Nios® II Flash Programmer User Guide

Download PDF
ID 683118
Date 11/06/2017
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Overview of the Nios® II Flash Programmer 2. Using the Flash Programmer GUI 3. Using the Flash Programmer from the Command Line A. Non-Standard Flash Memories B. Troubleshooting C. Document Revision History
1. Overview of the Nios® II Flash Programmer x
1.1. Prerequisites 1.2. Nios® II Flash Programmer GUI and Command-Line Utilities 1.3. How the Flash Programmer Works 1.4. Document Revision History for Overview of the Nios® II Flash Programmer
1.3. How the Flash Programmer Works x
1.3.1. Flash Programmer Target Design
2. Using the Flash Programmer GUI x
2.1. Starting the Flash Programmer GUI 2.2. Specifying your Flash Programmer Settings 2.3. Working with Flash Programmer Settings Files 2.4. Setting the Hardware Connection 2.5. Checking System ID and System Timestamp 2.6. Generating Flash Files and Programming Flash Memory 2.7. Document Revision History for Using the Flash Programmer GUI
3. Using the Flash Programmer from the Command Line x
3.1. quartus_pgm --nios2 3.2. sof2flash 3.3. elf2flash 3.4. bin2flash 3.5. Document Revision History for Using the Flash Programmer from the Command Line
3.1. quartus_pgm --nios2 x
3.1.1. quartus_pgm --nios2 Parameters 3.1.2. quartus_pgm --nios2 Command-Line Examples
3.1.1. quartus_pgm --nios2 Parameters x
3.1.1.1. General Parameters 3.1.1.2. Device Parameters
3.2. sof2flash x
3.2.1. sof2flash Parameters 3.2.2. sof2flash Command-Line Examples
3.2.1. sof2flash Parameters x
3.2.1.1. General Parameters 3.2.1.2. Device Parameters 3.2.1.3. Configuration-Specific Parameters
3.3. elf2flash x
3.3.1. elf2flash Parameters 3.3.2. Programming Both Hardware and Software into an EPCS/EPCQ Device 3.3.3. elf2flash Command-Line Examples
3.3.1. elf2flash Parameters x
3.3.1.1. General Parameters 3.3.1.2. CFI Parameters 3.3.1.3. EPCS Parameters
3.4. bin2flash x
3.4.1. bin2flash Parameters 3.4.2. bin2flash Command-Line Example
A. Non-Standard Flash Memories x
A.1. Built-in Recognition and Override A.2. Flash Override Files A.3. Width Mode Override Parameter A.4. Document Revision History for Non-Standard Flash Memories
A.2. Flash Override Files x
A.2.1. Flash Override File Format A.2.2. How to Use the Flash Override File
B. Troubleshooting x
B.1. Overview B.2. Start Button Grayed Out in the Flash Programmer GUI B.3. 'No Nios® II Processors Available' Error B.4. 'No CFI Table Found' Error B.5. 'No EPCS Registers Found' Error B.6. 'System Does Not Have Any Flash Memory' Error B.7. 'Reading System ID at Address 0x<address>: FAIL' Error B.8. 'Base Address Not Aligned on Size of Device' Error B.9. Document Revision History for Troubleshooting
B.2. Start Button Grayed Out in the Flash Programmer GUI x
B.2.1. Probable Cause B.2.2. Suggested Actions
B.3. 'No Nios® II Processors Available' Error x
B.3.1. Probable Cause B.3.2. Suggested Actions
B.4. 'No CFI Table Found' Error x
B.4.1. Probable Cause B.4.2. Suggested Actions
B.5. 'No EPCS Registers Found' Error x
B.5.1. Probable Cause B.5.2. Suggested Actions
B.6. 'System Does Not Have Any Flash Memory' Error x
B.6.1. Probable Cause B.6.2. Suggested Actions
B.7. 'Reading System ID at Address 0x<address>: FAIL' Error x
B.7.1. Probable Cause B.7.2. Suggested Actions
B.8. 'Base Address Not Aligned on Size of Device' Error x
B.8.1. Probable Cause B.8.2. Suggested Actions
1. Overview of the Nios® II Flash Programmer
2. Using the Flash Programmer GUI
3. Using the Flash Programmer from the Command Line
A. Non-Standard Flash Memories
B. Troubleshooting
C. Document Revision History

1. Overview of the Nios® II Flash Programmer

Many hardware designs that include the Nios® II processor also incorporate flash memory on the board to store FPGA configuration data or Nios® II program data. The Nios® II Flash Programmer is part of the Intel® Quartus® Prime Programmer . Its purpose is to program data into a flash memory device connected to an FPGA. The Nios II Flash Programmer sends file contents over a download cable, such as the Intel® FPGA Download Cable, to a Nios® II system running on the FPGA, and instructs the Nios II system to write the data to flash memory.

The Nios® II Flash Programmer can program three types of content to flash memory:
  • Nios® II software executable files—Many systems use flash memory to store non-volatile program code, or firmware. Nios II systems can boot from flash memory.
  • FPGA configuration data—At system power-up, the FPGA configuration controller on the board can read FPGA configuration data from the flash memory. Depending on the design of the configuration controller, it might be able to choose between multiple FPGA configuration files stored in flash memory.
  • Other arbitrary data files—The Nios® II Flash Programmer can program a binary file to an arbitrary offset in a flash memory for any purpose. For example, a Nios® II program might use this data as a coefficient table or a sine lookup table.
The Nios® II Flash Programmer can be used to program the following types of memory:
  • Common flash interface (CFI)-compliant flash memory—CFI is an industry standard that provides a common, vendor-independent interface to flash memory devices.

    For more information about the CFI specification, refer to the JEDEC Common Flash Interface standard JESD68.01 and JEDEC publications JEP137x, available on the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association standards organization website (www.jedec.org).

  • Intel EPCQ, EPCQL, and EPCQA serial configuration devices store FPGA configuration data and Nios® II executable software.
The Nios® II processor supports the following two boot options using Intel Serial Flash:
  • The Nios® II processor application executes in place from EPCQ flash.
  • The Nios® II processor application is copied from EPCQ flash to RAM using a boot copier.

You can boot a Nios® II processor from Intel EPCQ flash memory (EPCQx1, EPCQx4) using an Intel FPGA Serial Flash Controller. The Intel FPGA Serial Flash Controller with Avalon® interface allows Nios® II processor systems to access an Intel EPCQ flash memory, which supports standard, quad and single-I/O mode. The Nios® II processor Software Build Tools (SBT) supports the Nios® II booting from the Intel FPGA Serial Flash Controller.

For more information about how to build a bootable system from EPCS and device eram for a Nios II processor application, refer to Nios® II Configuration and Booting Solutions chapter of Embedded Design Handbook.

Note: In this document, the term "flash memory" refers to both CFI and EPCQ memory devices, unless otherwise noted.
Related Information
Level Two Title