Spartan® Family FPGAs

[gapiro]

Hiya. I am completely new to fpga, and i've been assigned a project involving the use of a digilent starter board which is based aroundt he use of a spartan 3. I have got some code, and i have been given some completed code to work with to show it works however i am completely stuck. I have been given a JTAG -USB lead to program it wit, and so have set the jumpers to jtag and rmoved the jumper on the flash. Now, what i can't get is why the laptop (running vista) will not detect the FPGA board at all? I have managed to get the ISE to get as far as generating programming report, and i've got a ucf file done with the pin outs, however when i try to configure target, and lauches inpact for me, i cannot detect the cable at all when i do automatic boundary scan

as below :

// *** BATCH CMD : setMode -bs
// *** BATCH CMD : setMode -bs
GUI --- Auto connect to cable...
// *** BATCH CMD : setCable -port auto
AutoDetecting cable. Please wait.
PROGRESS_START - Starting Operation.
Connecting to cable (Parallel Port - LPT1).
Checking cable driver.
 Driver windrvr6.sys version = 8.1.1.0. WinDriver v8.11 Jungo (c) 1997 - 2006 Build Date: Oct 16 2006 X86 32bit SYS 12:35:07, version = 811.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Parallel Port - LPT2).
Checking cable driver.
 Driver windrvr6.sys version = 8.1.1.0. WinDriver v8.11 Jungo (c) 1997 - 2006 Build Date: Oct 16 2006 X86 32bit SYS 12:35:07, version = 811.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Parallel Port - LPT3).
Checking cable driver.
 Driver windrvr6.sys version = 8.1.1.0. WinDriver v8.11 Jungo (c) 1997 - 2006 Build Date: Oct 16 2006 X86 32bit SYS 12:35:07, version = 811.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Parallel Port - LPT4).
Checking cable driver.
 Driver windrvr6.sys version = 8.1.1.0. WinDriver v8.11 Jungo (c) 1997 - 2006 Build Date: Oct 16 2006 X86 32bit SYS 12:35:07, version = 811.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Usb Port - USB21).
Checking cable driver.
 Source driver files not found.
The Platform Cable USB is not detected. Please connect a cable.If a cable is connected, please disconnect
and reconnect to the usb port, follow the instructions in the 'Found New Hardware Wizard', then retry
the Cable Setup operation.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Usb Port - USB22).
Checking cable driver.
 Source driver files not found.
The Platform Cable USB is not detected. Please connect a cable.If a cable is connected, please disconnect
and reconnect to the usb port, follow the instructions in the 'Found New Hardware Wizard', then retry
the Cable Setup operation.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Usb Port - USB23).
Checking cable driver.
 Source driver files not found.
The Platform Cable USB is not detected. Please connect a cable.If a cable is connected, please disconnect
and reconnect to the usb port, follow the instructions in the 'Found New Hardware Wizard', then retry
the Cable Setup operation.
Cable connection failed.
Connecting to cable (Usb Port - USB24).
Checking cable driver.
 Source driver files not found.
The Platform Cable USB is not detected. Please connect a cable.If a cable is connected, please disconnect
and reconnect to the usb port, follow the instructions in the 'Found New Hardware Wizard', then retry
the Cable Setup operation.
Cable connection failed.
PROGRESS_END - End Operation.
Elapsed time =      3 sec.
Cable autodetection failed.
WARNING:iMPACT:923 - Can not find cable, check cable setup !

Any ideas?

Thanks

ps 

i have installed the drivers sepeartely , and i should have them included in the ISE 10.1 as far as i understand. and yes , it is turned on with the cable attached :)

Message Edited by gapiro on 05-17-2009 02:58 AM

[gapiro]

ps i have tried two versions of the ISE now, have tried 10.1 and 11

[gszakacs]

You should check if your version of Vista is supported by the drivers.

Under normal conditions you should get at least one "Found New Hardware" wizard pop-up when

you plug in the cable, and if memory serves me correctly you could get as many as three pop-ups.

When all else fails try another machine, preferably one with Windows XP if you have it.

Regards,

Gabor

[gapiro]

I got the new hardware pop up with each and every usb port which i have tested in it , and it installs the driver fine.

I dont have access at home to a non-vista pc, only at university where we cannot install anything , except in our specialist labs, which for this project i dont have access to for a couple of months.

Could it be the cable?

[hithesh]

Are you using the digilent basys. You might wanna try downloading the digilent adept software for programming your fpga. I don't have a jtag usb, I just do it with just a regular usb cable.

[gapiro]

nah its the board as below

http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavTop=2&NavSub=519&Prod=S3BOARD

I can't see a programming tool on there? Am i being totally blind?

[kcathcar]

The Impact software only supports the following cables:

• Xilinx Platform Cable USB
• Xilinx Parallel III
• Xilinx Parallel IV
• Xilinx Multipro
• (or any other cable identical to one of those).

If your USB-JTAG cable is not the Xilinx Platform Cable USB, you cannot use Impact to configure your device, although you can have it create an svf file.

You would then take the svf file and give it to some software by the manufacturer of your USB-JTAG cable to configure the device.

(Unless the software supports downloading bitfiles directly, in which case you do not need to use Impact at all.)

If your cable is the Xilinx Platform Cable USB, then something strange has occured that I am not familar with.

[hithesh]

Is it one of the jumper pin configs?

This was the case with the basys board. I couldn't program it until I changed the jumper pin.

[gapiro]

hithesh, i've done the jumper pins., its listed in the instruction manual how to set that up, and disabled the flash boot.
Re the cables, my understanding is that the USB-JTAG cable works like the parrallel cable and there is a chip on board that converts it?

I have several coursemates working on FPGA'S also but they all seem to have success :\

[gapiro · Accepted solution]

Solved it. Turned out i needed Adept, which my tutor neglected to mention because he uses a serial cable instead of a USB cable :(