get_service_paths master returns null when system-console invoked remotely over ssh

SystemConsole can't tell whether it has been invoked locally or remotely so that behaviour is very strange. Something else must be different. Are you using the same command line arguments both times?

If you have more than one master available then get_service_paths will return a list of masters, whether you use 0 1 2 etc depends on where your desired master is in the list. Can you show us the complete output from get_service_paths master?

Hi wombat,

I still face the issue. I will paste the output of get_service_paths below. Can you please take a look ?

Here is the procedure I followed:

1. download bitstream (i use a time limted ethernet core)

>download_sof ./DE4_Ethernet_time_limited.sof

File ./DE4_Ethernet_time_limited.sof contains one or more time-limited megafunctions that support the OpenCore Plus feature that will not work after the hardware evaluation time expires. Refer to the Messages window for evaluation time details.

Info (210040): SRAM Object File ./DE4_Ethernet_time_limited.sof contains time-limited megafunction that supports OpenCore Plus feature -- Vendor: 0x6AF7, Product: 0x00BD

Info: *******************************************************************

Info: Running Quartus II 32-bit Programmer

Info: Version 12.1 Build 177 11/07/2012 SJ Full Version

Info: Copyright (C) 1991-2012 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved.

Info: Your use of Altera Corporation's design tools, logic functions

Info: and other software and tools, and its AMPP partner logic

Info: functions, and any output files from any of the foregoing

Info: (including device programming or simulation files), and any

Info: associated documentation or information are expressly subject

Info: to the terms and conditions of the Altera Program License

Info: Subscription Agreement, Altera MegaCore Function License

Info: Agreement, or other applicable license agreement, including,

Info: without limitation, that your use is for the sole purpose of

Info: programming logic devices manufactured by Altera and sold by

Info: Altera or its authorized distributors. Please refer to the

Info: applicable agreement for further details.

Info: Processing started: Sat Apr 13 05:33:46 2013

Info: Command: quartus_pgm --quiet -z -m JTAG -o p;./DE4_Ethernet_time_limited.sof

Info (213045): Using programming cable "USB-Blaster [8-2]"

Info (213011): Using programming file ./DE4_Ethernet_time_limited.sof with checksum 0x09B20EC8 for device EP4SGX230KF40 at 1

Info (209060): Started Programmer operation at Sat Apr 13 05:33:54 2013

Info (209016): Configuring device index 1

Info (209017): Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x024090DD

Info (209007): Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured

Info (209011): Successfully performed operation(s)

Info (209061): Ended Programmer operation at Sat Apr 13 05:34:12 2013

Please enter i for info and q to quit:

[I don't close this message]

In a new tab,

2. open system console in command line mode

> system-console -cli

Apr 13, 2013 5:38:42 AM com.altera.systemconsole.internal.core.SystemConsole$PluginDiscovery run

INFO: Finished initialization

Apr 13, 2013 5:38:42 AM com.altera.systemconsole.internal.core.SystemConsole logInfo

INFO: Finished discovering JTAG connections

Apr 13, 2013 5:38:48 AM com.altera.systemconsole.internal.core.SystemConsole logInfo

INFO: Finished discovering USB connections

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 12.0 178

Copyright (C) 1991-2012 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved.

Your use of Altera Corporation's design tools, logic functions

and other software and tools, and its AMPP partner logic

functions, and any output files from any of the foregoing

(including device programming or simulation files), and any

associated documentation or information is expressly subject

to the terms and conditions of the Altera Program License

Subscription Agreement, Altera MegaCore Function License

Agreement, or other applicable license agreements, including,

without limitation, that your use is for the sole purpose of

programming logic devices manufactured by Altera and sold by

Altera or its authorized distributors. Please refer to the

applicable agreement for further details.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to Altera's System Console

This Tcl console provides access to the hardware modules instantiated in your

FPGA. You can use System Console for all of the following purposes:

* To start, stop, or step a Nios II processor

* To read or write Avalon Memory-Mapped (Avalon-MM) slaves using special

masters

* To sample the SOPC system clock as well as system reset signal

* To run JTAG loopback tests to analyze board noise problems

* To shift arbitrary instruction register and data register values to

instantiated system level debug (SLD) nodes

In addition, the directory <QuartusII Dir>/sopc_builder/system_console_macros

contains Tcl files that provide miscellaneous utilities and examples of how to

access the functionality provided. You can include those macros in your

scripts by issuing Tcl source commands.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apr 13, 2013 5:38:48 AM com.altera.systemconsole.internal.core.SystemConsole logInfo

INFO: Executing startup script /home/deepak/altera/12.0/quartus/sopc_builder/system_console_macros/system_console_rc.tcl

% set mypath [ lindex [ get_service_paths master ] 0 ]

% set mypath [ lindex [ get_service_paths master ] 0 ]

% open_service master $mypath

path cannot be found

while executing

"open_service {master} {}"

while executing

"open_service master $mypath"

now, i observe a very strange behavior summarized below:

- My script to write into JTAG master is as follows:

set jtag_master [lindex [get_service_paths master] 0];

open_service master $jtag_master;

master_write_32 $jtag_master $reg_400 0x00000000;

close_service master $jtag_master;

I download the bitstream and run the above script, it runs perfectly fine. Then I wait 10 minutes and run the same script again. This time, open_service master fails giving the folloiwing error:

Path cannot be found

while executing

"open_service {master} {}"

while executing

"open_service master $jtag_master"

To run the script again, I need to reboot the PC.

Looks like the JTAG master times out after some time. Has this behavior been observed before ? Appreciate your thoughts.

Update: I dont see any obvious STA timing errors in the design (from report). Also, I tried changint the DE4 boards to make sure that its not a hardware issue. I can confirm that I see this issue even if I change the board. Looks something is wrong in software settings. Any pointers ?

Thanks

Deepak

[solved]

Turns out that the problem is related to installation of Linux JTAG usb blaster driver. I have 2 Quartus versions - 12.0 and 12.1 in my drive. I installed usb blaster driver from 12.1 according to the procedure described here - eecg.toronto.edu/~laforest/USB-Blaster-Debian.html. Later, I decided to switch my Quartus version to 12.0. But the driver file (<Quartus install path>/linux/quartus/linux/pgm_parts.txt) was sourced from 12.1. To fix the issue, I switched the driver file to match my Quartus version (12.0).

As a sanity check for correct driver installation, execute

>jtagconfig

and it should return

1) USB-Blaster [5-2]

024090DD EP4SGX230(.|ES)

for SIV device

The driver installation procedure for Ubuntu/Linux can be found here - eecg.toronto.edu/~laforest/USB-Blaster-Debian.html

I hope this post helps many others!

Thanks

Deepak