MAX10 FPGA Develop kit replacement RMA request

[wuhannus]

Hi,

We purchased three sets of MAX10 FPGA develop kit (Part number: DK-DEV-10M50-A) in July 2020 through Mouser.sg.

All these three sets function well when we started deploy our project. Recently , two of them are malfunction in the HSMC connector. We have initiated the service support and got the RMA ticket to replace these two malfunction sets. Thanks for your kind help. In Oct, we have received the two replacement kits from the vendor (Mouser.sg).

However, our issue is the third develop kit is malfunction in the same symptom of the previous two kits. The kit is operated in lab environment with no physical damage. These two replacement kits now works fine.

The following is my summary of the third malfunction kit based on your previous questions.

1. What is the failure symptom? 

The failure symptom is when the FPGA board is turned-on, there is slight short-current sound.

The failure FPGA board is still able to upload the SOF files. 

2. When did the failure happen? How you discover the failure?

During the measurement, we use micro probes contact with the HSMC pins directly to read data from the pins. At intial measurement, it works well. After several times measurement, it doesn't give any data signal out. The measurement pin will stay high or low for all the time. Then, after turn-on and off again, we hear the short-current sound. 

3. How did you determine the failure? Please elaborate the procedures.

The failure is determined by the successul measurement of previous several times. And compared with our two replacement FPGA kits which are working good with no short-current sound.

4. Does the failure unit ever working before failure?

Yes, the failure units ever working before failure.

5. Did you swap the failure board with a known good board?

Yes, we repeat the same measurements between failure boards with the known good boards.

The following the my contact information and device information.

Name: Wu Han

Email Address: elewuh@nus.edu.sg

Company/University Name: National University of Singapore

3rd set

Dev kit OPN : 16090009-1641

Serial Number : 10M50DA0003799

A copy of invoice is shown in the attachment. The FPGA set are highlighted in item 31.

Kindly thanks for your reply regarding the solutions. 

[AR_A_Intel]

Hello

Welcome to INTEL forum. But before we go for RMA request proses, could you share with me the step and how you perform the on-board pin measurement on HSMC pin? Are you probing on the HSMC connector itself or you have HSMC daughter card?

•           could you provide and show us some picture on your method of testing?

[wuhannus]

Hi Mr. Rahman,

Thanks very much for your reply. 

The step is the following. The measurement is directly probe to the HSMC pins itself as shown in the attachment photo.

Step1. Define the two jacent pins in the verilog files (one input and the other output for signal flow through). Generate the SOF file.

Step2. Before, power up the fpga, put the probe between two ajacent pins as defined in Step 1 and fix the contact by the hand helper.

Step3. Power up the FPGA and upload the SOF file then monitor the waveform on the oscilloscope.

[AR_A_Intel]

Hello

Thanks for your update. From the attachment, it is highly advise that customer DO NOT probe on HSMC pins anymore. HSMC pin is very small and close. The measurement probe and easily touch adjacent HSMC ground pins and caused short. We can’t provide dev kit RMA if the failure is caused by customer user error.

•           This is already 3rd case where previously all the dev kit boards are fully functional.

•           The dev kit board won’t suddenly damage unless something happens to them.   

I would recommend doing measurement using bigger pin connector like J20 or just use “user LED” to check your test design output next time. For now, we will open RMA ticket.

Please give me some time to check and open RMA request ticket.

[wuhannus]

Hi Mr. Rahman,

Thanks very much for your help and very constructive suggestions. 

We will purchase the HSMC adapter to have a standard GPIO pins for easily and safe connections.

Regarding your J20 big header suggestion, we did read through the manual before. The mannual (page 4-2, UG-01169) says it is for 16 dual-purpose ADC channels are connected to the 2x10 header.  We have not find any defineable Pin names regarding J20.

My question is whether J20 is dedicated for ADC only or can be configured as GPIOs? 

Thanks again for your kind help and suggestions.

[AR_A_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Sir

Thanks for your update and patience. We have opened a ticket regarding you issue. Contact local authorized Intel Distributors near you to request RMA together with the following information. Distributor link https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/partner/where-to-buy/overview.html        

a) Development Kit S/N : 10M50DA0003799

b) IPS No. 00558913

c) The debugging steps done:

During the measurement, we use micro probes contact with the HSMC pins directly to read data from the pins. At initial measurement, it works well. After several times measurement, it doesn't give any data signal out. The measurement pin will stay high or low for all the time. Then, after turn-on and off again, we hear the short-current sound.

Please notify your distributor that the dev.kit is in working condition before problem.

[wuhannus]

Hi Mr. Rahman,

Thanks again for your kind help.

Have a good day!

[AR_A_Intel]

Sounds good, hope everything is working well at your side. This thread will be transitioned to community support. If you have a new question, feel free to open a new thread to get the support from Intel experts. Otherwise, the community users will continue to help you on this thread. Thank you