[hpsdr] one Metis down...

[Scott Cowling]

Hi Joe,

The reason that you could not recover from your "fault" is that the 
bootloader code also resides in the PROM alongside the operating 
code.  If the PROM contents get scrambled (which they apparently 
did), the FPGA does not load either of the two images from the PROM 
and nothing works, not even the bootloader.

It is hard to imagine what could have messed up the image in the 
PROM, but we'll all be looking to see if this happens again or to anyone else.

Dan and I powered up and down literally hundreds of Metis boards and 
never saw that failure.

73,
Scotty WA2DFI

At 07:56 PM 2/20/2011 -0700, Joe Martin K5SO wrote:
>***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
>RRR, Phil.  Understood.  Thanks!
>
>What is interesting about my recent experience with the Metis EEPROM 
>losing it's mind is that I could not recover from this fault by 
>using the HPSDRProgrammer  bootloader mode.  It was necessary for me 
>to use the Quartus II Programmer to load the file "output_file.pof" 
>(which Jeremy kindly provided to me!) in order to recover from this 
>particular failure.
>
>After loading the output_file.pof using a blaster cable in 
>conjunction with the Quartus II Programmer utility I now am able to 
>use both the normal programming mode and the bootloader mode in the 
>HPSDRProgrammer utility to update code in the Metis board that 
>previously had failed.  However, should the "no-LEDs-at-all-showing" 
>failure occur again on this board, I suspect that the bootloader 
>mode in HPSDRProgrammer will once again not allow me to recover.  I 
>suspect that in this failure mode it will be necessary for me to 
>once again load the "output_file.pof" into the EEPROM using a 
>blaster cable and the Quartus II Programmer to recover.
>
>In any case, thank you all very much for your helpful comments and 
>providing me with the necessary files to get back up with this Metis board!
>
>73,  Joe K5SO
>
>
>
>On Feb 20, 2011, at 6:27 PM, Phil Harman wrote:
>>
>>With Metis we have tried to move away from the Altera Quartus programming
>>software since it changes frequently and is not as user friendly as John's
>>HPSDRProgrammer software. We feel that being able to update the code, both
>>in Metis and other HPSDR boards, via Ethernet is a step forward.
>
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