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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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13 years ago

can't seem to get Nios 2 to work on my DE1

I am having a problem getting the NIOS 2 program to download to my DE1 board. I've tried on two separate systems. One uses win xp and the other win 7. I'm logged on as Admin on both.

I'm using the latest v12 quartus and v12 Nios SBT for Eclipse tools on each system.

I've tried to reproduce the tutorials in the Pong P. Chu book and also the Nios2 Hardware Tutorial distributed by Altera. Both fail. I don't have any problems with building the processor and downloading it. The problems seem to be confined to the NIOS 2 SBT for Eclipse tools. Here is what happens.

On the win XP system: I can get as far as completing the tutorials but when I get to the part in Nios SBT for Eclipse where you download the firmware I get this message "system console unable to lock chain: BAD_HARDWARE" I already loaded the .sof into the device using the Nios SBT for Eclipse so I don't see why it can't see the hardware.

On the win 7 system: I can get a little father. After I right click "Run as Nios 2 hardware", there is a long pause and some lights blink on the DE1 board. It appears that the program is downloading. It then suddenly stops and I get this message: " 'Launching Binary_count Nios 2 hardware configuration has encountered a problem' Downloading ELF process has failed.

The DE1 board is new and I'm wondering if it may be the culprit. Simple state machines and HDL programs seem to run on the board, however. Any advice would be helpful.

PS I've tried rebuilding the tutorials many times without success.

-Shawn

7 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    Same problem here. I run NIOS II on window 7 32-bit and start with nios2 hardware tutorial. It is doing fine during programming the hardware to DE2 board. However, it stops during downloading program through NIOS2. It say ELF file failed to download. I looked around for the solution but haven't found yet. Anybody have an idea for this. or just confirm that it works in window 7. My colleague told me to move back to win XP.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    The problem for me was not win xp or win 7 related. I found that both work fine. The problem was that after I downloaded the .sof to the device, a warning box popped up. I was closing this box when I should have kept it open.

    Hope this helps.

    Shawn
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    13 years ago

    I am getting message :

    Downloading ELF Process failed.

    I also see (in red) a list of things like 2) If -Stop is specified ...

    but it is gone too quick to read.

    I am just trying the example Hello World program.

    With v11.1sp2 I (eventually) got it all working, and was able to download and run Hello World ok. So I know the hardware is OK.

    Other details : I had problems with the default programmer :

    Attempt to access JTAG server - internal error code 82 occurred.

    I had to install v12.0sp2 standalone programmer, and now the .sop programming seems to go fine.

    But not the .elf programming - this was with the "Media" processor and "Hello World" program.

    Using a Win 7 64 bit system.

    cheers,

    Beau

    More info:

    I also have a DE0-Nano :

    I have loaded this with a simple non-floating point "Basic" processor, and this then programs the .elf and runs fine : Hello from Nios II!

    OK, now I will try the "Basic" processor on the D1 ....

    And now, for DE0-Nano and DE1, for both "Basic" and "Media" processors, I get :

    [Target Connection]: No Nios II target connection paths were located. Check connections and that a Nios II .sof is downloaded.

    The .sof seems to download fine.

    AHHH : one needs to update the processors (possibly etc) for v12

    Go to the Atera University program, and download v12 :

    Hello from Nios II!

    on the DE0-Nano ("Basic") and DE1 ("Basic" and "Media" processors.)

    Happy times !
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    12 years ago

    Hi

    I am having exactly the same error and i have no idea why.

    I m working with the quartus version 12 and nios 2 SBT for eclipse, my computer have window 7 32 bit.

    I dont have problem to build the processor, i want to do the HELLO WORLD SMALL template but when I select "Run as Nios 2 hardware" I get this message:

    'Launching Hello world Nios 2 hardware configuration has encountered a problem' Downloading ELF process has failed.

    Is there anybody who can solve this problem??

    regards
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    12 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    The problem for me was not win xp or win 7 related. I found that both work fine. The problem was that after I downloaded the .sof to the device, a warning box popped up. I was closing this box when I should have kept it open.

    Hope this helps.

    Shawn

    --- Quote End ---

    I know this thread is old, I found it thru a Google search.

    What Shawn says here also works for me.... read the forum posts rather than scrolling through them... :)