System-Console CLI no USB devices detected

[covfefe]

Hello,

I am having issues running the Quartus system-console 12.1sp1 as CLI. 

system-console.exe --cli [or witout --cli]
[wait a bit]
get_service_paths {device}

works as expected in the GUI system-console, however adding the CLI option returns no answer (no devices detected). Could someone help me understand why?  

On my dev setup, everything works fine, but I was trying to replicate the setup on a new computer, and can't detect the USB devices anymore.

The only difference I noticed that the computer where CLI does NOT work displays
"Warning: FPGA does not contain SystemConsole USB soft logic (no I2k ack)"

However, this warning is displayed both in CLI and GUI mode, so I would think is not related to my issue.

I tried 2 computers, both Windows 7 64bits and Windows 10 64bits, both show the same issue.

[I made sure to close all other system-console windows, computers have been rebooted a few times, etc...]

Thank you for your help

Edit: I think the issue comes from the USB device detection: Running a loop of:

refresh_connections # Refresh USB Devices
pause 5 seconds     # Pause for 5 seconds

until get_service_paths {device} returns an output solves it. 

A few questions:

- Why does system-console CLI behave differently than GUI on this one?

- Is there a way to remove the pause(5) command, and instead wait until refresh_connections finishes? refresh_connections returns immediately, but unfortunately still works in the background for another 5seconds or so.

[Kenny_Tan]

Hi,

Thanks for using Intel community forum,

Kindly expect some delay in the reply due to holiday.

Thanks,

[RichardTanSY_Intel]

I usually use GUI for system console, but my best guess is when we open the system console GUI, the system console will check for connection with the JTAG/USB. In which you can see in the System Explorer tab.

For CLI, I guess is there is no connection setup beforehand so a refresh connections might be required. Just my two cents there. 

I usually recommend people to use the GUI mode as I found it easier to use.

[covfefe]

1) How could I add the connection setup to the CLI execution to mirror the GUI?

2) The GUI might be easier to use, but is about 2x slower. A simple script consisting of standard FPGA instructions takes about 2x more time in the system-console GUI compared to CLI (60s vs 30s execution time, mix of master_read_16 and similar commands).

[RichardTanSY_Intel]

I try to test the command line and it seems to work normally for me.

Could you try to program the board first before running system console?

Also you may try to use newer Quartus version to see if similar behavior occurs.

[RichardTanSY_Intel]

How could I add the connection setup to the CLI execution to mirror the GUI?

> the cmd refresh_connections is the one that help the connection. If you want to make sure the connection is setup before system console execute, try to program the board beforehand.

I see the Quartus version you are using is 12sp1 and it is quite old and obsolete.

I would suggest to use the latest supported Quartus version as it is more stable.

[RichardTanSY_Intel]

I have yet to receive any response from you in regards to my last reply

With that, I will now transition this thread 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.

Best Regards,

Richard Tan

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 9/10 survey.