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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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14 years ago

In-system FPGA "retest"

I lately faced a number of issues with an FPGA board, that was refurbished (a BGA CSP sensor has been replaced several times, i.E. the board has been subdued to some soldering stress, etc.).

I see reproducible odd behaviour when using the device with my regular FPGA configuration, although it works generally. Timing has been closed, all reports are clean so far, so I expect no issues from that corner.

Now my question: Is there a way of FPGA (Strastix III) retest in my System supplied by Altera? I'd expect something like a configuration I may download to the device that runs automatically internally, without driving pins and finally gives the BIST results, i.e. go/no go regarding functionality, timing etc. to the SignalTap or similar?

Any hint is welcome (including an RTFM-link to possibly existing material I didn't find so far...). Thanks!

1 Reply

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor

    I've never heard of such a test available for customers, but you should try to contact your distributor/FAE directly, maybe they can help.

    That said, after mechanical/thermal stress it is more likely that you have a soldering problem than a failure on the chip itself. Is it a BGA? Can you have the board x-rayed to check the solder balls?