Problem downloading with parallel converter

I had a problem like this with a batch of cpu boards. The first set worked, with no problem. The second set, failed like you describe. The only difference in the boards, were day-codes on the SIO chip.

The problem was INIT getting glitched, I think. Try it on some different machines, or a USB parallel port. You may have to get out the scope to find it.

--
Gary A. Gorgen                  | "From ideas to PRODUCTS"
tunxis@comcast.net              | Tunxis Design Inc.
                                 | Cupertino, Ca. 95014

"Hendra Gunawan" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:c5c9lk$6lunr$ snipped-for-privacy@hades.csu.net...

following

and

Hello,

1.) what are the parallel port settings You use? SPP, PS2, EPP or ECP mode? If possible, try all in above order. Most incompatible mode is ECP mode. We randomly suggested Quatech SPP-100 to our customers using our parallel-port based products, never had problems...

2.) what kind of download cable do You use? Xilinx parallel cable III (DLC5) or newer cable (parallel cable IV)? This newsgroup tells that DLC5 may have some problems depending on PC, setup and circomstances. But never had those problems ourselves. Try to find hints in the newsgroup archieve, some people use a cap at a pin....

with best regards,

Peter Seng

############################# SENG digitale Systeme GmbH Im Bruckwasen 35 D 73037 Göppingen Germany tel +7161-75245 fax +7161-72965 eMail snipped-for-privacy@seng.de net

Hi Peter, first of all, thanks for answering my questions. How do I know which settings I have? In device manager, it shows that I have LPT1, no interrupt and IO range but it doesn't say anything about the port settings.

I have regular parallel cable. I believe it is the same with the parallel cable that people use for parallel scanner and backup tape drive. Thanks in advance!

Hendra

Hendra, I doubt this will help much but I have a parallel IV cable and I have had some times where it only works intermittently. It works pretty consistently for days and then for no apparent reason in starts acting real wacky. i.e. done did not go high, parallel tap navigation failure I hypothesize that sometimes its cuz something is wrong with the jtag chain but 2 things i try to fix the issue are.

1. try downloading the design with chipscope instead of impact.
2. try to program any proms on your board instead of programming the device itself.

Those steps may lead to some more useful debug output. for some reason the d/l in chipscope seems to work a higher percentage of time.

matt

Hello Hendra,

comments see down:

"Hendra Gunawan" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:c5i2ao$6mpr9$ snipped-for-privacy@hades.csu.net...

but

First try to make changes to the parallel port settings - see Quatech documentation. If You can not change the mode, try to set base adress to

3BCh (this address should not be capable to work in EPP or ECP mode) or contact Quatech and ask if the mode can be set to a user defined status. Interupts are of no interest - they are not used by parallel cable III. SPP and PS2 ports use a range of 3 adresses, EPP uses a range of 8 adresses and ECP uses two ranges of 8 adresses. Which I/O adresses are accessed (adresses and range)?

??? do You use the Xilinx cable and a standard parallel cable to make the Xilinx cable longer? If yes, try to use the Xilinx cable without the extension. If You need to make the Xilinx cable longer be shure to use a cable with all pins connected, meaning all ground and all signal pins of the

25-pin connectors are connected in a 1:1 fashion. Look at the hints in the archieve of this newsgroup for any topics concerning parallel cable III. Can´t give you hints cause we never had problems with this cable, and most times we use our own download device, emulating parallel cable III (but with very different hardware, amplifieing and filtering).

good luk,

Peter Seng

############################# SENG digitale Systeme GmbH Im Bruckwasen 35 D 73037 Göppingen Germany tel +7161-75245 fax +7161-72965 eMail snipped-for-privacy@seng.de net

adresses

I use 0378-037F. According to the quatech manual, the only configuration mode that use standard port mode is configuration #9. I tried to change to that mode but it won't let me to set the base address to 03BC because it is used for another device. Could you tell me the address range for SPP, PS2, EPP and ECP so I can play with it?

No, I don't use Xilinx cable at all. My FPGA board is a simple one.

I just connect the board to my laptop using a standard parallel cable. Thank You!

Hendra

Hello Hendra,

see down please:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Hendra Gunawan" Newsgroups: comp.arch.fpga Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 1:58 AM Subject: Re: Problem downloading with parallel converter

is

Try to set the occupying device to another address, or if possible disable it.

play

Standard base adresses are 3BCh, 378h, 278h (named LPT1-LPT3, in this order), but 3BCh is the only not able to be set to EPP or ECP mode. Ranges see above. EPP and ECP may use a secondary adress range at baseadress +

400h.

the

The hardware does not look as it is Xilinx compatible, different drivers and missing capacitors.... On our systems we also use different drivers and no capacitors at all - but we do it inside an FPGA - and we also had problems first - so we included digital filtering (instead of capacitors) and it worked afterwards.

-> Try to built or lend a Xilinx download cable (Parallel cable III, schematic on the net, see Xilinx). If it works use this. or

-> try to connect a 1nF capacitor between TCK and GND of Your board. Not shure if it works.... and/or

-> ask digilent what to do, describe your problems

good luk,

Peter

############################# SENG digitale Systeme GmbH Im Bruckwasen 35 D 73037 Göppingen Germany tel +7161-75245 fax +7161-72965 eMail snipped-for-privacy@seng.de net

Hi Peter, apparantely I can not use 03BC at all. It is used for Pentium II to AGP Bridge controller. I can not modified its IO range at all and if I disable it, my computer run at 640x480.

and

I will try the capacitor trick and just email digilent. Let's see how it works and I will report back. Thanks for your time!

Hendra