Forum Discussion

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
7 years ago

Why does vsim occasionally crash with ERROR CODE 4 when using Quartus Prime Lite (no license required)? How can I solve this problem?

  • PROBLEM:
    • vsim occasionally crashes with error code 4.
  • TRANSCRIPT:
    • FATAL ERROR: Unable to read lock file necessary for use of uncounted nodelocked license. Exiting.
  • SOFTWARE VERSION:
    • ModelSim - Intel FPGA Starter Edition 10.5b.
    • Quartus-lite-18.0.0.614-linux.tar
  • ENVIRONMENT:
    • Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS Server
    • x86_64 Architecture
    • Installed in /opt/intelFPGA_Lite/18.0/modelsim_ase
  • From the Quartus Install Guide:

"Intel offers the entry-level Intel Quartus Prime Lite Edition and ModelSim - Intel FPGA Starter Edition software. This software supports selected devices, provides limited feature support, and does not require license files."

5 Replies

  • HRZ's avatar
    HRZ
    Icon for Frequent Contributor rankFrequent Contributor
    7 years ago

    I am not suere about the installer of Quartus Lite but the installers of the Standard and Pro versions come with both Modelsim Free and Paid; you have to specifically install the Free version. Furthermore, Modelsim Free Edition has a line limit of 10,000; maybe you are running into that limit?

  • AndyN's avatar
    AndyN
    Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
    7 years ago

    By any chance, is it failing when you re-run it after a successful run? I've had issues with some Modelsim sub-processes not getting properly terminating when running on Linux (which then gives weird behavior when you then re-run).

    Andy

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Thanks for your responses,@HRZ​ @AndyN​ .

    • The Modelsim install is the Intel FPGA Starter Edition v10.5b, and the projects are well less than the 10k line limit.
    • It appears to fail at random, with exit code 4.
    • Per the Modelsim user manual, exit code 4 is a license issue.
    • This is consistent with the fatal error that shows up in the transcript.
    • Sushmita's avatar
      Sushmita
      Icon for Occasional Contributor rankOccasional Contributor
      6 years ago

      Hi @fpga​

      Even i am facing same issue. Did you find the solution for the above problem? If yes, please share the reason/ solution.

      Thanks

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        6 years ago

        HI. Yes. I ended up requesting a license and it solved the problem.