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Altera_Forum
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16 years ago

Problem Launching NIOS-II Debugger

I am experiencing a problem debugging my project. When I launch the debugger I get the following error in a dialog box:

--- Quote Start ---

'Launching Nios II Hardware' has encountered a problem.

Error starting gdbserver - see console for details.

--- Quote End ---

I see the following in the nios2-download console:

--- Quote Start ---

Using cable "USB-Blaster [USB-0]", device 2, instance 0x00

Processor is already paused

Reading System ID at address 0x14081030: verified

Listening on port 1925 for connection from GDB: 59s58s57s56s55s54s53s52s51 s50s49s48s47s46s45s44s43s 42s41s40s39s38s37s36s35s 34s33s32s31s30s29s28s27s26 s25s24s23s22s21s20s19s18s 17s16s15s14s13s12s11s10s 9s 8s 7s 6s 5s 4s 3s 2s 1stimed out

Leaving target processor paused

--- Quote End ---

My project is an SBT Eclipse project on v9.1. I am using the Altera CDI GDB Debugger.

It's obvious to me that the gdbserver is not starting but I'm not sure why or how to debug the interface. I've tried refreshing my target connections and I checked the .jdi file and I don't see anything indicating why the server won't start.

Any help would be appreciated.

4 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    15 years ago

    I am having exactly the same problem and have no idea why the debugger fails to start. I found a link to an old version of the Nios II IDE that indicates anti-virus software can cause this problem by blocking a tcp port (although it failed to say which one). I am not running any anti-virus software so I know this is not what's causing the problem for me.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    15 years ago

    My problem was related to migrating an older project to Quartus-II v9.1. The original project was generated with the NIOS-II IDE environment and I was opening it with NIOS-II Eclipse SBT.

    To resolve the problem I rebuilt the entire project from scratch using the Eclipse SBT (manually created a new project with the same settings as the old), copied over all the source files, rebuilt the BSP project and then recompiled everything. Once I did this, my debugger problems resolved and I was able to launch a debug session.

    There may be more elegant methods of doing this but the above worked for me.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    I had the same problem launching debug and getting "Error starting gdbserver -- see console for details". I searched the forums and found a diagnosis that the firewall was causing this error. My IT folks investigated but it was NOT the firewall. It has been diagnosed as a consequence of BEYOND TRUST which does not have this appllication in its Beyond Trust list. Turning off Beyond Trust fixed it.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    11 years ago

    I discovered that if I open a "Nios II 14.0 Command Shell" and run eclipse-nios2.exe from the resulting Cygwin bash shell, then Eclipse is able to start gdbserver and run the debugger in the "Nios II Debug" perspective correctly. Previously, I had been using the "Nios II 14.0 Software Build Tools for Eclipse" shortcut installed in the Start menu by the Altera installer and encountered the gdbserver problem.