iMPACT SPI Flash Programming Support

[johnpolakow]

The flash chip we have been using (M25P128), with a Spartan 6 FPGA has gone end of life. We populated a replacement chip(MT25QL128ABA). This replacement flash causes the Impact programming to fail with a "wrong device code". Pardon for being a novice, but would this suggest a different BSDL file for the flash is necessary to perform the programming? Looking at the datasheets, the id codes are being read correctly for each flash chip so I do not suspect signal integrity issues. The legacy part returns an id code of "202018" while the replacement part returns a value of "20BA18". They are supposed to be compatible. Attached are screenshots of the failed programming, and relevant portions of the respective datasheets. Apologies if I've overlooked something basic; I have no experience with this software, I'm troubleshooting a line down situation.

Examining the page here does not show SPI programming support, but the list does not seem to be current either:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx11/pim_c_introduction_indirect_programming.htm

Thanks for any help you can provide

[markg@prosensing.com]

Hi John

Please refer to the following Xilinx answer record:
https://www.xilinx.com/support/answers/68677.html

cheers,
Mark

[smarell]

Can you please set the below environmental variable-

XIL_IMPACT_SKIPIDCODECHECK=1
This variable instructs the iMPACT tool to bypass the ID check, allowing the programming operation to proceed.

[johnpolakow]

Hi smarell,

I did as you suggested, and set a windows environment variable XIL_IMPACT_SKIPIDCODECHECK with a value of 1. Unfortunately this did not fix the problem, the ID code is not ignored. If there is something I did wrong please advise:

[johnpolakow]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your response. I checked the answer you referenced. The solution in that link was:

"When using ISE 14.7 iMPACT, select the equivalent density Micron N25Q device instead of the desired Micron MT25Q device."

I'm curious, how does one perform the step of selecting the Micron N25Q as the flash device? Pardon me for not being familiar with the Impact software. If I right click on the flash chip, I am presented with the following options:

Clicking 'Edit Flash Properties' presents me with this window, which doesn't allow me to edit the flash chip:

What would you suggest next?

[iguo]

After you set the ENV, restart iMPACT and rescan the JTAG chain. You will get option 'add a flash' or sth and you can select N25Q.

[markg@prosensing.com · Accepted solution]

Hi John,

@iguo is correct - you should restart iMPACT.  The following sequence of events should happen.

After launching iMPACT, you get the “Welcome to iMPACT” dialog box, where you:

• check “Configure devices using Boundary-Scan (JTAG)”
• select “Automatically connect to a cable and identify Boundary-Scan chain”.

The iMPACT main screen will then appear with an icon for your FPGA and you will be asked “Do you want to continue and assign configuration file(s)?” – click YES and specify your .bit file.

iMPACT will then ask “This device supports attached Flash PROMs – Do you want to attach an SPI or BPI PROM to this device?” - click YES and you will get the “Add PROM File” dialog box where you specify the .mcs configuration file to be loaded to PROM.

Finally, you will get the "Select Attached SPI/BPI" dialog box that allows you to identify the PROM as N25Q…

Mark

[johnpolakow]

Thank you all for your help, it was very helpful and kind of you. We are now back programming boards again! After following your instructions of selecting the N25Q flash chip, the id code was remedied and programming completing successfully. Thank you all, have a wonderful day