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ToddW's avatar
ToddW
Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
4 years ago

Uniphy Platform Designer Error: "Cannot find sequencer/sequencer.elf"

Prior to Quartus Prime Std v19, Intel used Cygwin for the Nios II Command Shell. Version 19.1 and beyond, they switched to using Ubunto 18.04 TLS and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to operate the Nios Command Shell. Here's a quote from the following support article.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/programmable/articles/000074066.html

"Starting with the Nios® II EDS in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software version 19.2 and Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition software version 19.1, the Cygwin component in the Windows* version of Nios II EDS has been removed and replaced with WSL."

I've been unable to compile Platform Designer projects that use a UniPhy memory controller starting with Quartus Prime Std version 19.1 due to the errors mentioned below. Consequently, I've had to keep the revision locked at version 18. It is time to resolve the problem with later versions as my IP is becoming outdated.

This same issue is already mentioned (but not resolved) several times, starting with version 19 and subsequent releases. I am currently running Quartus Prime Std 21.1.0.842.

Here’s a few of the times it is mentioned:

https://community.intel.com/t5/Nios-II-Embedded-Design-Suite/Error-s0-Error-during-execution-of-quot-C-intelfpga-20-1-quartus/m-p/1191914#M49912

https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Quartus-Prime-Software/Error-s0-Cannot-find-sequencer-sequencer-elf/m-p/1233588#M67281

https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Quartus-Prime-Software/Error-Cannot-find-sequences-sequencer-elf/m-p/95998#M19220

https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-Quartus-Prime-Software/Qsys-fails-with-strange-error-messages-never-seen-before/m-p/1310027?lightbox-message-images-1310027=19018i388F0912252A31FC#M70597

Here is how the error/issue shows up in Platform Designer:

I’ve deleted all prior versions of Quartus in hopes that would clear up the issue…it didn’t.

  • I’m able to successfully run Nios II Command Shell, which validates that I’ve successfully installed Ubunto 18.04 TLS and WLS.
  • I’ve set WLS version to ‘1’
  • I’ve installed the following packages:
    • sudo apt update
    • sudo apt upgrade
    • sudo apt install wsl
    • sudo apt install dos2unix
    • sudo apt install make
  • I’ve confirmed the appropriate system environment variables:
    • QUARTUS_ROOTDIR E:\intelFPGA\21.1\quartus
    • QSYS_ROOTDIR E:\intelFPGA\21.1\quartus\sopc_builder\bin
    • SOPC_KIT_NIOS2 E:\intelFPGA\21.1\nios2eds

From what I read, it has never been successfully resolved. I am VERY surprised that Intel has not taken the time to come up with a clear resolution to it. I certainly can’t be the only one out there that is attempting to compile a Platform Designer project with a UniPhy DDR3 memory controller.

I am absolutely stuck at this point. Any guidance would be most appreciated.

17 Replies

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  • ToddW's avatar
    ToddW
    Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
    4 years ago

    I tried your proposed solution. I also have a space in my user account name. So I created a local name without spaces and tried re-running the project. No joy. Same result as before.

    Intel engineering sent me a patch to try. It didn't work either. This is happening on two separate computers. Both have Ubuntu 18.04 and WLS v1 installed. Both successfully run Nios Command Shell from the Start menu.

    I don't understand why this commonly reported error has not been successfully addressed for the past 3-4 years.

  • JFull1's avatar
    JFull1
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    4 years ago

    I think I have a similar problem:

    Platform Designer cannot find nios2eds commands

    Installed Q21.1.0.842 on Win10 19042.1466, with Ubuntu 18.8.4

    (problem observed with Q19 & Q20 as well on two Win10 machines)

    PlatformDesigner generate CycloneV project

    >ERROR
    Info: p0: "fmem" instantiated altera_mem_if_lpddr2_hard_phy_core "p0"
    Error: s0: Error during execution of "{C:/programs/altera/21.1/quartus/../nios2eds/Nios II Command Shell.bat}
    make all 2>> stderr.txt": child process exited abnormally
    Error: s0: Execution of command "{C:/programs/altera/21.1/quartus/../nios2eds/Nios II Command Shell.bat}
    make all 2>> stderr.txt" failed

    what I see is that

    Quartus expects /../nios2eds/Nios II Command Shell.bat to be in /altera/21.1/quartus/
    but
    Quartus installation put the nios2eds/Nios II Command Shell.bat in /altera/21.1/
    and fwiw,
    Quartus installed the make.exe file in altera/21.1/nios2eds/bin/gnu/H-x86_64-mingw32/bin/
    It seems that an environment variable is wrong.

    I'm still using Q18 and waiting for the intel paint to dry.

    -john

  • ToddW's avatar
    ToddW
    Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
    4 years ago

    I copied the text of your post and sent it to the Intel engineer that was helping me with this. It's been a couple of months since I've heard anything from them.

    Your investigation into the problem sure seems plausible to me.

    Thanks,

    --Todd

    • JFull1's avatar
      JFull1
      Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
      4 years ago

      I forgot to say that I'm using web/freebie versions of Quartus.

      Also, Quartus compile works fine with Q19,20,21 and Windows 10. The problem is with the qsys/platform program.

      Hard to believe that no Windows user has gotten these tools working.

      -john

  • EricMunYew_C_Intel's avatar
    EricMunYew_C_Intel
    Icon for Frequent Contributor rankFrequent Contributor
    4 years ago

    I’m glad that your question has been addressed, I now transition this thread to community support. If you have a new question, feel free to open a new thread to get the support from Intel experts. Otherwise, the community users will continue to help you on this thread. Thank you.