Struggling to program Spansion Flash memory with .jic file, Cyclone II

Altera_Forum · ‎02-04-2013

Hey all,

I've been trying recently to program my project onto flash memory with no success so far. I was hoping someone here might be able to shed some light on the issue.

Details:

Dev kit: RedCore EP2C8 V2

FPGA: CycloneII EP2C8Q208C8N

Flash memory: Spansion S29AL032D (read from the text on the IC) The text indicates it's 32Mb, but the schematic for the dev kit claims it's 16Mb.

IDE: Quartus II 12.0 sp2 (Web Edition)

I'm trying to use a .jic file to indirectly program the flash memory, but it gets to 54% then tells me it's failed, with the console logs shown below.

To set up the .jic file I used the EPCS16 selected as the configuration device. In advanced settings I checked if it would let me 'Disable EPCS ID check', but it's greyed out and has a grey square in it rather than a check mark...?

Info (209060): Started Programmer operation at Mon Feb 04 11:20:33 2013Info (209016): Configuring device index 1
Info (209017): Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020B20DD
Info (209007): Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured
Error (209025): Can't recognize silicon ID for device 1
Error (209012): Operation failed
Info (209061): Ended Programmer operation at Mon Feb 04 11:20:37 2013

If there's any more information I can give that might be helpful please let me know.

I've read it's possible to program through NIOS II also, but I've never used it so don't have a clue how I'd go about that if it was a possible solution.

Altera_Forum · ‎02-04-2013

You can't use a jic file to program the Spansion flash.

First of all jic works with a serial device while S29AL032D has a parallel interface.

Secondly, the jic must be generated for the specific configuration device which has to be programmed: then, if you generate a jic targeting a EPCS16, you can use only for this one.

I don't know your dev board: is that Spansion flash supposed to be used as a configuration device? Or it's rather intended only for storing user data. In the first case you need specific hw pin connections.

Altera_Forum · ‎02-04-2013

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I don't know your dev board: is that Spansion flash supposed to be used as a configuration device? Or it's rather intended only for storing user data. In the first case you need specific hw pin connections.

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Thanks for the reply Cris. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be used as a configuration device, since it seems to be the only Flash memory on the board. The only other memory I can see is some 256 Mb SDRAM (K4S561632H-TC(L)75) and some a 512KB Static RAM (IS61LV5128)

I've attached the Dev kit schematic which might shed some light on the situation. Loading a program must be possible, because currently a demo program runs when the board is powered on. I'm somewhat of a newbie with FPGAs, so maybe there's another way to do this that I've missed?

Altera_Forum · ‎02-04-2013

Look closer at your schematic, there is an EPCS4 configuration device on the left side of page 2. That is your configuration device.

There is an active serial (AS) configuration header that you can use to program the EPCS, or you can use SFL and the .jic file.

Since you're new to this, just use the AS header directly, and then you can try SFL+.jic.

Cheers,

Dave

Altera_Forum · ‎02-04-2013

--- Quote Start ---

Look closer at your schematic, there is an EPCS4 configuration device on the left side of page 2. That is your configuration device.

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Ah, can't believe I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out to me, much appreciated!

Altera_Forum · ‎09-16-2013

Kureigu, is there any chance to get a copy of your Redcore DVDs, I have this board unfortunately I did not get any DVDs nor SOPC file with that one.

I cannot send a personal message before I have 7 more posts in this forum :-(