Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
16 years ago

Flash Programmer/AS Compatibility Problem?

Hello all,

I have been trying to learn how to use the NIOS II flash programmer recently. Essentially, what I want to be able to do is power up my board and have the FPGA properly configured and my C code running on the processor, right off the bat. I have a DE2 board with a Cyclone II FPGA, and I am using Quartus II version 9.1 and NIOS II IDE version 9.1. Here's the issue:

If I use JTAG programming in Quartus to download the FPGA configuration to the board, the flash programmer in NIOS II IDE works just fine; I can download my code to the flash and run it. This would seem to indicate that there is nothing wrong with my system.

If I use AS programming in Quartus instead, permanently storing the FPGA config. on the board, then when I try to use the flash programmer, I get the "There are no Nios II processors available which match the values specified" error. It doesn't matter whether I set up the system library to put the FPGA configuration data and the program data in the flash, or program data only; I get the same error.

Does anyone know how I can fix this and get my board and program to boot up properly when I push the power button?

5 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    Please read the Nios II flash Programming manual.

    The image loaded into your FPGA is not the one you compiled your C code with. That's why you get the error.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    But why is the image not the correct one? The IDE re-compiles my code every time I run the flash programmer; do I need to force it to recompile the system library as well? I've been through the manual but didn't see anything there to help me; as far as I can tell, I'm doing things right.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    16 years ago

    Further troubleshooting has convinced me that AS mode itself is the problem. Since I am using Quartus 9.1, I think I have that bug that prevents Quartus from properly generating some of the files needed for AS programming.