Serial configuration problem of Cyclone II device using quatrus 9.1

[Altera_Forum]

I have a working design implemented in a Cyclone EP2C5T144C7 device conficgured by an EPCS1 prom in Active Serial mode.  

 I switched to Quartus 9.1, recompiled the project, and reprogrammed the EPCS1 with the new pof file, all without errors. Now the FPGA configuration never completes. In other words, it never finishes reading the prom after the power is cycled - it just keeps sending clocks.    I am assuming that there is some option that I have to explicitly set someplace to make the pof file behave as before, but I cant figure out what it is.    Many thanks in advance for any advice!!   Mats Selen, University of Illinois

[Altera_Forum]

In case I wasnt clear, the programming files produced with earlier versions of Quartus for this same design have all worked perfectly fine.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

check whether you have activated Compressed Bitstream Option for the programming file. Seems there is something broken in v9.1 as deactivation of this option generates working pof files. (Had same issue with my EP2C8 and EPCS4...)  Sincerely, Carlhermann

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks very much for the reply! 

 I have checked the "generate compressed bitstreams" box in the "device and Pin Options" Configuration tab. Is there some other palce I need to specify this as well?    The odd thing is that all of the obvious device options seem to be the same the same as they were when I was using V9.0 SP2, which worked great.    Mats

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

I had also not changed anything between v9.0 SP2 and V9.1 and encountered same problems which disappeared by un-checking " Generate compressed bitstreams" (config file is now uncompressed and things worked out fine again). I think this was never intended by ALTERA but sometimes wired stuff happens...  CU, Carlhermann

[Altera_Forum]

I tried doing that first - the problem is that my design doesnt fit into the configutation prom when I turn off the compression :)  

 Do you think Altera is aware of this issue or is it worth reporting it somehow? My hope is that they know and it will get fixed in the next version. I think I will just go back to 9.0 for now - it works fine for what I'm doing.   Thanks again for your help!!   Mats

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

well - they should be aware of, as this already has been reported some posts ago in the forum and I also had a support request on this. We could hope, they'll fix it in SP1. As part of my service request, ALTERA gave me a workaround (if you need both, v9.1 and compressed *.pof):  * generate uncompressed bitstream * start manually File => Convert Programming Files * Select your's project *.sof and check "Compression" (select *.sof and Properties) * check the “Disable AS mode CONF_DONE error check” option from the Bitstream Generation Advanced Option Utility (Advanced)  This generates a compressed file, that configures the CycloneII, but for me this would be too much manual work and I think I'd revert to v9.0 SP2 in case I would need a compressed file too (my Hardware EP2C8 and EPCS4 works fine w/o compression)  CU, CS

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks - have a great holiday. 

 Cheers MS

[Altera_Forum]

hi, 

I use EP2C5Q208 and config device is EPCS4, and assembled with the " Generate compressed bitstreams" option checked. My project can work well!

[Altera_Forum]

I have exactly the same problem : EP2C20 project builds with V9.0sp2 and no problem configuring, builds with 9.1 and device doesn't configure. 

 I did notice that the assembler report file with 9.0sp2 has "Info: Active Serial Mode CONF_DONE pin error checking is disabled", but that's not there in the 9.1 rpt file.  So far, I haven't found what this means and if/why this mode became enabled in 9.1, or how to disable it.  It's a pretty glaring testing failure - mainstream devices just won't configure with the new version.....oh well, I guess that's the price we pay for the new "pastel shades" in the splash.

[Altera_Forum]

hi, 

I mistaked it. My project can run well only with sof. The pof can only run well without the " Generate compressed bitstreams" checked.

[Altera_Forum]

I found this issue didn't occure on ArriaGX devices, isn't it? 

 anyone can give out the issue devices list?

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

this option "Active Serial Mode CONF_DONE pin error checking is disabled" is exactly what you actively set when generating "manually" the pof as I described. Thus it seems this option was deactivated in v9.0 and has been (whatever reason) activated in v9.1 now...  Carlhermann  BTW.: I asked ALTERA if this deactivation might cause false or incomplete configurations due to noise, ... during configuration not to be detected, but this is not.

[Altera_Forum]

Did Altera support tell anything about non-functional "generate compressed bitstreams" option with AS configuration, that has been reported in the forum? If so, did they tell, when a fix will be available?

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

I got the information (as part of my service request)  "For this current issue, the internal software team has been notified and they would work on it for the next version."  Thus it might be fixed in SP1 or at least in v10...  Carlhermann

[Altera_Forum]

I know this is an old thread, but I found a solution for this. I was getting bad RBF files using bitstream compression for my Stratix II part when I had told the main Quartus software to generate the RBF files in the settings checkbox. If I instead generated the RBF file using the commandline tool, the problem went away. Here's how to do it. 

 Make a file, call it "options.txt", put this one line in it BITSTREAM_COMPRESSION=ON  Now run this commandline quartus_cpf -c --option=options.txt Project.sof Project.rbf  This worked great. I've not tried making a POF file in this manner, but quartus_cpf allows you to do that, too. Just type "quartus_cpf -h" to get help on how to do it.