Parallel Cable IV Drivers of xilinx

[devashishraval]

I have spartan 3 fpga kit. I have generated the .bit  file using xilinx ise 10.1 and now trying to download it to the kit.

As I run xilinx Impact it shows me cable error, as follows.

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.
 LPT base address = 0378h.
 ECP base address = 0778h.
Cable connection established.
ECP port test failed. Using download cable in compatibility mode.

From the help I came to know that in the fileset.txt file following line should be present.

<Date of install> <Time> <Year>:: summary=Parallel Cable Drivers

This line is absent in my fileset.txt in C:\Xilinx\10.1\ISE folder. The contents are as below.

Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  product=ISE
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  configuration=Foundation
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  version=10.1
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  Registration_ID=1AN2AMZ5JHJXSA9EXZTK431J1
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  summary=Location: C:\Xilinx\10.1\ISE
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  summary=Design Environment Tools
Thu Feb 03 16:58:35 TZ 2011::  summary=All FPGA devices except Virtex4 and Virtex5

The parallel port in the BIOS menu is set to ECP mode and enabled as well.

Kindly suggest any solution for my problem.

Kindly also tell me that how do I know that my FPGA is damaged or not.

Regards.

Devashish.

[particle]

It isn't getting far enough to where it is even interacting with your FPGA.  If the chip is damaged, you wouldn't yet know (and it wouldn't cause this error I don't think).  Unless you have another reason to suspect the FPGA is dead, I doubt it is damaged.  As for your cable error, I'd start by checking device manager and making sure the port at least shows up in Windows correctly.  I've not got a lot of experience with the older parallel cables--I usually use the USB platform cable instead.

[gszakacs]

Devashish wrote:

From the help I came to know that in the fileset.txt file following line should be present.

<Date of install> <Time> <Year>:: summary=Parallel Cable Drivers

This line is absent in my fileset.txt in C:\Xilinx\10.1\ISE folder. The contents are as below.

This is probably a red herring.  You would only have the line in your fileset.txt if you

installed the cable drivers along with ISE for that version.  My fileset.txt for 10.1

does not have the line either and I can use the Parallel Cable IV on my system.

It is more likely to be a problem with the BIOS setup or possibly the cable driver

setup.  I think there is a way to tell the driver the ECP address for your LPT port.

I'd suggest searching these forums for "ECP" to see if you can find the solution.

-- Gabor

[devashishraval]

---

@particle wrote:

As for your cable error, I'd start by checking device manager and making sure the port at least shows up in Windows correctly.  I've not got a lot of experience with the older parallel cables--I usually use the USB platform cable instead.

---

Thank you Particle for your response.

I have already checked the device manager settings.

The parallel port works fine.

[devashishraval]

Thank you Gabor for your response.

---

@gszakacs wrote:

 My fileset.txt for 10.1does not have the line either and I can use the Parallel Cable IV on my system.

 It is more likely to be a problem with the BIOS setup or possibly the cable driver

setup.  I think there is a way to tell the driver the ECP address for your LPT port.

I'd suggest searching these forums for "ECP" to see if you can find the solution.

-- Gabor

---

It is good to know that your fileset.txt does not have the line either. So I can assume that my installation is correct.

But I have also checked the BIOS set up. I have enabled the parallel cable port in ECP mode.

The impact gets the ECP port address as well, as i have shown in the question.

I am now looking for other forums as well as per your suggestion.

If you get any better idea then please share it with me.

[eteam00]

Programming note:  this thread is being continued here.

- Bob Elkind