Upgraded to Quartus Pro 22.1: "No key to decrypt data block" error for Low Latency 100G Ethernet

[SMoor12]

We've upgraded from Quartus Pro 19.2 to 22.1.  A previously working Stratix 10SX project using the Low Latency 100G Ethernet IP now fails to compile with:

Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: No key to decrypt data block in file ip/DE10_Pro_QSYS/DE10_Pro_QSYS_alt_ehipc2_0/alt_ehipc2_1930/synth/alt_e2550_kr_lt_top.v 
Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: decryption of data_block failed 
Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: No key to decrypt data block in file ip/DE10_Pro_QSYS/DE10_Pro_QSYS_alt_ehipc2_0/alt_ehipc2_1930/synth/alt_e2550_manch_exp_4.v 
Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: decryption of data_block failed 
Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: No key to decrypt data block in file ip/DE10_Pro_QSYS/DE10_Pro_QSYS_alt_ehipc2_0/alt_ehipc2_1930/synth/alt_e2550_kr_an_top.sv 
Error(13223): Verilog HDL or VHDL error: decryption of data_block failed 

and a long list of the same error regarding alt_e2550_kr*.v and alt_e2550_manch*.v

Quartus has these IP cores (among others) listed in the License Setup:

Low Latency 100Gbps Ethernet MAC and PHY (011A) 2024.01 permanent 80 <MAC address of license server>
Intel FPGA (6AF7) Low Latency 100Gbps Ethernet MAC & PHY with 1588 (011D) 2024.01 permanent 80 <MAC address>
Low Latency 100Gbps Ethernet MAC and 100BASE-KR4 PHY with FEC (011F) permanent 80 <MAC address>

 The licence server's log says this license was successfully checked out:

12:30:34 (alterad) TIMESTAMP 7/5/2022
12:45:49 (alterad) OUT: "ip_protocol" user@hostname
12:45:49 (alterad) OUT: "6AF7_011A" user@hostname
12:45:49 (alterad) OUT: "6AF7_011F" user@hostname
12:46:07 (alterad) IN: "ip_protocol" user@hostname
12:46:07 (alterad) IN: "6AF7_011A" user@hostname
12:46:07 (alterad) IN: "6AF7_011F" user@hostname

 (I'm redacting the user@hostname part here)

The licence server is the most recent release 11.18.2 (trimming the list of licence tags to those above):

/usr/local/flexlm/bin/lmutil lmstat -a
lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2021 Flexera. All Rights Reserved.
Flexible License Manager status on Tue 7/5/2022 12:46

License server status: 27012@licence.server
    License file(s) on licence.server: /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/license.dat:

licence.server: license server UP (MASTER) v11.18.2

Vendor daemon status (on licence.server):

   alterad: UP v11.18.2
Feature usage info:
Users of quartus_pro:  (Total of 160 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)
Users of ip_protocol:  (Total of 80 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)
Users of 6AF7_011A:  (Total of 80 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)
Users of 6AF7_011D:  (Total of 80 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)
Users of 6AF7_011F:  (Total of 80 licenses issued;  Total of 0 licenses in use)

The ip_protocol block in the licence file is:

# The following is a license file for the Protocol FPGA IP Bundle containing IP-TRIETHERNETF,IP-RIOPHY,IP-10GETHMACF,IP-XAUIPCS,IP-10GBASERPCS,IP-ILKN/100G,IP-100GEMAC,IP-100GEPHY,IP-40GEMAC,IP-40GEPHY,IP-10GBASEKRPHY,IP-RAPIDIOII,IP-SLITE3/ST,IP-ILKN/50G,IP-40GBASEKR4PHY,IP-10GEUMACF,IP-PCIE/8,IP-JESD204B,IP-40GEUMACPHYF,IP-100GEUMACPHYF,IP-HMCSR15FW,IP-ILA/50G,IP-ILA/100G,IP-ILA/200G,IP-CPRI-V6,IP-10GEUMAC,IP-PCIE/SRIOV,IP-25GEUMACPHYFFC,IP-ETH-100GEUKRCR,IP-JESD204C,IP-SLITE4,IP-DMA,IP-CPRI-V7,IP-CPRI-v7-E-PHY
# Number of seat licenses is 80
# No license expiration date
PACKAGE ip_protocol alterad COMPONENTS="6AF7_00BD 6AF7_0104 6AF7_0095 \
        6AF7_00D9 6AF7_0105 6AF7_00D7 6AF7_00D2 6AF7_0106 6AF7_0107 \
        6AF7_00D6 6AF7_00DD 6AF7_00DE 6AF7_00DF 6AF7_00E0 6AF7_0106 \
        6AF7_0107 6AF7_00D2 6AF7_0108 6AF7_010A 6AF7_010D 6AF7_0113 \
        6AF7_0119 6AF7_0105 6AF7_00A9 6AF7_00AA 6AF7_00AB 6AF7_0116 \
        6AF7_011B 6AF7_011C 6AF7_011A 6AF7_011D 6AF7_0122 6AF7_0123 \
        6AF7_0124 6AF7_0125 6AF7_0129 6AF7_0119 6AF7_00FB 6AF7_00F9 \
        6AF7_00F0 6AF7_0132 6AF7_011F 6AF7_0146 6AF7_0147 6AF7_013E \
        6AF7_0129 6AF7_0140" OPTIONS=SUITE SIGN="00E5 D1D0 23BA D45E \
        69DF 0A89 C57F 71CE 69C4 1AEB 9048 37CF D7B4 A045 CD28 1178 \
        E93B 1282 F72F BFDA 6C20 95DB 2239 5778 E105 F766 B9E1 35F6 \
        86D1 AF03"
FEATURE ip_protocol alterad 2024.01 permanent 80 ...

 (the licence key follows)
and the quartus_pro block is:

# FEATURE START
# Number of seat licenses is 80
# License Expires 26-Jul-2026
FEATURE quartus_pro alterad 2026.07 26-jul-2026 80 ...

 
According to the LL 100G MAC documentation, there are two features:

Ordering Codes
Low Latency 100G Ethernet MAC and PHY: IP-100GEUMACPHY
Low Latency 100G Ethernet KR/CR Variant: IP-ETH-100GEUKRCR

 and it's trying to use the KR/CR variant.  But we appear to have licences for both.

All our licences appear to be order as far as I can see, yet we're prevented from upgrading Quartus by this issue.  Any ideas what the problem might be?

[SMoor12 · Accepted solution]

We managed to resolve this problem, and it turned out it wasn't a licensing issue.

The issue was that IP upgrade tool from Quartus Pro 19.2 to 22.1 didn't work.  Presumably the tool left behind Verilog that was encrypted with the keys of 19.2.  Deleting the IP core from the design and adding a new IP core from 22.1 with the same configuration parameters did achieve a design that built successfully.

[Paveetirra_Srie]

Hi Simon Moore,

I'm glad that you been able to resolve the issue. Its always recommended to add a new IP core instead of using the old IP core as it might have some complication when the version has been upgraded.

Since the issue has been resolved, I 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.

Regards,

Pavee