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Altera_Forum
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15 years ago

Non-volatile user configurations

Hi, Is it possible to boot user designs that do not contain a nios2 core from the flash memory? E.g. a DSPBuilder bitstream? I've had a look through the "Nios II Flash Programmer User Guide" bu...
Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
15 years ago

Hi thepancake,

thanks for helping me with this. The kit I have is the "dsp development kit, stratix ii edition (http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-dsp-2s60.html)". I've tried the --pfl option without success and I could not find the --programmingmode option in the nios II flash programmer handbook.

The settings I have are:

sof2flash --input="/tmp/flash_programmer/sinusoid_dspbuilder/sinusoid.sof" --output="/tmp/flash_programmer/flash/sinusoid_cfi_flash.flash" --offset=0x0 --verbose --pfl

and

nios2-flash-programmer "/tmp/flash_programmer/flash/sinusoid_cfi_flash.flash" --base=0x1000000 --sidp=0x2021008 --id=0x449B04A1 --timestamp=1284050797 --device=1 --instance=0 '--cable=USB-Blaster [USB 5-1.2]' --erase-all --go --program --verbose

The "Nios II Flash Programmer" reports a successful flash but when I reboot the machine with the configuration switches set to "1110", It appears as if the board is trying to load the user design ("USER" and "FLASH_CEn" LEDs are on, "LOADING" flashing), fails and then falls back to the factory design ("FACTORY" and "FLASH_CEn" LEDs are on, "LOADING" flashing) which also fails to load ("FACTORY" and "ERROR" LEDs are on).

According to the kit handbook, the configuration controller is an Altera EPM7256 PLD and "the flash memory, Stratix II device, and configuration controller are connected so that data from the flash configures the Stratix II device in fast passive-parallel mode."