Bad start-byte

Hello,

I'm trying to get the nios2-flash-programmer to work with a custom board. I have a Microtronix Stratix development board and I've been able to create a flash-programming design for this board (SODIMM Flash) using mk_target_board. This seems to work OK and the nios2-flash-programmer has no trouble at all.

However this does not work with my custom board which uses an AMD AM29LV320D Flash device which is CFI compliant. This is a 4Mbyte x 16 chip so I configured the SOPC builder interface to have 21 address bits and 16 data bits. I created a special flash-programming design using mk_target_board and was able to select my custom board as the target hardware through SOPC builder.

Everything seems to work OK except for the nios2-flash-programmer. I compiled and ran the 'Flash memory tests' which were included with the Nios II IDE and everything passed OK. Here's the output from that:

<----> Running Flash Tests <---->

This will take approximately 1 minute

-Testing flash info retrieval...

This is not the standard reference design

Flash name /dev/kernel_flash

This flash has 2 erase regions

Start 0x 0 End 0x 10000 Number of Blocks 8 Block Size 0x 2000

Start 0x 10000 End 0x 400000 Number of Blocks 63 Block Size 0x 10000

passed.

-Testing flash write...

0x10000: ****************************** passed.

0x1ff00: ****************************** passed.

0x10100: ****************************** passed.

-Testing flash block erase... passed.

-Testing flash block write... passed.

-Testing unaligned writes..... passed.

All Tests Passed!

Exiting Flash Tests

So it looks like the hardware is connected properly and the Nios II is able to access it without any problems.

The problem arises when I try to use the nios2-flash-programmer called from either the Nios II IDE GUI or the Nios II SDK command line. The program calls quartus_pgm to program the .sof file OK; but after this is finished it crashes with the following error message:

[SOPC Builder]$ nios2-flash-programmer --sof=../../../proc_bd_flash/system/proc_bd_flash.sof --cable=ByteBlasterII --device=2

--base=0x00800000 --input=kernel_flash.flash --debug --verbose

Nov 2, 2004 9:29:49 AM - (FINE) nios2-flash-programmer: nios2-flash-programmer starting

Nov 2, 2004 9:29:49 AM - (INFO) nios2-flash-programmer: args = --sof=../../../proc_bd_flash/system/proc_bd_flash.sof --cable=ByteBlasterII --device=2 --base=0x00800000 --input=kernel_flash.flash --debug --verbose

Nov 2, 2004 9:29:49 AM - (INFO) nios2-flash-programmer: Attempting to read input-data from kernel_flash.flash

Nov 2, 2004 9:29:49 AM - (INFO) nios2-flash-programmer: Launching Quartus Programmer to download: ../../../proc_bd_flash/system/proc_bd_flash.sof

Nov 2, 2004 9:29:49 AM - (FINE) nios2-flash-programmer: Quartus Pgm launched

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

Info: Running Quartus II Programmer

Info: Command: quartus_pgm --no_banner --mode=jtag --cable="ByteBlasterII" --operation=p;../../../proc_bd_flash/system/proc_bd_flash.sof@2

Info: Using programming cable "ByteBlasterII [LPT1]"

Info: Started Programmer operation at Tue Nov 02 09:29:53 2004

Info: Configuring device index 2

Info: Device 2 contains JTAG ID code 0x020030DD

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

Info: Successfully performed operation(s)

Info: Ended Programmer operation at Tue Nov 02 09:30:13 2004

Info: Quartus II Programmer was successful. 0 errors, 0 warnings

Info: Processing ended: Tue Nov 02 09:30:13 2004

Info: Elapsed time: 00:00:20

Nov 2, 2004 9:30:13 AM - (FINE) nios2-flash-programmer: SOF programming done. exit code = 0x0000

Bad start-byte

Failed to get header for variable-payload packet.

Nov 2, 2004 9:30:16 AM - (SEVERE) nios2-flash-programmer: Error opening target hardware

Nov 2, 2004 9:30:16 AM - (SEVERE) nios2-flash-programmer: Unable to open flash-device after successfully communicating with target.

It is likely that you are using a flash-programming FPGA design which was not created for your target board.

In order to program flash, you must first create a purpose-built flash-programming design (i.e. FPGA configuration) and associate it with

your particular board. The Nios development kit is delivered with purpose-built flash-programming designs pre-built for several

development boards. If you wish to program flash on your own board, you must first create a flash-programming design.

The process of creating a flash-programming design for your board is mostly automated. From a bash-shell, execute this script:

mk_target_board --help

The help-message includes references to other documentation on programming flash and targeting Nios systems to custom board designs.

- exiting.

I think the key part of the error message is:

-----> Bad start-byte

-----> Failed to get header for variable-payload packet.

-----> Nov 2, 2004 9:30:16 AM - (SEVERE) nios2-flash-programmer: Error opening target hardware

-----> Nov 2, 2004 9:30:16 AM - (SEVERE) nios2-flash-programmer: Unable to open flash-device after successfully communicating with target.

It is likely that you are using a flash-programming FPGA design which was not created for your target board.

Has anybody else encountered this problem or know of a way to work around it?

Thanks,

Terry