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

2.6. Generating Flash Files and Programming Flash Memory

The Nios® II Flash Programmer can generate flash files, program the flash memory with a flash file, or both. The flash programmer can generate flash files from the following different file types:
  • SRAM Object File (.sof) — Contains FPGA configuration data
  • Executable and Linking Format File (.elf)— Contains your executable application software
  • Intel FPGA Zip Read-Only File System File (.zip) — Contains a read-only zip file system associated with your Nios® II software application project
  • An arbitrary binary file

The Nios® II EDS provides the Intel FPGA Zip Read-Only File System software component, which is an easy-to-use tool for storing and accessing data in flash memory. Depending on your application, you might find it more convenient to use the Zip Read-Only File System, rather than storing raw binary data in flash memory.

For information about the Intel FPGA Zip Read-Only File System, refer to the "Read-Only Zip File System" chapter in the Nios® II Gen2 Software Developer’s Handbook.

To generate flash files or to write to flash memory using your flash programmer settings, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Options menu, turn on the actions you wish to perform. The following actions are available:
    • Generate Files—Generates flash files.
    • Program Files—Programs flash memory with the generated flash files.
    • Erase Flash Before Programming—Erases the entire flash memory before writing each flash file to it.
    • Run From Reset After Programming—Runs the processor from its reset vector after flash memory programming is complete.5
  2. To specify the directories where you want the flash programmer to store the generated flash files and script, click Staging Directories in the Options menu and specify the script and flash-files directory paths.
  3. On the tab for the flash memory device you wish to target, under Files for flash conversion, click Add.

    The Nios® II Flash Programmer adds the file to the Files for flash conversion list and derives the flash offset from the file. Depending on your current Options settings, the File generation command and File programming command boxes populate with the command-line commands that generate the .flash file and program it to your flash memory, respectively, providing a convenient way to learn about the command-line utilities.

  4. If you want to pass any additional arguments to the file generation command, under File generation command, click Properties.
  5. If necessary, edit the Conversion Type settings for the files listed in the Files for flash conversion table, by clicking the relevant table cells. Allowed conversion types are ELF, SOF, and BINARY.
  6. If necessary, edit the Flash Offset settings for the files listed in the Files for flash conversion table, by double-clicking the relevant table cells.
    Note: Do not specify a flash offset for files of conversion type ELF.
  7. Click Start. The Nios® II Flash Programmer performs the actions specified by the commands. It stores the generated flash files to the specified flash directory, and captures the commands it runs to the flash_programmer.sh bash shell script in the specified script directory.
    Note: You can use this script to duplicate the same actions again in the future, and to learn about the command-line utilities.
Related Information
5 Relevant only if you turn on Program Files.
Level Two Title