Why did I get a fatal error when using the Quartus® Power Analyzer?

Description

Due to a problem in the Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software version 19.1 and later, you may see the fatal error message in the Quartus® Power Analyzer when generating a .vcd file for Power Analysis. This is because there is a wrong entity set “set_instance_assignment POWER_READ_INPUT_FILE” in your .qsf file.

    Problem Details

    Error:

    *** Fatal Error: Segment Violation at (nil)

    Module: quartus_pow

    Stack Trace:    0x2e77f: PFIO_VCD_PARSER_EVENT_HANDLER::handle_upscope() 0x31f (power_pfio)     

    0xfce0: pfio_vcd_parser_yyparse(FlexLexer*) 0x9e0 (power_pfio) 

    0xfeed: pfio_vcd_invoke_parser(pfio_vcd_lexer_yyFlexLexer*, PFIO_VCD_PARSER_EVENT_HANDLER*) 0x2d (power_pfio)   

    0x50d10: PFIO_VCD_READER_MAIN::load_signal_statistics_from_vcd_files(PUTIL_SA_DATA*) 0x5a0 (power_pfio)   

    0x404d1: PAN_UTILITY_IMPL::load_putil_sa_data_from_file() 0x84d (power_pan)

Resolution

To work around this problem, set the correct entity name of the simulation nodes. Use either one of the methods below:

 1.    In the .qsf file modify the set_instance_assignment -name POWER_READ_INPUT_FILE <.vcd file name> -to -entity

 2.    In the Quartus® Prime Pro GUI :

        a.     From the top menu, go to Processing and select Power Analyzer Tool

        b.     In the Input file box, click Add Power Input File(s)…

        c.     On the Power Analyzer Settings, click Add

        d.     On the File name entry, select correct .vcd file

        e.     For the Entity entry, select the correct entity

        f.      Click OK

        g.     Click Apply