Quartus DSE Fatal Error

[MSchn21]

I am trying to run Quartus Design Space Explorer with 3 parallel compilations.  After about 20 minutes (at quartus_map stage), two of the compilations will error out with "Fatal Error:  Access Violation" message. 

I have successfully run DSE many times before so I am familiar with how to use it.  This particular DSE instance is running on a new computer for which I just installed the tools fresh.  I am using Quartus 19.1.0 Build 670 09/22/2019 SJ Standard Edition.  Patch 0.02std has been installed as has WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).  A single instance of the design completes compilation using the GUI and one (and only one) of the compilations from a parallel set in DSE has completed successfully also.  Sometimes all of the compilations will fail.

The computer has plenty of hard disk space.  The CPU is i7-8700K @ 3.70GHz.  There is 64GB of RAM.  The DSE setup allows for all processors to be used for the 3 compilations.  The computer is not running anything else.

What could be causing this issue?

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi,

Seems like the memory ram issue. 64GB of RAM probably is not enough for the parallel compilation of your project. Could you try with fewer parallel compilation settings or operating system with higher memory ram to see whether the problem still exists.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Sheng

[MSchn21]

I think 64GB should easily be enough for 3 simultaneous compilations based upon past experience.  I did, however, change to 2 as another experiment and got the same result.  Then, I changed the virtual memory to be 4x the RAM size.  Still failed in exactly the same way.

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi,

Could you provide the sample project for testing?

Best Regards,

Sheng

[MSchn21]

I am not sure that I can provide sample project yet (due to IP) and I am not sure that it would necessarily be helpful because you probably wouldn't be able to reproduce the error.  I setup 3 more computers to run DSE with the exact same version Quartus and exact same source.  These other three computers didn't have any problems running 3 simultaneously.  One of those has only 32GB of RAM and two less CPUs.  Thus, it is probable that you wouldn't see the failure because it is not due to the source specifically.

Each time it fails, the stack trace below is given in the DSE window.  Does this give any clues as to what is happening?

==============================================================================

Error: Exploration Point a_1 reported:
*** Fatal Error: Access Violation at 0X00007FFD47EFA2C4
Module: quartus_map.exe
Stack Trace:
0x1a2c3: HDB_INSTANCE_NAME::keep_obsv_name + 0x63 (DB_HDB)
0x15095: HDB_SYN_INSTANCE_NAME::keep_obsv_name + 0xd (DB_HDB)
0x41360: HDB_NAME_MGR::keep_obsv_name + 0x2c0 (DB_HDB)
0x3857e: SGN_UTILITY::garbage_collect_names_before_synthesis + 0x2ee (synth_sgn)
0xc72ec: SGN_EXTRACTOR::synthesis_and_post_processing + 0xbc (synth_sgn)
0x13493: sgn_qic_helper + 0x173 (synth_sgn)
0x44d3: qsyn_execute_sgn + 0x263 (quartus_map)
0x14246: QSYN_FRAMEWORK::execute_core + 0x136 (quartus_map)
0x13b9f: QSYN_FRAMEWORK::execute + 0x30f (quartus_map)
0x112a9: qexe_do_grunt + 0xb9 (comp_qexe)
0x16546: qexe_run + 0x356 (comp_qexe)
0x17371: qexe_standard_main + 0xc1 (comp_qexe)
0x1b42b: qsyn_main + 0x53b (quartus_map)
0x133a8: msg_main_thread + 0x18 (CCL_MSG)
0x14bae: msg_thread_wrapper + 0x6e (CCL_MSG)
0x16af0: mem_thread_wrapper + 0x70 (ccl_mem)
0x12c41: msg_exe_main + 0xa1 (CCL_MSG)
0x2a236: __tmainCRTStartup + 0x10e (quartus_map)
0x17033: BaseThreadInitThunk + 0x13 (KERNEL32)
0x526a0: RtlUserThreadStart + 0x20 (ntdll)

End-trace

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi,

Then that's clear that the problem most probably due to the operating system. Do these computers use the same operating system? And make sure that the OS used is supported check this link https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/programmable/support-resources/design-software/os-support.html under section Table 3: OS Support for Intel Quartus Prime Software.

Best regards,
Sheng

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 4/5 survey.

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi,

Any further update or consideration?

Let me know if any further concern.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Sheng

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 4/5 survey.

[MSchn21]

All 4 of the computers (3 that work and 1 that fails) have the same operating system = Windows 10.  This is supported for Quartus 19 per the link you sent.  All 4 computers were recently re-imaged and thus have received the same OS, updates, and tool installs.  Additionally, they all are operating on the same source that comes out of source control.

I am curious about the stack trace that I provided.  Does that give any clues as to specifically what the hang-up could be?  As I mentioned earlier, I am able to complete synthesis and implementation if I use the Quartus GUI and it also works if I tell DSE to only build 1 instance at a time.  Ironically, the failing computer has the most RAM and the most computing horsepower out of all 4 computers.

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi,

Another suggestion would be delete the db/incremental_db(standard/lite) or qdb(pro) files of each compilation in the dse folder. Or delete the whole dse folder. Then recompile again.

Thanks,

Best Regards,

Sheng

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 4/5 survey.

[ShengN_Intel]

Hi @MSchn21 ,

Any further update?

Have your problem being resolved?

Best Regards,

Sheng

p/s: If any answer from the community or Intel Support are helpful, please feel free to give best answer or rate 4/5 survey.

[ShengN_Intel]

As we do not receive any response from you on the previous question/reply/answer that we have provided, I now transition this thread to community support. If you have a new question, Please login to ‘https://supporttickets.intel.com’, view details of the desire request, and post a feed/response within the next 15 days to allow me to continue to support you. After 15 days, this thread will be transitioned to community support. The community users will be able to help you on your follow-up questions.