NCO's HEX not found by Quartus Pro in project

[IMura]

Hello, 

I have a project using an NCO on Quartus Pro 18.1. The project is organized as below:

/proj---/syn/qproject

          |

          --/top/

           -/modules--/nco

                              |

                              --/fir

So the modules are in their own folder in their own folder tree, and the quartus project is made in the qproject folder, with all the necessary files referenced into the project's qsf.

The problem is that the project cannot compile ( Analysis and Synthesis fails) because the project cannot find the HEX files for the NCO, even with the HEX files being included properly in the project the the qip file generated. 

Looking at the Syn.rpt file, under the "Synthesis Source Files Read", we can see the hex files being read :

 however, further down the lines, we find the same filename, but this time with the file type "Auto-Found Memory Initialization File" 

What is wrong in this project? Why is Quartus saying that it found the file in the root folder (our qproject folder in this case) when the file is not there at all? How to correctly indicate to quartus to use the files indicated in the qip file?

The FIR also has HEX files but these are included properly into the project.

[sstrell]

I don't know much about that IP, but if it's like an on-chip RAM, did you associate the .hex file with the IP itself?  A .hex is not a design file.  It has to be associated with the IP that uses it and that's usually in the IP's parameter settings.

[IMura]

Thank you for your response.The onchip ram is used and configured by the IP itself. In the NCO IP generation parameters (Platform Designer), users do not have the possibility to point where the hex files are located. 

Again, this problem only seems to affect the NCO IP. FIR II  which also uses RAM and hex files work well.

[SyafieqS]

Hi,

What if you remove the IP and files associate in the project, re-instantiated and regenerate the NCO IP, does it still pointing to the same error not able to locate the hex?

[SyafieqS]

Let me know if there is any update

[IMura]

Hi, 

I did that multiple times, the same error still occurs for the NCO IP.

[SyafieqS]

Hi,

Do you mind to share the design for me to replicate the issue?

[IMura]

Hi Syafieq,

Here is the zipfile containing a project I created to demonstrate the same problem. 

qpf file is in \test_problem_hex\hello_proj\a10_fpga\syn\qpro_a10

[SyafieqS]

Let me check and get back to you.

May I know how urgent this issue is?

Does it total roadblock your development?

[IMura]

It is not blocking for now since the workaround is I copy the hex files into the working directory. However this is not a good solution so hopefully this issue can be resolved quickly.

Thank you.

[SyafieqS]

Hi,

I can reproduce the issue. I will file the enhancement and fix for this. As mentioned the workaround should be feasible. You are encouraged to work on latest releases as we have lot of bug fix. 

[IMura]

Hi Syafieq,

How will the fix be implemented? 

While using the latest releases is what is encouraged, since our FPGA projects contain the HPS, upgrades to newer versions create bugs and for now, I don't have enough time to do all the testing, hence using the tried and tested version. Plus, our licence is only valid until a certain number of versions...

Thank you.

[SyafieqS]

Hi Hizami,

The fix normally will be implemented in the next release and there is plan for fix. As for 18.1, since there is workaround and version used is quite older, no plan on that specific version yet.