When I used DE2 board, i did't use something like that to perform direct write to sdram.

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ddr2 problem in quartus 10.0

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