Video IP - simple test vga interface

Firstly, to isolate probable issue with connection/hardware, have you tried the examples that are included in the University program? There's a couple of examples that will generate output to the VGA.

Ah yes, the image has been set as a low-res thumbnail, I was hoping when it was clicked on it would be turned back into a high res image...

Hopefully this is a high-res image of the Qsys system....

So I found another tutorial online for a similar application but this one uses a NIOS core. I have adapted the tutorial to use on chip memory as opposed to the SRAM they propose. However I still can't get this working!

//Base Addresses from DE2-70 Media Computer with SD# define VGA_PIXEL_BUFFER_BASE_ADR 0x0000000 // SRAM base address# define VGA_BLACK 0x0000 // Black# define VGA_RED 0xF800 // Red# define VGA_WHITE 0xFFFF // Red
# define LED_BASE 0x2000# define SW_BASE 0x2010
/* function prototypes */
    void VGA_box (int, int, int, int, short);
//Main function
int main(void)
{
    int* leds = (int*)LED_BASE; 
    volatile int* sw = (int*)SW_BASE;
    
    /* Create a background frame */
    VGA_box (0, 0, 319, 239, VGA_RED);
    
    /* Create a foreground box */
    VGA_box (30, 30, 90, 90, VGA_WHITE);
    
    /* Create another foreground box */
    VGA_box (50, 50, 70, 70, VGA_RED);
    
    /* main loop */
    while(1) {
        *(leds) = *(sw);
        
        }// hello world
}
/* Draw a filled rectangle on the VGA monitor */
void VGA_box(int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2, short pixel_color)
{
    int offset, row, col;
        volatile int * pixel_buffer = (int *) VGA_PIXEL_BUFFER_BASE_ADR;
        
    while(pixel_buffer < 500){
    
    *(pixel_buffer) = (int) pixel_color;
    pixel_buffer = pixel_buffer + 1;
    }
    /* assume that the box coordinates are valid */
//    for (row = y1; row <= y2; row++)
//    {
//        for (col = x1; col <= x2; col++ )
//        {
//            offset = (row << 9) + col; // compute offset
//            *(pixel_buffer + offset) = (int) pixel_color; // set pixel
//        }
//    }
}

assign VGA_BLANK_N = ~VGA_BLANK;
assign VGA_SYNC_N = ~VGA_SYNC;
 NIOS_VGA_example u0 (
	  .clk_clk       (CLOCK_50),       //   clk.clk
	  .reset_reset_n (KEY), // reset.reset_n
	  .vga_CLK       (VGA_CLK),       //   vga.CLK
	  .vga_HS        (VGA_HS),        //      .HS
	  .vga_VS        (VGA_VS),        //      .VS
	  .vga_BLANK     (VGA_BLANK),     //      .BLANK
	  .vga_SYNC      (VGA_SYNC),      //      .SYNC
	  .vga_R         (VGA_R),         //      .R
	  .vga_G         (VGA_G),         //      .G
	  .vga_B         (VGA_B),          //      .B
	  .switches_export (SW), // switches.export
	  .leds_export     (LEDR),      //     leds.export
	  
	  .sdram_clock_clk  (DRAM_CLK),  // sdram_clock.clk
	  .sdram_wire_addr  (DRAM_ADDR),  //  sdram_wire.addr
	  .sdram_wire_ba    (DRAM_BA),    //            .ba
	  .sdram_wire_cas_n (DRAM_CAS_N), //            .cas_n
	  .sdram_wire_cke   (DRAM_CKE),   //            .cke
	  .sdram_wire_cs_n  (DRAM_CS_N),  //            .cs_n
	  .sdram_wire_dq    (DRAM_DQ),    //            .dq
	  .sdram_wire_dqm   ({DRAM_UDQM, DRAM_LDQM}),   //            .dqm
	  .sdram_wire_ras_n (DRAM_RAS_N), //            .ras_n
	  .sdram_wire_we_n  (DRAM_WE_N)   //            .we_n
  
 );

/* Draw a filled rectangle on the VGA monitor */
void VGA_box(int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2, short pixel_color)
{
	int offset, row, col;
		volatile int * pixel_buffer = (int *) VGA_PIXEL_BUFFER_BASE_ADR;
		
//	while(pixel_buffer < 500){
//	
//	*(pixel_buffer) = (int) pixel_color;
//	pixel_buffer = pixel_buffer + 1;
//	}
	/* assume that the box coordinates are valid */
	for (row = y1; row <= y2; row++)
	{
		for (col = x1; col <= x2; col++ )
		{
			offset = (row << 9) + col; // compute offset
			*(pixel_buffer + offset) = (int) pixel_color; // set pixel
		}
	}
}

The university program VGA examples can be found as part of the Altera Monitor Program. Install this (remember to select the correct version corresponding to the Quartus version on your computer) and you can look at the examples of the Qsys and software:

I have the University Program installed, however it doesn't seem to have any examples with it. The only things inside the 'Universty_Program' folder are 'Computer_Systems', 'Monitor_Program', unistaller.exe and win-unistall.ico ... It is possible that, because this is a centrally managed machine, when it was installed the first time it was done incorrectly.