EPCS booting problem

Well, I have figured out a workaround to boot from EPCS while waiting for Altera to come out with a fix for 9.1. But this workaround is very manual.

First, generate two sets of compressed POF file from Convert Programming Files utility. One with "Disable AS/AP mode CONF_DONE pin error check" option checked, and another one unchecked. Let's named them working.pof for the pof file with "Disable AS/AP mode CONF_DONE pin error check" option checked and not_working.pof for the other one.

Convert both pof files to RPD files using Convert Programming Files utility tool. Use same file names, which are working.rpd and not_working.rpd. Use binary comparator tool to compare both files. You can notice that there are only 3 bits difference for the first 3 bytes.

Now, you can use the NIOS II flash programmer to program the SOF file and ELF file into the EPCS like usual. After finish programming, bear in mind that at the very top of your EPCS now is actually similar like not_working.rpd. You just have figure out a way to change it to working.rpd. That's a lot of way to do this, such as using alt_write_flash() in your firmware code. My applications already allow me to write and read from the EPCS freely.

Hope this helps! :)

this seems to get even more worse if you do not modify the fpga image, meaning you leave the image as it is created by quartus before 9.1 and only want to update the epcs images due to application software update.

normaly this is just a batch job that stores the application after the fpga image in epcs device. even this does not work with quartus 9.1

all epcs files produced by quartus 9.1 here are completly useless

so we keep at least one quartus 9.0 installation to generate the epcs files for jtag or in application programming.

hopefully Altera will release a fix very soon.

Hi,

Any news about EPCS booting problem. I move from quartus 9.0 to 9.1 because I want to use the free NIOS. I use a custom board wich only have a JTAG connection and I program my EPCS using the flash programmer in NIOS EDS.

thanks

unfortunately no,

the case i have opened with MySupport is still open and no information about a fix or a service pack.

So currently it is impossible to generate EPCS programming files with Quartus 9.1

Thats the reason why we have one workstation with quartus 9.0 left untouched, so there we can run scripts that generate the epcs files out of quartus 9.1 designs

There was a thread here where somebody posted a possible solution be copying some files from quartus 9.0 installation.

so we still have to wait for 9.1 sp1 or does anybody else have any other (better) information about this issue ?

As a result of my service request (filed in November 2009) Altera just sent me a Quartus patch file for testing which fixes the problem. So now the flashing of EPCS seems to work.

Here are the details so that you can request the patch from Altera or your FAE:

Quartus II 9.1 Patch 0.63

Patch SPR#: 330296

Regards,

Jari

Correct, that patch seems to solve this issue.

just received it from MySuport and it works here too

Hi Jari,

Thank you for posting the details. I have had an SR in for 2 months. It took 1 month to identify the problem actually exists and that I'm not crazy and one month to not respond at all to the problem. I'm glad that somebody else got through to them to get a fix for this issue.

I had to call in and actually give them the patch number before they could find it.:confused: Once they found it I had it within 10 min.

Dan

--- Quote Start ---

As a result of my service request (filed in November 2009) Altera just sent me a Quartus patch file for testing which fixes the problem. So now the flashing of EPCS seems to work.

Here are the details so that you can request the patch from Altera or your FAE:

Quartus II 9.1 Patch 0.63

Patch SPR#: 330296

Regards,

Jari

--- Quote End ---

I' a student in China, using Cyclone II. I encountered the similar problem with Nios II 91 Flash Programmer.I wonder whether it is convenient to post me one copy of this patch you talked.

Best Wishes,

Yuphone Chang

--- Quote Start ---

I' a student in China, using Cyclone II. I encountered the similar problem with Nios II 91 Flash Programmer.I wonder whether it is convenient to post me one copy of this patch you talked.

Best Wishes,

Yuphone Chang

--- Quote End ---

Altera has already published the 9.1 SP1 (for both Quartus and NIOS) which contain this patch and thus fixes the EPCS problem.

You can download it from the Altera's website.

Best Regards,

Jari