URGENT: Where is the second USB2 programming port on the Atlys?

[Elektronman]

Hello,
some days ago I bought an Atlys board, this morning, while I was trying to put the board into a case, I broke the USB2 port used for programming (the one with the label "PROG" near it...) . I tried to resolder it without success and constant fear of further damaging the board...(but I think this will be material for another thread...)...
Now, looking at the description of the board :



I see that they state that this board have "Two on-board USB2 ports for programming & data transfer"
Where is this second USB2 port? that may be my only hope to still continue using this board...


Thank you very much

 

[alexan_e]

The picture in the link shows two USB, one mini and one type A, they are one next to the other but I have no idea if they can be used to program the device

Alex

 

[mrflibble]

All on the same side of the board ... PROG, HOST, UART.

PROG is the one with the Cypress microcontroller next to it, and is the connection I always use for programming. The other two I've never used for programming, but you can always try. I doubt it, but I have never had reason to test it.

Regardless, you can always program it through the jtag header. That's the big 14-pin connector (J10) that is right next to the PROG usb connector that you just broke off. It's a standard xilinx programmer connector.

And you're lucky! Just checked the documentation (hint ), and it says:

"a USB-connected PC can configure the board using the JTAG port any time power is on, a configuration file stored in the SPI Flash ROM can be automatically transferred to the FPGA at power-on, or a programming file can be transferred from a USB memory stick attached to the USB HID port."

So you can also attach a usb stick to the big connector labeled HOST.

 

[Elektronman]

thank you, I tried to connect the cable to "UART" port with no succes... my PC detects it, but ADEPT software doesn't....
I think I will go for the USB mem stick solution, hoping this will work. But still, it would be only a partial solution as I originally planned to use that USB port to connect a keyboard (although maybe this is still doable...)
The JTAG cable is too damn expensive (about 50$ what the heck..!)

Another solution may be trying to repair that damn port myself .... after all it is only a matter of soldering 5 damn pins... but the fear of damaging a 300$ board is greater than my ability at soldering with my 5$ iron

But still, I feel sad... this was my first experience with FPGA, and not being able to use the ADEPT software with all their nice utilities is bad...

 

[mrflibble]

use the usb port to connect keyboard: no worries, since that is what the usb HOST port (the big plug) is for.

programming: you can always use the 14-pin header. but that would require you to have a jtag programmer

soldering: it's not that difficult to fix something like that, assuming you didn't mangle the plug or anything. Depending on how badly you ripped it off ... desolder it, clean the pads, tin the pads with a tiny bit of solder, reseat the plug till it mechanically fits just right, then apply some solder flux to the pads, and just touch the pads. If you can, preheating the board with a hotplate or infrared lamp helps some, but is not really needed for something like that. The cleaning + pretinning + flux is really all there is to it.

Good luck!

 

[Elektronman]

I wonder whether it is possible to program the ROM SPI through memory stick attached to the host big USB connector... if yes then I can still program the FPGA once and then leaving the host USB free for attaching the keyboard, if this is not possible.. I will be forced to keep the memory stick attached all the time....

About soldering, I tried again to fix the hardware... again... with no success... but I found some interesting things: first of all from what I understood only 3 pins of USB prog port are connected to the circuit:Ground, D- and D+ which may make a little simpler the process of sodlering....
I also thing there is an error in the Atlys Ref Manual: in the first pages it is referred to the USB prog port as J17, but the J17 is in reality the UART port, and I think the PROG usb port is J9. It is also sad that the reference manual does not describe which pins of PROG USB port go to which pins to the internal UCs/FPGA, making hard to do a continuity test...
Now I'm trying to find some simple example (sort of blinking leds program) to load on the FPGA from memory stick just to test it....

 

[mrflibble]

I don't know how badly you ripped they us port, but you really need all pins. Besides, I don't see how it becomes any easier by for example not resoldering the +5V.

Regarding ROM SPI programming with usb stick. 1) you can always consider reading the documentation (hint hint ) and 2) I read it briefly and what I gathered from it was ... nope. No ROM SPI programming through the USB host connector. All it has is a bootloader to grab an image from usb stick and configure the fpga with the bitfile. But maybe I'm wrong. You'd have to read the documentation more closely than my all of 5 minutes.

As for testing. If by then you don't have an alternative, I'll make a bitfile for you with some blinky leds somewhere tomorrow.

 

[Elektronman]

I tried the usb stick solution (tried with 3 different ubs sticks..) without success....
Then I tried to repair myself the usb port, basically I soldered it on the board and with a strong glue I managed to align the pins with the pads...
The only signal which seemes to work is GND, D- and D+ still have some problems (I made continuity tests with pin at the Cypress MCU), as contacts are uncertain... these pins are not soldered on the pads yet, only precisely put over.. The other pins (ID and Voltage) are not used.. now I'm looking for a needle I can use to solder more accurately this pins hoping not to damage the board

 

[FvM]

The hardware structure of the ATlys board is shown on page 2 of the reference manual. It's recognizable at first sight, that the USB host connector wired to the PIC 24 processor isn't intended for programming and also can't read a configuration image from an USB memory without previously programming specific software to the board. Simply because the host port and related processor arent't wired to the JTAG interface.

 

[mrflibble]

Page 3 from the reference manual:

"The FPGA can be programmed from a memory stick attached to the USB-HID port if the stick
contains a single .bit configuration file in the root directory, JP11 is loaded, and board power is cycled.
The FPGA will automatically reject any .bit files that are not built for the proper FPGA."


So I'd say wipe the entire stick, make sure it's a simple fat32 filesystem, keep filename short to 8.3 and only put the single .bit file on it. Least chance of stupid assumptions that way.

 

[mrflibble]

Just tested it, and a .bit file on usb stick works just fine. Power off, Insert stick, put jumper on JP11, power on, works. You do have to be patient though. With the 1.5 Mb bitfile that I tested with it took 29 seconds after power on before the bitfile was loaded.

 

[FvM]

Yes, you are right, I overlooked that the PIC24 is connected to the Spartan 6 serial configuration interface.

 

[Elektronman]

OK, i will try again with the usb stick... hoping the board didn't get damaged as a result of my trying of repair it myself in the last 2 days...
BTW this morning I tried again soldering the USB prog port(I desoldered it yesterday because pins didn't make contact) without success.... my idea was that of spilling some solder on the usb port without caring about shorts.. and then rifining the tracks and creating new pads with a needle so that I could attach a wire to it and bring off the USB signals: GND, D+ and D-... ... it didn't work.. the solder simple teared off from the board when I tried to refine the tracks....
I also tried attaching a needle to the soldering iron's tip with a strong steel wire.... hoping the heat will propagate to the needle and converting my soldering iron into a high precision hot needle... it didn't work either: the heat was not enough to propagate from the sodlering iron to the needle....
For now seems like my only hopes to configure the FPGA are the JTAG or the mem stick...
Do you know where I can find a ready to use .bit program just for testing my board with memory stick? I got one but it didn't work...

 

[FvM]

Using unsuitable tools for repair is the beeline to completely ruin the board, I fear. Solder tips are made from copper (mostly with galvanical steel or nickel plating) to have sufficient thermal conductance. For desolder of SMT connectors, hot air or special tools are better suited than a regular solder iron.

 

[Elektronman]

Just tested it, and a .bit file on usb stick works just fine. Power off, Insert stick, put jumper on JP11, power on, works. You do have to be patient though. With the 1.5 Mb bitfile that I tested with it took 29 seconds after power on before the bitfile was loaded.

That's great news! Which .bit file did you test with? I tried again few minutes ago, waited 30 seconds but no success...(tried with 3 different USB sticks.. all with FAT32 format filesystem)

 

[mrflibble]

I used a .bit file from the most recent project I was working on. And using the usb stick gave me the same results as programming over usb, so I knew the design was working properly.

The stick I used is a boring old 256 Mb stick that I formatted, and then put the .bit file on it with "test.bit" as filename.

---------- Post added 08-10-11 at 00:05 ---------- Previous post was 07-10-11 at 23:28 ----------

Alright, quick bit file you can use. It's essentially this:

assign LED[7:0] = SW[7:0] ^ 8'b10101010;

Use switches to toggle the leds. Same recipe as before:

I used the same stick, formatted it and put the new file on it.

Power off, insert stick, put jumper on JP11, power on, wait 29 seconds, works.

See attachment. You can open it with winzip or tar.

 

[Elektronman]

Thank you, I tried with your file test.bit with 4 different USB sticks...I tried formatting with NTFS, FAT32 and FAT but nothing worked :-(
The JP11 jumper was of course loaded all the time ..... Everytime I made a try I switched off (not only the board.. also the plug).. then inserted the stick and swithced ON and waited 30 seconds (I waited even entire minutes..)... with no success...
Now I feel hopeless.... Is there some special LED that says the FPGA is being programmed or something? What type of filesystem did you use?

 

[Elektronman]

I have opened a new thread to discuss details about
my damaged Atlys board:
https://www.edaboard.com/threads/227125/#post968482