Quartus 13, programmer, Ubuntu, JTAG programming failure

Altera_Forum · ‎08-23-2013

Hello,

I have two machines, one with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and second with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 32-bit. I installed Quartus 13 on both of them, but the one with Ubuntu is problematic.

Creating and running "compilation" works as expected, but problem arises when trying to program the part in JTAG mode.

Regarding my hardware: I'm using cheapest FPGA devboard I could find - this one (sorry, I tried to give link here, but I'm not allowed to do so, as I'm new member - just google for "EP2C5T144 Altera Cyclone II FPGA Mini Development Board

") plus some cheap USB Blaster from ebay. This conbination gives perfect match under Windows.

However, under Ubuntu there are problems. When trying to program the part in JTAG mode, output windows gives this error:


Info (209060): Started Programmer operation at Thu Aug 22 19:59:08 2013
Info (209016): Configuring device index 1
Info (209017): Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020B10DD
Error (209040): Can't access JTAG chain
Error (209014): CONF_DONE pin failed to go high in device 1
Error (209012): Operation failed
Info (209061): Ended Programmer operation at Thu Aug 22 19:59:09 2013

Attached is document containing screenshots from this situation:

On first screenshot you can see the error from above.

On second one is screenshot from programmer. It correctly detects FPGA device in JTAG chain

Third screesnhot shows that JTAG chain debugger sees it too.

Fourth screenshot shows my device selection - to ensure I have correct device selected.

Last one shows succesful attempt to program configuration FLASH in AS mode. This one works, but JTAG programming does not.

The same hardware, but plugged to USB ports of windows machine works flawlessly in both JTAG and AS programming.

Could anybody help me to solve this problem?

Altera_Forum · ‎08-24-2013

Hi Jaromir,

I have had a similar problem during embedding of my own usb blaster into my own board :)

I guess that the your "cheap" blaster has a different hardware than original Altera or Terasic blasters.

Could you try to test the original Altera or Terasic blasters under your Ubuntu? I think that will work well.

Altera_Forum · ‎08-24-2013

Thank you for sharing you experience.

Unfortunately I don't have genuine blaster. I found terasic usb blaster at mouser.com for about 45EUR (I'm not allowed to post links for now, but it should be the first hit afer entering phrase "terasic usb blaster" into search at mouser). That one should be OK?

By the way, I took EPM3064A - good for quick prototype as it is in old-fashioned PLCC package - and wired it on piece of test PCB. My cheap blaster programs this device in JTAG mode under both Windows and Linux with no problems.

However, for FPGA - in windows OK; in Linux no joy.

Altera_Forum · ‎08-24-2013

--- Quote Start ---

I found terasic usb blaster at mouser.com for about 45EUR (I'm not allowed to post links for now, but it should be the first hit afer entering phrase "terasic usb blaster" into search at mouser). That one should be OK?

--- Quote End ---

Yes, it will be Ok.

BTW: is your cheap usb blaster based on cpld and FTDI chip? If yes, I can try to help you upgrade this blaster.

Altera_Forum · ‎08-25-2013

Well, I'll try the Terasic BB and share the result. It will take a week or so.

My cheap BB doesn't seem to be FTDI+CPLD based. There is just some Silabs MCU and level shifter - see attachement, please. Nothing on bottom side of PCB.

I thought all cheap knock-offs are made equal, just with different build quality. Honestly, I didn't except such as creativity as developing their own hardware/software designs.

Altera_Forum · ‎11-22-2013

Well, I bought terasic USB blaster and it works like expected under Linux. Except of the terrible high intensity blue LED I have to replace with something normal.

Thanks for support.