Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
15 years ago

Quartus 9.1 EPCS flashing problem! rev A

I have created an SOPC system, using Quartus 9.1 (no SPx installed after reading the problems introduced by these service packs) on a custom board with an EP1C12 Cyclone device and EPCS4 device with the following components:

1. NIOS 2 processor (configured with a JTAG Debug Level 1)

2. EPCS Controller

3. On-Chip RAM

4. Sysid

5. JTAG

6. 2 each UART

After I have compiled the design, I have created a small application which receives characters from one of the serial interface and it replicates them to the JTAG port and to the UART port from which the data have been received.

I have compiled, linked and run the application under the “Run As hardware” using the Eclipse IDE configuration and everything is working fine.

The problems have begin when I have tried to flash the EPCS; indeed, even if the entire flash process completes without any error and after resetting the system, I can verify that the application is running correctly, when I perform a power up, the FPGA is no longer configured correctly or the application is not uploaded.

To troubleshoot this problem I have taken the following steps:

1. Created the same project with the same characteristics and using the same software files under Quartus 8.0 (again no SP installed);

2. Verified the configuration and the software functionality by testing the system with the “Run As… Hardware”

3. Flashed the EPCS successfully and verified that everything boots correctly

The above steps prove that the there are no issues associated with the hardware and my custom board; interesting enough, I have notice that under Quartus 8.0 the total current consumption is in the order of 95mA, while when the FPGA is running with the configuration generated under Quartus 9.1 it increases to 130mA.

I assume this change of current is caused by a quite different configuration file for the FPGA despite the 2 designs under the 2 different Quartus version are identical (in terms of components instantiated and pin out utilization).

Following some of the indication taken from the Altera Forum, I have also tried to perform the conversion of the .SOF and .ELF files generated by the Quartus 9.1 and programming the EPCS using the Quartus 8.0 tools and flash programmer, but with the same results.

Is there any indication on to get down to the bottom of this problem? I am of the impression that something is not correct with how the .SOF file is generated by the assembler under the 9.1 version.

Just as a confirmation to all of the above, I have spent time to recreate the same project also using Quartus 10 (and what I mean, not importing the project, but creating it again from scratch) and I have been able to successfully program the FPGA. If someone of You will ask, then why I do not use Quartus 10, the simple answer is that it does not provides the Waveform Editor which I use to generate my testbenches to verify the design with ModelSIM-Altera.

Any help is seriously appreciated; thanks in advance

2 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    15 years ago

    Pantxoa, thanks a lot.

    I have finally installed also Quartus 9.0, created yet an other similar design and verified that indeed:

    1. the ECPS is correctly programmed and it will boot at power up

    2. the design current consumption is the same in version 9.1

    I noticed that the ECPS Controller which is istantiated in version 9.1 has an extra pin which is exported to the hgher design, that is the MISO signal for SPI type flash devices, while it is not present in version 9.0: suspects lies on a different type of controller and how it is istantiated in the FPGA.

    The conclusion is that for the time being, I will continue to use Quartus 8.0 because:

    1. current consuption is lower than the design in 9.0;

    2. I have enough experience with this version to judge it really stable for the devices which I am using in my design;

    3. it still maintains the Waveform Editor which really facilitates the design of testbenches to be exported in ModelSIM.

    Regret that Quartus 10 does not have the Waveform editor because the new Eclipse IDE compiles much faster than the NIOS IDE.

    I regret that I ca