My cyclone 3 starter kit is getting unusually getting heated up. Even before I burn the code into it, its getting heated in a few seconds as soon I switch on the power. Can someone tell me what the problem could be? The adapter is giving proper voltage output and so there is no problem with the power supply.

Which of the following states reflects what's in the FPGA's boot FLASH? a) Factory image. b) A user image - something you've already programmed in. c) It's empty - as a result of you consciously erasing it. Based on the above if it's: a) You probably have some damage to the board b) It could well be your FPGA design that is resulting in contention and too much current being drawn c) Very similar to a) Is it this board: cyclone iii fpga starter kit (http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-starter.html) ? If not let me know which one you are referring to. Also, identify exactly which jumpers are fitted. Regards, Alex

--- Quote Start --- Which of the following states reflects what's in the FPGA's boot FLASH? a) Factory image. b) A user image - something you've already programmed in. c) It's empty - as a result of you consciously erasing it. Based on the above if it's: a) You probably have some damage to the board b) It could well be your FPGA design that is resulting in contention and too much current being drawn c) Very similar to a) Is it this board: cyclone iii fpga starter kit (http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-cyc3-starter.html) ? If not let me know which one you are referring to. Also, identify exactly which jumpers are fitted. Regards, Alex --- Quote End --- Yes the board is cyclone 3 starter kit FPGA. We checked the adapter , it is perfectly fine. I can't find any shorted pins also .Can anybody suggest what the reason could be? thanks in advance!

I'm sure the adapter is fine and I'm not surprised you can't see any shorted pins. If there is damage then it is likely to be to one of the chips, internally. How this has come about, only you can guide us... I have one of those dev boards sitting on my desk in front of me. So, I may be able to help you assess yours. Do any of the LEDs light up when you power it up? With the factory image (what the board was supplied with), 7 blue LEDs illuminate on mine. Perhaps the most obvious one; does your 'POWER' LED light up? If you're concerned about your board, don't leave it powered on for very long for the time being. Don't leave it powered longer than you need. The LEDs on my board illuminate within half a second of power up. Regards, Alex

--- Quote Start --- I'm sure the adapter is fine and I'm not surprised you can't see any shorted pins. If there is damage then it is likely to be to one of the chips, internally. How this has come about, only you can guide us... I have one of those dev boards sitting on my desk in front of me. So, I may be able to help you assess yours. Do any of the LEDs light up when you power it up? With the factory image (what the board was supplied with), 7 blue LEDs illuminate on mine. Perhaps the most obvious one; does your 'POWER' LED light up? If you're concerned about your board, don't leave it powered on for very long for the time being. Don't leave it powered longer than you need. The LEDs on my board illuminate within half a second of power up. Regards, Alex --- Quote End --- The power ON LEDs are getting lighted immediately and when we burnt our code which lakes leds blink, the LEDs do blink. The program is working fine but the FPGA is getting heated in 3 seconds ! very fast its becoming very hot . I fear if the FPGA will get fully spoilt if I leave it powered on even for a minute. We are now trying to give less input current by changing the adapter and by using a variable power supply. The adapter that was given with the kit is 12v/2A . I thought of giving 1.5 A current. Will that help? Actually we used a PLL to increase the frequency from 50Mhz to 100 Mhz because we are using a ADA board interfaced with the Cyclone 3 starter board. The ADA board has a DAC which works at 125 MSPS. So we used the PLL. Do you think PLL could be the reson for this unusual heating of the FPGA? All other chips are normal and only the FPGA is getting heated up !

That sounds promising. So, next steps... Is your FPGA design programmed into the board's FLASH, so that the FPGA boots from power up? Or, are you programming the FPGA, using the Quartus programmer, after you've powered the board up? If you've programmed your design into the board's FLASH then, to establish that your board is still good I want you to restore it to it's factory state. Follow the instructions in the cyclone iii fpga starter kit user guide (http://www.altera.co.uk/literature/ug/ug_ciii_starter_kit.pdf). Read the 'Programming the Flash Device' section on page A-5. Having done this, and power cycled the board, the FPGA should not get warm. If it still does you, probably, have a problem with your board. If you are programming after power up, and the FPGA only gets warm then, you have a problem with your design - which we can address. Regards, Alex

fpga is getting heated unusually | Altera Community

13 Replies

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
11 years ago
I tried the procedure to do factory reset. Followed all the steps in that. In one step encountered a problem. I have screenshot of it. How do i send it to you? through mail or something?
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
11 years ago
I encountered a problem while following the steps to factory reset.

The "change file" step is loading a 16MB file whereas the figure shows a 128MB file being loaded
Also in the place where "Factory reset ....."is seen in the figure, "none" appears for me. And so, when I click Start the code loading stops with 70% !
What should be done ?

So I am unable to do factory reset and I too feel the problem could be with the boot program as the start-up LEDs are not glowing
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
11 years ago
I fear the worst for your board, I'm afraid.

You mentioned a screen shot. You can attach images to posts via the 'Go Advanced' tab on the forum, then click on the paper clip.

I've just restored my board using the procedure I sent you. For reference, it took about 25 seconds to complete.

You mentioned a lack of LEDs on your board now. What is it's current state? Does the 'POWER' LED still light? Any others?

Alex

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fpga is getting heated unusually

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