copy flash possible?

[Altera_Forum]

I need to duplicate the image that we have flashed onto another device. We do not have a copy of this on a computer any more. We have a "Bit Blaster" as well as a parallel port software key. We have a number of designs that it could be but we don't know for certain which is the correct one. We do know that the correct design is on a particular board though.  

 Some questions regarding this:   1. Is it possible to do what we seemingly need to?   2. How hard is it going to be?   3. If you can give me any pointers on the fastest method to accomplish this I would be very grateful.   Thanks for any guidance, Ben.

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Ben, 

 How do you program the flash now? The same method can be used to read the flash.  If you have an FPGA controlling the flash, then you can do what you like with it :)  For example, create a design with a JTAG-to-Avalon-MM master and a Avalon-MM slave Flash controller, and just read the contents of the flash into a file.  That same content can just as easily be programmed back into the flash on another board. Although you might need to build a 'flash programmer' component if there is a timing requirement between commands while programming the flash that cannot be met using the JTAG interface. That would depend on what type of flash you are trying to access.   Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks for the answer Dave. OK, we don't have a method to write it any more. We used to but lost that capability when the person responsible for it left. We failed to identify that as a problem until now, almost 5 years later... oops!  

 I believe we have an EPC16UC88 chip that is the flash. The device in question I believe is FLEX 10K device. Am I correct in believing the FLEX 10K is irrelevant we only need to communicate with the EPC chip?   Will the free edition software work with the EPC16UC88 and the "bit-blaster" parallel port hardware we currently have? If you don't know the answer to that do you know how I could answer that question for myself?   If you know that won't work, do you know what I need to purchase?   Thanks again,  Ben.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  OK, we don't have a method to write it any more. We used to but lost that capability when the person responsible for it left. We failed to identify that as a problem until now, almost 5 years later... oops!    --- Quote End ---    Oops indeed!    --- Quote Start ---   I believe we have an EPC16UC88 chip that is the flash. The device in question I believe is FLEX 10K device. Am I correct in believing the FLEX 10K is irrelevant we only need to communicate with the EPC chip?    --- Quote End ---    EPC16 sounds a little too new. The FLEX10K designs I have use an EPC2 EEPROM. Do you have schematic of the board? Do you have the EPC2 (or whatever it is) connected via JTAG?    --- Quote Start ---   Will the free edition software work with the EPC16UC88 and the "bit-blaster" parallel port hardware we currently have? If you don't know the answer to that do you know how I could answer that question for myself?    --- Quote End ---    You should be able to have Quartus answer that question for you. If you can get the cable recognized, then you can scan the JTAG chain on the board.  The FLEX10K devices can be programmed using version 9.0SP2.    --- Quote Start ---   If you know that won't work, do you know what I need to purchase?    --- Quote End ---    If I could see the schematic, I could tell you.  Send it to my email address if you want, I'll delete it once I answer your questions.   Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   I believe we have an EPC16UC88 chip that is the flash   --- Quote End ---    Here's the data sheet for the EPC16  http://www.altera.com/literature/hb/cfg/cfg_cf52001.pdf  It has JTAG, a serial interface, and a parallel interface.  How to re-program it in your case will depend on how its wired on the board.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

ok good morning 

  if you need to copy all contents of your flash you can use   nios2-flash-programmer --base="baseadd" --read-bytes="addfrom"+"addto" --read flash.flash  this command copy you flash content from "addfrom" to "addto" address to file flash.flash ....... you can write this file to another flash or open in hex editor and modify it.   good luck   Franz Wagner

[Altera_Forum]

Thank you all for your help. With your help and little guidance from Altera support I was able to solve my problem. It's not a perfect solution but it is good enough for a little while.  

 I downloaded the Quartus Programmer, I connected the bit-blaster to the JTAG port and after a little debugging of the JTAG chain I was able to talk again to the EPC16. I "Examined" the data on board which saved it to my hard drive. I then got another board that did not work and used the "Program/Configure" option to write it to the EPC16. We powered the board on and the board in question worked for the first time in it's lifetime.   Thank you so much! I can not express what a relief I feel after getting this all working correctly.

[Altera_Forum]

good job dude!