I've opened up an SR for this, but in the meantime, don't install SP2 if you need to use the flash programmer to program an EPCS with or without NIOS. This was specifically on a cyclone II, but it probably applies to all devices. Once programmed by the flash programmer(SP2) the cyclone II won't boot on power up anymore. Programming the sof through JTAG will work and NIOS will self boot. Programming a JIC file will also work, but of course NIOS isn't there to boot. I completely uninstalled Quartus and NIOS and reinstalled everything back to SP1 and it all works again just as it should. Users be warned! Dan

Thanks for sharing. I'm still on 9.0 due to all the 9.1 regressions.

I believe this is a problem with generating compressed bitstreams in the assembler stage. Two workarounds: In Quartus GUI, go to Assignments>Device>Device and Pin Options and deselect the option "Generate compressed bitstreams". (This is for Linux web version; Windows version may have this option in a different menu.) Or throw away the .pof file and use the command line to convert the .sof into one that works: quartus_cpf -c -d EPCS16 project.sof project.pof Both of these worked for me (I have a DE2-70 board and had the same problem with active serial programming on Quartus 9.1SP2).

To be fair, 9.1 is faster compiling and seems to give more consistant results. Just stick with SP1. 9.1 no SP is broken, and SP2 is broken. 9.1 seemed to be pretty good.......

--- Quote Start --- In Quartus GUI, go to Assignments>Device>Device and Pin Options and deselect the option "Generate compressed bitstreams". (This is for Linux web version; Windows version may have this option in a different menu.) Or throw away the .pof file and use the command line to convert the .sof into one that works: quartus_cpf -c -d EPCS16 project.sof project.pof Both of these worked for me (I have a DE2-70 board and had the same problem with active serial programming on Quartus 9.1SP2). --- Quote End --- Neither compressed or uncompressed worked. I can program the EPCS if I use a JIC file. The trouble is that I need to also program the NIOS elf file. The JIC overwrites the elf and using the flash programmer to put them both, the sof file won't boot. If I could use a pof or a JIC with the elf, then I would be set. The other thing is this is not a generation problem. I had generated the same file with two sets of files, one under SP1, the other under SP2. Neither would work when I used the flash programmer under SP2. Both worked when I went back to SP1. The problem is not the generation, but is probably in the bootloader that is placed in the EPCS device at the beginning.

The only question now is how long will it take ALtera to provide a fix. They usually take about 2 weeks to understand the problem and to stop asking silly questions, then 2 more weeks to think about it and then 1-2 more weeks to either hope it just goes away or if your lucky, maybe they will come up with a fix.......

Quartus 9.1 SP2 WARNING!!!!! | Altera Community

29 Replies

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
Thanks, I will do that.
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
Why not just post it here?

No problem - 10.0 is due 5July...
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
no 10.0 is available since yesterday 1st of july :-)
but the subscription edition acds iso image is 7,6G
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
I have a DE2-70 board (2C70) with an EPCS64 and as expected, 9.1sp2 doesn't generate usable .pof files. The board doesn't successfully load its configuration on power-on.

I just tried using sof2flash/elf2flash from Quartus 10 and it seems to behave exactly the same as 9.1sp2 in terms of flash programming. I can't use Quartus 10 completely to compile my design, it introduces a whole pile of other issues I never had with previous versions. *LOTS* of things break in 10.

Is this by-request-only patch available for 9.1sp2 on Linux (full subscription edition)? Using the Windows version of Quartus is not an option for me.
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
good question, you should ask MySupport

as far as i know, that epcs bug is not "included" in Q9.1 SP1
Maybe you can downgrade
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
A quick update just so this stuff can be found by others: patch 2.46 does fix my issue as expected. However, no linux version of patch 2.46 is available according to the response I got from support.

Quartus 9.0 also works for me. I tried 9.1sp1 and it did not work for an unrelated reason (sof2flash runs 'quartus_cpf --device=EPCS128', which dies with a stack trace). I did not try versions earlier than 9.0 because I need Nios MMU support for this design.

Edit 07/22/10: Altera now has a Linux version of Patch 2.46 available and I can confirm that it works.
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
Quartus 10.0 Build 218 (06/27/2010) SJ Full Version - WORKS!

I have installed Quartus 10.0 with the "stand-alone quartus ii programmer" and it works for Active Serial Programming.
It is the very last point in the components selection menu, during the installation. Maybe it would also work to just install the programmer without 10.0, but I did not try it. Just make sure you have enough time when you start the installation, the download takes a while.
:cool:
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
I found out this is not my problem, but here is the download for patch 2.46 that I tracked down.

I can't post links yet so Google:

"Why does an Active Serial configuration failure occur for Cyclone II devices when using a compressed programming file?"

John
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor
15 years ago
--- Quote Start ---
I found out this is not my problem, but here is the download for patch 2.46 that I tracked down.

I can't post links yet so Google:

"Why does an Active Serial configuration failure occur for Cyclone II devices when using a compressed programming file?"

John
--- Quote End ---

Thank you so much John!
I was searching for the linux patch so long and couldn't find it.

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Quartus 9.1 SP2 WARNING!!!!!

29 Replies

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