how to flas EPCS on NIOS II Cyclone II kit

[Altera_Forum]

Hello everybody, 

First I beg your pardon for my poor english.  I am using the Altera NIOS II Developpment Cyclone II kit but without NIOS !!! I have done my VHDL program and I can easyly flash it.  I tryed to convert to .jic and program the EPCS through the Cyclone, but it does'nt work.  I have plug the USB Blaster on the J27 and program the EPCS memory in "Active Serial" the .POF. It seems to work good ! My soft is starting just after i program the EPCS, but when i plug off the USB Blaster and power down, but my software don't restart "alone", it starts only when I just plug the USB Blaster doing nothing more.  Do I miss something ? Should I change something on the Flash memory to ... ?  Thank you for your help !  Benoit (from France)

[Altera_Forum]

It will only work if you convert your .sof into .jic and program the .jic into the EPCS. 

 What error messages do you see ?

[Altera_Forum]

Hello amilcar , 

 Thank you for interresting to my problem.  When i try to program using .jic (obtained by File menu and Convert programming Files and see the screen capture parameters)  http://bvincent1.free.fr/pub/images/ScreenShot043.jpg   I try to program in Quartus 9.1 with this parameters   http://bvincent1.free.fr/pub/images/ScreenShot044.jpg   And it stops at 67% with those messages :  Info: Started Programmer operation at Tue Jan 11 10:55:15 2011 Info: Configuring device index 1 Info: Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020B40DD Info: Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured Info: Device 1 silicon ID is 0x16 Info: Erasing ASP configuration device(s) Error: Operation failed Info: Ended Programmer operation at Tue Jan 11 10:55:31 2011  Could you explain me why the Passive serial programming directly the EPCS64 won't work ?  Thanks  bvincent1

[Altera_Forum]

Sorry, my mistake .jic files are for active serial only. 

You seam to be using passive serial, for that mode you need to check if your connections are ok, and consult to manual to find out how to use the cable to program the EPCS.  I think active serial is better. Why are you using passive serial ?

[Altera_Forum]

I have done a mistake !! 

 I used Active serial mode to program the EPCS64 directly (J27) with the .pof file (it works but not after power down -> the kit is all black until i just plug in the USB Blaster and plug off : it's start).  or,  I used the JTAG mode to program the EPCS64 through the FPGA with the .jic (and this abort at 67%).  What may I do to ?  Thanks for help. bvincent1

[Altera_Forum]

As far as I know it is normal that .jic programming fails if "passive serial" is selected. 

 Are the MSEL pins configured for "active serial" or "passive serial" ?

[Altera_Forum]

The two pins MSEL0 and MSEL1 are cannected to CPLD whitch drive the "boot selection", and there are 10k resistor to GND. 

 You cans see that on page 15 of the schematic of the board at : http://www.altera.com/literature/manual/cycloneii_niosii_2c35_rev02_db_sch.zip

[Altera_Forum]

Well, 

 I've found that putting a R(2k)+C(1uF) between the pins 3 and 4 of J27 the kit is starting good from the EPSC64 programming .pof in JTAG mode.  Thanks for your help.  bvincent1