Three issues/errors can be encountered when using Altera® Early Power Estimators (EPE) on non-English machines, and all of these will be seen on importing a .csv file into the EPE in Excel.
Any combination of the three issues may depend on which EPE (Cyclone® II, Stratix® II, etc.) is used and how the host machine is configured (Versions of MS Office Installed, MS Windows XP patch level).
Issues / Errors as reported by Excel:
1) “Error in Module 1” or Similar warning
2) “Error ‘13’” Incompatible types.
3) “This Workbook (Document) Has Been Password Protected”
Solutions to issues:
Issue 1
“Error in Module 1”
This issue is caused by a missing library in the Windows XP installation and is also documented in the version section of the affected EPEs.
The solution is to download and install the missing libraries (MSCONCT2) to Windows/system32/
The library can be downloaded from the following link:-
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;297381
Issue 2
“Error ‘13’ incompatible types”
This issue is caused by the regional language settings in Windows.
When Quartus II exports a .csv file for import into an EPE. it uses English-style number separators. ( “.”) This causes issues if a user machine is set up in a different language mode, with different number separators, as Excel will take note of the local language settings. (“,” for French region)
The solution is to make sure the regional settings on user machines are set to English (UK or USA). This will not affect keyboard mappings but will affect the default number separators.
To change the language mode in Windows XP go to:-
i) My Computer -> Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options
ii) In the “Standards and Formats” box, select “English (UK)” or (United States) from the drop-down list. You should see the “.”’s change to “,” in the Samples -> Number section.
Work is ongoing to address this issue, as it is the only issue Altera can directly affect.
Issue 3
When you open a password-protected Microsoft Excel workbook on a computer with French regional settings, you receive the following error message:
“OFF2000: "This Workbook (Document) Has Been Password Protected" When You Open Workbook or Document”
This is caused by a bug/issue in MS Office 2000, but this has been addressed by Microsoft and an update is available to fix this issue. To resolve this problem ensure MS Excel / Office is up to date with all available service packs installed (See www.office.microsoft.com for details), and also obtain the Word 2000 Update: April 25, 2002.
The MS Word 2000 update is available from the following link:-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320536/EN-US/
For more details on this issue please see the following Microsoft Support article.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;278679