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Load program into the Flash on S3E and set up to load into FPGA on power up

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jobattle

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I have an S3E Starter Board and have my software working but I have to reload each time I power up because I can't figure out how to load my program into the flash on the board and then have it loaded into the FPGA when I power on the board. HELP!!!
 

Have you gone through the prom formatting step? Once you create the mcs file in Impact then you initialize the boundary scan chain at which point you would would run the program command. I had some difficulty at first like you but its really quite easy. Just wait some time for the design (if it is large) to load onto the FPGA fabric when power is applied to the board as the board I use takes about 15 seconds to load. Where exactly are you stuck?
 

From Impact I clicked on "Create Prom File" and a window called "Prom File Formatter" appears in the work window.

Select Xilinx Flash/PROM in the first Pane and click on Arrow
Platform Flash, XCF04 then Add Storage Device and click on Arrow
Output filename: pfile01, File Format MCS, No other Data Files and Click on OK

New window appears with ADD Device and I clicked OK and added my bit file and selected no more files to add
and a graphic appeared with a Xilinx PROM and an arrow pointing to my FPGA.

What do I do next??

---------- Post added at 00:09 ---------- Previous post was at 00:07 ----------

Oh, I forgot, I clicked on Generate and got the reply "Generate Succeeded". But I can't find that file anywhere.

---------- Post added at 00:13 ---------- Previous post was at 00:09 ----------

Well I'm getting closer. I went back to boundary scan and double clicked on the PROM and selected the new file: pfile01.mcs. Then I turned the PROM green and tried to program it but I got "PROGRAM FAILED" :-(

---------- Post added at 00:17 ---------- Previous post was at 00:13 ----------

OK I realized that I had selected the wrong part so I fixed that and the program SUCEEDED finally. I have all three jumpers on for Master Serial. IS that correct?
Also, do I need to press the PROG button or what?

---------- Post added at 00:33 ---------- Previous post was at 00:17 ----------

I tried verifying my code in the FLASH PROM and it verified correctly. However nothing happens when I press the program button and the LED does not ever come on unless I program the FPGA directly with USB. I have all three jumpers in place.
 

The design should load upon power up. There is no need to press the PROG button. Have you tried initializing chain in Xilinx Imapct boundary scan when your device is powered on.

Do you have settings set to similar settings as to what the image below not exactly the same but similar? Also, are you loading the file into the fpga block in the boundary scan chain or in the flash prom block? Post a screenshot of your boundary scan chain section after you load the mcs file.

boundaryScan.png

programmingProperties.png

advancedPromProgrammingProperties.png
 
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I was finally able to successfully program the PROM but I still cannot get it to load into the FPGA at boot time or with button press. I attach some screen images. I am wondering if there is some option I am not setting indicating whether the FPGA is to be the clock source for downloading or something like that?
 

Attachments

  • Impact_PROM_File_Formatter.png
    Impact_PROM_File_Formatter.png
    140.2 KB · Views: 106
  • Page39.png
    Page39.png
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  • Page40_Prog_Properties.png
    Page40_Prog_Properties.png
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  • Page40_Prog_Succeeded.png
    Page40_Prog_Succeeded.png
    147.5 KB · Views: 71
  • PROM_File_Generate_Succeeded.png
    PROM_File_Generate_Succeeded.png
    142.5 KB · Views: 105

I would suspect to say that you need to check the dip switch (the one on the board that instructs the FPGA which location to load the design from) to make sure they correspond to the right mode and then try to alter the clock source setting and frequency on the prom fpga interface on Impact until you get it working. That is what happened to me. The advanced properties is accessible once you press program on the chip icon in Impact. Make sure to make one change at a time and test.

Hope this helps.
 

Another data point. I borrowed another S3E board from a friend and, Viola!...., it works perfectly. I looked at the clock pin on the Platform Flash of both boards and the "bad" board has a constantly running 600KHz square wave on it along with ones on OR, CE and CE0 pins and the D0 pin has no data on it, just a one. On the "good" boiard, there is a brief instant of 25MHz square wave on the clock pin along with a burst of data and handshakes on the CD, OE and OE1 pins whenever you press the red program switch.
 

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