Why does the HPS Flash Programmer (quartus_hps) fail to access QSPI flash in XIP mode?

Description

Due to a problem in the Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Software version 17.0 and earlier, the HPS Flash Programmer (quartus_hps) may fail to access Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) flash device that has been put into Execute-In-Place (XIP) mode.

The following error messages may be seen:

Quad SPI Flash silicon ID is 0xFFFFFFFF

Error: Not able to map flash ID from flash database

Resolution

This problem is fixed beginning with the Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Software version 17.1.

The HPS Flash Programmer in Intel® Quartus® Prime Design Software version 17.1 introduces a new argument named exit_xip that exists the QSPI flash device from XIP mode when user specify a non-zero value for the argument. 

For example, run quartus_hps -c <cable> -o <operation> --exit_xip=0x80.