how to flas EPCS on NIOS II Cyclone II kit

Altera_Forum · ‎01-10-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-11-2011

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 · ‎01-12-2011

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