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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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10 years ago

Quartus 15 compilation deterministically hangs for several seconds

Hi together,

I currently have Quartus 15.0 update 2 installed on Fedroa 22. Whenever I compile any project, the compilation keeps hanging at certain places, e.g. after the elaboration is done it hangs for about 20 seconds before starting the timing-driven synthesis. The CPU is idle during that time.

It also keeps freezing when double-clicking a file in the project navigator; after about 20 seconds (I timed it) the Quartus editor opens. All file operations in all other applications on my system run virtually instantaneously, it's only Quartus that seems to take a break during file operations.

This happens every time, with every project. When I compile stuff on Quartus 13.0sp1, everything runs smooth, including opening files. So first I thought, okay, there's some issue with Quartus 15, but I recently installed Quartus 15 on Xubuntu, and there it runs smooth! Both Quartus 13.0sp1 on my system and Quartus 15.0 on Xubuntu need several minutes less, which makes quite a difference (about factor 3 in total) when you want to compile with only about 1k registers.

Am I the only one who experiences these delays? Any idea how to solve that? I know this issue is to be considered minor, but waiting 20s to open a file to fins the line that the compiler complains about, that is really annoying, and I'd love to fix that.

Best regards,

GooGooCluster

12 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    Have you raised a ticket with altera mysupport?

    I was going to suggest a licencing issue, but given that 13 works ok I don't think its that.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    Hi,

    I have to admit I'm a bit reluctant, because I'm using Fedora, which is officially not supported (yet everything works e. Also, the "create service request" button is grayed out in my profile, probably because I'm a private user and no commercial one. I also have a business account at work that I could misuse for that purpose, but that wouldn't be right :)

    Btw., I'm using the Web edition, so I don't use a license.

    Best regards,

    GooGooCluster
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    To create a service request, you will need to use a valid company email or else the service request might be rejected.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    Okay, Altera support doesn't seem to be an option for non-business users. Frack.

    Anyway, I found a workaround, but a stupid one: I turn off my wifi (i.e. kill the Internet connection), and Quartus runs blazing fast. No more unnecessary stops. I get a simple design compiled in about a minute. I turn the wifi back on, compile again (even without re-starting Quartus in between), and it needs four minutes for the same job.

    Is there at least a way to report bugs to Altera as a non-business user who cannot file a support ticket? I guess this is low-priority for them, but maybe I can help anyway...
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    It also keeps freezing when double-clicking a file in the project navigator; after about 20 seconds (I timed it) the Quartus editor opens. All file operations in all other applications on my system run virtually instantaneously, it's only Quartus that seems to take a break during file operations.

    GooGooCluster

    --- Quote End ---

    We have experienced intermittent hangs with Quartus when TalkBack was enabled because it was trying to talk to Altera in the background, but the firewall was not allowing it. Review your settings under Tools->Options->General->Internet Connectivity. Especially make sure that the checkbox in TalkBalk options is disabled. This behavior cost us weeks of lost time by the time we figured out the cause - we just assumed the tool was really slow with file operations.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    Especially make sure that the checkbox in TalkBalk options is disabled

    --- Quote End ---

    It seems like the problem is different in my case. I tried all combinations twice, and the Talkback option doesn't seem to make a difference in my case:

    1. Internet, no Talkback: 1:50

    2. Internet, Talkback: 1:39

    3. no Internet, Talkback: 0:15

    4. no Internet, no Talkback: 0:12

    5. Internet, no Talkback: 1:12

    6. Internet, Talkback: 1:31

    7. no Internet, no Talkback: 0:13

    8. no Internet, Talkback: 0:16

    However, turning Talkback off disables multiprocessor support (in case you're using the free WebEdition). Maybe that's the issue in your case? You can turn off multiprocessor support in Settings -> Compilation Process Settings. The advantage of that would be that you can still use SignalTap. Or you use the Subscription edition, in which case disabling TalkBack is definitely the better option.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    It seems like the problem is different in my case. I tried all combinations twice, and the Talkback option doesn't seem to make a difference in my case:

    Or you use the Subscription edition, in which case disabling TalkBack is definitely the better option.

    --- Quote End ---

    We do use the subscription edition. We had exactly the behavior you described originally - Quartus would hang between each phase of a compilation. Our compilations at that time took around an hour and would increase by 15 to 20 minutes when talkback was enabled. We did substantial testing to confirm that the talkback setting was responsible for this additional delay. Our FAE also got an earful...

    Admittedly, this was with an older version of Quartus - not sure exactly which, probably around 10 or 11. Since then, we have religiously made sure that talkback was always disabled, so it very well may not apply to newer versions. However, I would point out that our compilation times were substantially longer than yours (I assume your numbers are mins:secs since you replied so quick), so this issue may become more apparent with longer compilation times.
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    However, I would point out that our compilation times were substantially longer than yours (I assume your numbers are mins:secs since you replied so quick), so this issue may become more apparent with longer compilation times.

    --- Quote End ---

    You're right, it was a small design with 270 registers, and the numbers are minutes:seconds. At work I'm dealing with larger design, but there I don't suffer from that problem, so I have no data for large designs. I guess the little delays I encounter on my Fedora installation would get lost in the noise then.

    --- Quote Start ---

    Admittedly, this was with an older version of Quartus - not sure exactly which, probably around 10 or 11.

    --- Quote End ---

    That's particularly interesting, because I only saw the issue on Quartus 15; with Quartus 13.x I never observed any hangs. Okay, it's not Quartus 10 or 11, and again I only do small designs here on this installation, so no good correlation data :)
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    10 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    You're right, it was a small design with 270 registers, and the numbers are minutes:seconds. At work I'm dealing with larger design, but there I don't suffer from that problem, so I have no data for large designs. I guess the little delays I encounter on my Fedora installation would get lost in the noise then.

    That's particularly interesting, because I only saw the issue on Quartus 15; with Quartus 13.x I never observed any hangs. Okay, it's not Quartus 10 or 11, and again I only do small designs here on this installation, so no good correlation data :)

    --- Quote End ---

    I am having the same issue with my compilation. It takes nearly 10 min for full compilations. Have you guys found any work around?