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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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7 years ago

Does SignalTap work with other ICs in the JTAG chain?

Does Quartus II SignalTap work with ICs in the JTAG chain other than the Altera FPGA where SignalTap is being utilized? I get "Invalid JTAG configuration" in the SignalTap II Logic Analyzer stp window.

6 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    No. Signal Tap is an Intel FPGA only feature. It has to be included in a design in an Intel FPGA to connect to the device.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    --- Quote Start ---

    No. Signal Tap is an Intel FPGA only feature. It has to be included in a design in an Intel FPGA to connect to the device.

    --- Quote End ---

    I'll try to be more clear. I want to use SignalTap II in an Altera FPGA but there is another IC in the JTAG chain with the FPGA. I'm not trying to use SignalTap on the non-Altera device. My question is can Quartus orchestrate JTAG to pass through the other device and make SignalTap work in the Altera device?

    Thanks
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    It should work fine. In the Quartus Programmer (you can't set up the chain from the .stp file), you may need to add the other device in the JTAG chain as a non-FPGA device so that the Programmer ignores it.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    SignalTap doesn't use the programmer JTAG chain setup. As far as I see there's no option to configure the JTAG chain in a similar way for SignalTap. So either other devices in the JTAG chain can be identified automatically, or they can't be used.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    You can set up the chain and program the device in the programmer. Then go to the .stp file. It should work.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    I have some boards with other components in the JTAG chain (SSRAMs) and I can use Signaltap on the FPGA. AFAIK you need to use the programmer at least once with an autodetect where the components will appear as "UNKNOWN". Then you need to "create" those components in the programmer by giving them a name. After that both the programmer and signaltap should be happy to work with those components in the chain. If you don't "create" the component, both will complain when trying to do something on the jtag chain.

    The created component is stored somewhere in the JTAG server so you only need to do this once.