cyclone iii epcs, software fail to boot

Altera_Forum · ‎11-02-2010

hi,

The design is cyclone iii 3c55 with EPCS128. There is epcs controller in NIOS design. The sof and elf is ok when i use "run as hardware". But the software did not automatic load when power-up. The steps are most followed in this forum:

"

sof2flash --epcs --input=hw.sof --output=hw.flash

elf2flash --epcs --after=hw.flash --input=sw.elf -output=sw.flash

# flash EPCS first with FPGA configuration

nios2-flash-programmer --cable='USB-Blaster [USB-0]' --epcs --base=0x21000 hw.flash# flash EPCS with Nios firmware

nios2-flash-programmer --cable='USB-Blaster [USB-0]' --epcs --base=0x21000 sw.flash

"

I also tried the jic file. the software still cannot load after power-up.

One thing I noticed, after power-up, when i run "nios2-terminal", I can see the result of software running. To my understand, nios2-terminal did not download the software (am i right?). But if i did not run "nios2-terminal",

software did not run.

What is the problem with my steps? or is there anything I need to check based on the thing of "nios2-terminal"?

I use nios2-10.0 sp1. I suppose there should no epcs patch issue like 9.x.

Thanks very much,

Altera_Forum · ‎02-09-2011

Hi,

I have almost the same problem. Does your software start if you do:

nios2-flash-programmer --epcs --base=0x21000 --go

after power up? This will poke my software into starting, but I can't get it to start automatically at power up.

Mark.

Altera_Forum · ‎02-09-2011

The nios2-flash-programmer has a bug in it, 9.1SP2. When you program EPCS with it, it does not work. Create programming file using Altera Stand Alone Programmer, then burn the file into EPCS.