Problem with Digilent Spartan 3E-1600 and IMPACT

earthlink · ‎10-24-2010

Dear all,

I am trying to program the Digilent Spartan 3E-1600 (XC3S1600E), using ISE Webpack 12.3 (M70.d) and iMPACT.

After successful synthesis and .bit file generation in ISE, I am able to initialize the chain and display the correct chain

(xc3s1600e -- xcf04s -- xcf04s -- xc2c64a).

After that, every command that tries to interact with the device fails.

For example, if I give the "Get Device ID" command, the following failure message appears in the console:

INFO:iMPACT - Current time: ��� 24. ��� 22Maximum TCK operating frequency for this device chain: 6000000.
Validating chain...
INFO:iMPACT:1206 - Instruction Capture = '1010101010101010101010110101000000010000000100000101'
INFO:iMPACT:1207 - Expected    Capture = '1010101010101010101010101001XXXXX001XXXXX001XXXXXX01'
INFO:iMPACT:2129 - Boundary-scan chain test failed. Please check tdi->tdo connection between  the cable  and device:'1' ( 'xc3s1600e').
	A problem may exist in the hardware configuration.
	Check that the cable, scan chain, and power connections are intact,
	that the specified scan chain configuration matches the actual hardware, and
	that the power supply is adequate and delivering the correct voltage.
:15:07 2010
:11:08 2010
:59:57 2010
:58:48 2010

I have read related answers in the forum, e.g. I have tried to reduce the bitrate of the usb cable to its minimum value (750Khz), however that did not work as well.

I am looking preferrably for a software settings solution, i.e. I do not have equipment at hand to do signal debugging on the board etc.

Could the problem be associated with any device properties in my project. E.g. my target device is xc3s1600e-4fg320, i.e. Package FG320 with speed -4.

I would appreciate any input, thank you.

bruno_augustox · ‎10-25-2010

Hi earthlink,

I am also trying unsuccessfully to program Digilent Spartan 3E-1600 (XC3S1600E), using ISE Webpack (12.2) and iMPACT.

But my error is different from yours.

Before trying to load '.bit' file, the iMPACT software doesn´t properly recognize the FPGA on the board. The iMPACT failed when trying to boundary scan.

To be honest, iMPACT failed on Boundary scanning because it wrongly identifies more than 30 'UNKNOWN' devices in the chain.

It appears a message: "There are many unknown devices being detected."

I am using an USB cable to connect the pc to the on-board USB2 port(JTAG programming). I am also using OS Windows7/64bits(6GB), but I tryied on an OS WindowsXP/32bits(1GB) and got the same failure.

The console log shows the message:

Attempting to identify devices in the boundary-scan chain configuration...
INFO:iMPACT - Current time: qui 21. out 11:20:29 2010
// *** BATCH CMD : Identify -inferir 
PROGRESS_START - Starting Operation.
Identifying chain contents...'0': : Manufacturer's ID = Xilinx xc2c64a, Version : 0
INFO:iMPACT:1777 - 
Reading C:/Xilinx/12.1/ISE_DS/ISE/xbr/data/xc2c64a.bsd...
INFO:iMPACT:501 - '1': Added Device xc2c64a successfully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'1': : Manufacturer's ID = Xilinx xcf04s, Version : 13
INFO:iMPACT:1777 - 
Reading C:/Xilinx/12.1/ISE_DS/ISE/xcf/data/xcf04s.bsd...
INFO:iMPACT:501 - '1': Added Device xcf04s successfully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'2': : Manufacturer's ID = Xilinx xcf04s, Version : 13
INFO:iMPACT:501 - '1': Added Device xcf04s successfully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'3': : Manufacturer's ID = Unknown 
INFO:iMPACT:501 - '1': Added Device UNKNOWN successfully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'32': : Manufacturer's ID = Unknown 
INFO:iMPACT:501 - '1': Added Device UNKNOWN successfully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
INFO:iMPACT - iMPACT quit the Identify Chain because it detects there are
at least 30 'UNKNOWN' type devices on the chain.
Please check the hardware settings and retry!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PROGRESS_END - End Operation.
Elapsed time =    119 sec.

I have already searched for a solution on Xilinx website but I didn't find any practical solution.

I tried to change the frequency operation of the USB cable, but it keeps the same error.

Earthlink, which usb cable are you using? How are the jumpers of your board configured?

Do you have already faced this problem before? Do you know a practical solution to solve this trouble?

Thanks for your attention,

Bruno

gregmeredith · ‎07-30-2007

The impact software looks to find the the 2c64a and xcf04s on the board but not the other deivces.

Check the jumper settings on the board as well as the power. It would also be good to double check that the pod and software are functioning correctly with another board.