alt_tick() never exits

Altera_Forum · ‎08-18-2010

I'm having all sorts of problems adapting an existing design to run under v9.1. I have a cut-down design that runs, and now I'm trying to add another component to the SOPC, but with bizarrely random results.

The first build I had simply refused to verify on-chip memory.

The second build (I changed nothing) now downloads, but doesn't even get to my main() function. It's stuck in alt_tick(), looping forever with alarm=0.

This is going to drive me postal.

Anyone else has this problem???

Altera_Forum · ‎09-19-2010

I would check the postion of your *.ptf file. Is your project linked to the right file?

Altera_Forum · ‎05-11-2011

I have the same problem.

I've already check the project and I think the .ptf file is ok.

It seems a problem in the memory management but I'm not sure.

Does anyone know anything more about this?

Thanks in advance

Altera_Forum · ‎05-19-2011

I had the same problem, I believe it is due to the tick interrupts coming in faster than the NIOS can process them. You can prevent the interrupts from starting by copying the file alt_main.c from the bsp project into your application project and commenting out the following line.

alt_irq_init (NULL);

This will prevent all interrupts from being initialized. Another solution should be to slow down the timer so the NIOS is not overloaded with interrupts.