error message on eval board

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originally posted by fmcmurra@Mar 31 2006, 02:27 PM

hi,

maybe someone her can help me because the altera support stinks. if i had known they were going to take so long, i would have gone with xlinix. anyway, this is my problem:

when i try to run any of the examples, i get the following error message:

timestamp value does not match: image on board is older than expected

read timestamp 20:19:54 2005/10/20; expected 22:10:35 2006/03/30

the software you are downloading may not run on the system which is currently

configured into the device. please download the correct sof or recompile.

restarting target processor.

when i first got the eval baord and went thru the examples i didn't have a problem. but now i am seeing the above error message and can't compile and run any of the examples.

anyone here know ehy i am getting this error. it ls getting really frustrating to pay this much money and have this kind of problem.

<div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=13953)

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I was able to download the examples by unclicking the "Validate Nios II System ID before software download" button.

My question is:

Why does this keep me from downloading the software and why if unclicking it allows me to run the software. It seems to me if that option was that critical and it failed, my software shoudn&#39;t run.

Forgive me for asking so many questions, but I am a cmplete noob to FPGA&#39;s. Although I have extensive software design experinece (I was hardware designer a long, long time ago). I am trying to come up to speed as quickly as I can on FPGAS&#39;s. I thought the Altera dev. kit was the best way to go. Did I make a mistake in choosing it?

When you are a complete &#39;noob&#39;, as you put it, there is no way to learn properly except reading documentation; you can&#39;t escape it, so I suggest you do so.

What you are experiencing is the Nios SYSID Peripheral. It is a means to ensure that the hardware image downloaded into the FPGA matches the nios PTF File so they aren&#39;t out of sync; so for example, what musth ave happened in your case is that you modified the NIOS System somehow in SOPC Builder, and then you didn&#39;t regenerate the SOF File by recompiling your project; or you regenerated it, but you didn&#39;t download it to the board. Everytime you change the SOPC Project, the SYSID Peripheral creates a new random &#39;system ID&#39;. Everytmie you download software then, it compares the SYSID downloaded to the FPGA, to the SYSID in the SOPC PTF File. IF they are the same, you are using the correct hardware image (SOF File). If not, you need to regenerate the SOF File and download it to the board.

The error message you reported says this in plain English; "Please download the correct SOF or recompile."

By unclicking the box, you skipped the part that actually checks the SYSID on board and the SYSID stored in the PTF File.

And please don&#39;t be so quick to criticize altera support; they are great, but I can understand why they would be slow to respond when you are asking questions that are clearly answered in user manuals. I don&#39;t ask questions to Altera support unless it&#39;s a question that hasn&#39;t been answered previously in Altera manuals. Don&#39;t take this as an offence, just some advice so you don&#39;t end up wasting your time...

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originally posted by jdhar@Apr 1 2006, 06:52 AM

when you are a complete &#39;noob&#39;, as you put it, there is no way to learn properly except reading documentation; you can&#39;t escape it, so i suggest you do so.

what you are experiencing is the nios sysid peripheral. it is a means to ensure that the hardware image downloaded into the fpga matches the nios ptf file so they aren&#39;t out of sync; so for example, what musth ave happened in your case is that you modified the nios system somehow in sopc builder, and then you didn&#39;t regenerate the sof file by recompiling your project; or you regenerated it, but you didn&#39;t download it to the board. everytime you change the sopc project, the sysid peripheral creates a new random &#39;system id&#39;. everytmie you download software then, it compares the sysid downloaded to the fpga, to the sysid in the sopc ptf file. if they are the same, you are using the correct hardware image (sof file). if not, you need to regenerate the sof file and download it to the board.

the error message you reported says this in plain english; "please download the correct sof or recompile."

by unclicking the box, you skipped the part that actually checks the sysid on board and the sysid stored in the ptf file.

and please don&#39;t be so quick to criticize altera support; they are great, but i can understand why they would be slow to respond when you are asking questions that are clearly answered in user manuals. i don&#39;t ask questions to altera support unless it&#39;s a question that hasn&#39;t been answered previously in altera manuals. don&#39;t take this as an offence, just some advice so you don&#39;t end up wasting your time...

<div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=13958)

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Thanks for the advice, but I _did_ regerate the .sof file and downloaded it 4 times. I assumed it was successful, because it said so. I think it&#39;s safe to assume if the status is success, it is successful. That&#39;s why i asked the question, because after downloading the .sof file. I still got the same error message.

How can i tell if the .sof is in fact the correct one. I s there a memory location I can dump to see if the image in memory is correct?

I have read and reread the documentation and posted the question as a last resort.

Maybe there is a forum for noob&#39;s, if so could you be so kind as to point me to it and I won&#39;t bother the experts here with such trivial questions...

You could read the values of the sysid peripheral (using the IDE or your own C code) and compare them against what SOPC Builder generated. If they don&#39;t match, then you haven&#39;t downloaded the correct SOF.

This is, basically, what the default IDE Run/Debug launch configuration is doing.

Best Regards,

- slacker

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originally posted by fmcmurra+apr 1 2006, 09:46 pm--><div class='quotetop'>quote (fmcmurra @ apr 1 2006, 09:46 pm)</div>

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<!--quotebegin-jdhar@Apr 1 2006, 06:52 AM

when you are a complete &#39;noob&#39;, as you put it, there is no way to learn properly except reading documentation; you can&#39;t escape it, so i suggest you do so.

what you are experiencing is the nios sysid peripheral. it is a means to ensure that the hardware image downloaded into the fpga matches the nios ptf file so they aren&#39;t out of sync; so for example, what musth ave happened in your case is that you modified the nios system somehow in sopc builder, and then you didn&#39;t regenerate the sof file by recompiling your project; or you regenerated it, but you didn&#39;t download it to the board. everytime you change the sopc project, the sysid peripheral creates a new random &#39;system id&#39;. everytmie you download software then, it compares the sysid downloaded to the fpga, to the sysid in the sopc ptf file. if they are the same, you are using the correct hardware image (sof file). if not, you need to regenerate the sof file and download it to the board.

the error message you reported says this in plain english; "please download the correct sof or recompile."

by unclicking the box, you skipped the part that actually checks the sysid on board and the sysid stored in the ptf file.

and please don&#39;t be so quick to criticize altera support; they are great, but i can understand why they would be slow to respond when you are asking questions that are clearly answered in user manuals. i don&#39;t ask questions to altera support unless it&#39;s a question that hasn&#39;t been answered previously in altera manuals. don&#39;t take this as an offence, just some advice so you don&#39;t end up wasting your time...

<div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=13958)

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Thanks for the advice, but I _did_ regerate the .sof file and downloaded it 4 times. I assumed it was successful, because it said so. I think it&#39;s safe to assume if the status is success, it is successful. That&#39;s why i asked the question, because after downloading the .sof file. I still got the same error message.

How can i tell if the .sof is in fact the correct one. I s there a memory location I can dump to see if the image in memory is correct?

I have read and reread the documentation and posted the question as a last resort.

Maybe there is a forum for noob&#39;s, if so could you be so kind as to point me to it and I won&#39;t bother the experts here with such trivial questions...

<div align='right'><{post_snapback}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=13962)</div>

[/b]

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I didn&#39;t send that msg in order to discourage you from posting in this forum... questions are great, but I didn&#39;t think it&#39;s right for you to knock Alteras support. They have a better support staff than a lot of other companies their size, provided that the questions you are asking them are not redundant. Also, for future reference, I suggest posting as much info as you can about what you have already done to address the problem. 1) This shows other readers that you aren&#39;t just posting without attempting to fix it yourself (I personally can&#39;t stand this), and 2) So responders don&#39;t give you solutions you have already tried.

I suggest first regenerating the Nios II System in SOPC Builder, and then regenerate the SOF file and download it. If you do that, and it still gives you the error message, you are pointing to the wrong PTF file in the IDE.

Personally, I don&#39;t use the SYSID component as it causes more problems than it solves for me. For people not familiar with the interaction of the hardware image with the software image, it may be of some use.

As slacker mentioned, it should tell you the SYSID Value it read back that is giving the error. IF not, use the commannd line tools with the --debug flag to see what it says.

Let us know how it works out!

I stand corrected. I have been working on a problem (a different problem) with an Altera support guy (Dylan) for the past 3 days. This guy has stayed on top of the problems and helped me solve all of them. He clearly went beyond the call of duty to help resolve this problem.

This guy has given a me completely new and positive opinion of the Altera support group.

I guess I was premature and wrong in judging them so harshly...