warning with on chip memory data items width

Hello,

I am trying to convert the preloader from ELF to .hex to boot the HPS of a Cyclone V from the FPGA.

(cf https://rocketboards.org/foswiki/documentation/bootfromfpga140 ), with a DE10-nano board.

However, I got warnings : Warning (113015): Width of data items in "preloader.hex" is greater than the memory width. Wrapping data items to subsequent addresses. Found 1148 warnings, reporting 10

So according to this thread, I ned to make match my memory data port width ( 8bit) with the record length.

I do not have a mem_init.mk file on my computer,

just a makefile to compile the preloader.

The command to convert to hex file is :

arm-altera-eabi-objcopy -O ihex --adjust-vma -0xc0000000 uboot-socfpga/spl/u-boot-spl preloader.hex

I am using Quartus 17.1.

is there is a argument I can use for arm-altera-eabi-objcopy to set up this record length ?

The website https://manned.org/arm-none-eabi-objcopy lists and explain the command, but the only one I saw is interleave-width and it do not seem solve my problem.

Could you help me please ?

Regards,

Neudorf.

in my design I use onchip memory to store .hex program from nios II.

I can try to download the new version but I don't think this problem is linked to the quartus version because my "old" design work.

I've just modify an entity on my design.

hello,

I downloaded the last version of quartus. I've got the same thing and always this bad warning about my onchip memory and .hex file.

thanks for help.

I finally figured this out yesterday...

I used Elf2Hex to convert my elf file into the hex file(s). The format of the .hex file was (spaces added by me to separate the fields):

:20 aaaa 00 dd..dd cc

:20 aaab 00 dd..dd cc

Where aaaa == an address, dd..dd is 32 hex bytes of data, and cc is the checksum. aaab is a different address which happens to be 8 more than aaaa. For example, if aaaa was 1230, then aaab would be 1238.

There were two key things that helped me figure it out.

1. Really figuring out what the warning said "is too wide to fit in one memory word"... The key phrase was "one memory word". A memory word in my system is 32-bits, which is why when I had 32 hex bytes, it only increased the address by 8 (one for each 4 byte group).

2. Looking at a default memory file created by the sopc system:

:04 aaaa 00 dd..dd cc

:04 aaab 00 dd..dd cc

Where aaab - aaaa is only 1, and dd..dd is only 4 hex bytes.

So, the key is that the Quartus tools want to have only one memory word (32-bits or 4 hex bytes in my system) PER LINE of the .hex file.

In the elf2hex converter, there is an option called "--record=<length>" where you can set the maximum number of words per line. The default apparently is 20 (for me at least). Changing my makefiles to use --record=4 created a .hex file that had only 4 bytes per line and produced no warnings.

Hi

Thanks for the information.

It worked for me. Very precise information.

Thanks again.

Raj

Yes, very precise. Thank you.

Anyway, it seems that it is safe to live with this warning, right?

Hi,

I'm having similar warnings. My hex file is being generated by NIOS ii SBT for eclipse. From this link (https://www.altera.com/support/support-resources/knowledge-base/solutions/rd03252015_881.html) altera shows the solution.

"Description

You may see this warning when using memory initialization files generated by the mem_init make target in the makefile generated by the Nios® II Embedded Design Suite (EDS).

The reason for this warning is that the Quartus® II software expects the record length within .hex files to match the data port width of the memory that is initialized.

Workaround/Fix

To change the generated .hex files to have a record length that matches the memory data port width, modify the mem_init.mk file within the BSP directory:

Find the ELF_TO_HEX_CMD_NO_BOOTLOADER command

add the following switch:

--record=/8

This problem is scheduled to be resolved in a future release of the Quartus II software."

Based on the solution above, I'm not sure where to add the switch that was mentioned above.

The boot loader command I found on my mem_init.mk file is below

"ELF_TO_HEX_CMD_NO_BOOTLOADER = $(ELF2HEX) $< $(mem_start_address) $(mem_end_address) --width=$(mem_hex_width)

$(mem_endianness) --create-lanes=$(mem_create_lanes) $(elf2hex_extra_args) $@"

Question is where to add the --record=/8?