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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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8 years ago

migration from EPCQ to EPCQ-A

Hi,

on a custom board we have successfully used an altera Cyclone V (5CEBA2) with an EPCQ32 (ASx4).

Now we had to migrate from the EPCQ32 to the EPCQ32A.

We used Quartus Prime Lite 17.1.0 and 17.1.1 and programmed the EPCQ32A via the Quartus Programmer + USB blaster + SFL.

We followed the migration guideline AN822:

https://www.altera.com/documentation/tfb1498107381358.html

(https://www.altera.com/documentation/tfb1498107381358.html)

After updating the EPCQ in Quartus from EPCQ32 to EPCQ32A, compilation and download of the .jic file to the EPCQ32A are successful, but then the FPGA fails to load the configuration file at startup (CONF_DONE remains low).

We believe the hardware is fine (never had a problem with the EPCQ32).

(MSEL: 10011, nCE to GND, nSTATUS, nCONFIG, CONF_DONE with 10k pull-up to 3V3, six lines between the EPCQ32A and the FPGA (DATA[3..0], nCS, DCLK)

What we noticed in the map file is the following line:

quad-serial configuration device dummy clock cycle: 12

whereas the AN822 states:

--- Quote Start ---

epcq—the dummy clock is configurable with the non-volatile configuration register (nvcr). when the epcq is used with a cyclone® v, arria® v or stratix® v device, the dummy clock is configured to be 4, 10 or 12, depending on the byte-addressing mode and asx1 or asx4 configuration.

however, in epcq-a devices, the dummy clock is fixed at 8 and 6 for fast read and extended quad input fast read respectively. therefore you must regenerate the programming files, such as .pof, .jic, and .rpd.

--- Quote End ---

Is the dummy clock cycle wrong and is it the cause of our problem?

If this is our problem, how can we fix it? (we did not find any place where the dummy clock can be adjusted)

Or is the problem somewhere else? What else can we check?

Thanks for your help,

Regards

13 Replies

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

    Hi Carlhermann,

    Thanks for your help.

    We tried to follow your advice.

    What we found out is that:

    1) the .pof file is automatically generated along with the .sof file during compilation

    2) the .jic file is generated from the .sof file. As far as we know, there is no way to generate the .jic file starting from the .pof file

    3) In the Quartus Programmer, we tried to program the EPCQ device using the .pof file, rather then the .jic file. When adding the .pof file an error message appears: "Cannot add target device EPCQ32A to device chain when in current programming mode"

    We followed the instructions given in "Programming File Regeneration Guideline" of AN822 with no success (BTW, the .pof file is not mentioned in that secion of the AN822).
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    Some oscilloscope screenshots that may help:

    Screenshots taken at board power up, triggered on the first falling edge of nCS of the EPCQ devices (CH1 - top trace)

    Left-hand side: board with EPCQ32 (working well)

    Right-hand side: board with EPCQ32A (Configuration fails)

    Auto-restart configuration after error: enabled

    DCLK starts at 12.5 MHz.

    After some time DCLK goes to 100MHz, according to the "Active serial clock source: 100 MHz internal oscillator" setting.

    On the board with the EPCQ32 device, the configuration lasts for tens of milliseconds and is successful.

    On the board with the EPCQ32A, we counted approximately 1664 clock cycles @ 100 MHz; after that nCS goes hi and the configuration process is aborted.

    Setting the "Active serial clock source" to "12.5 MHz internal oscillator" does not change the behaviour: after the same number of clock cycles (approx. 1664) from where the clock frequency was supposed to change (in fact, with this setting it does not change), nCS goes hi and the configuration process is aborted in the same manner

    CH2: DCLK

    https://www.alteraforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15290

    CH2: D0

    https://www.alteraforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15292

    CH2: D1

    https://www.alteraforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15293

    CH2: D2

    https://www.alteraforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15294

    CH2: D3

    https://www.alteraforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15295