I wrote a VHDL code in Xilinx 14.4 for the Papilio One 500k. After successfully generating the bit file, the Papilio Loader is unable to successfully load my board with the bit file. Wondering if the code was correct, I changed the Device package and constraints file to match another FPGA of mine. The code works as it is supposed to. To verify that the Papilio One board is functioning properly, I downloaded the test bit file and loaded the Papilio One successfully using the Papilio Loader with Windows 8.1. The test bit file is perfect.
So far I have verified that the code is correct, the Papilio One 500k works properly, the Papilio Loader is also working properly on Windows 8.1 when used with anything other than my bit file and Xilinx is working as it is supposed to with Windows 8.1 since I can load my other FPGA.
I did email my Papilio One bit file to someone who has a Windows 7 computer and loading it using the Papilio Loader on their computer. The bit file was able to load correctly and the code worked perfectly.
i was wondering if you have come across an issue between Windows 8.1, Xilinx 14.4 and the Papilio Loader. Xilinx and Windows 8.1 have never been an issue when writing code and loading the other FPGA.
Is Xilinx on Windows 8.1 unable to successfully write a bit file that the Papilio Loader on Windows 8.1 cannot understand? I found it interesting that the test file (which I do not know how or what program was used to write it) worked perfectly and my bit file is correct if loaded using a Windows 7 but not Windows 8.1.
Looking into this issue on the gadget factory website, their are two different webpages that discuss Windows 8 and the Papilio Loader. The older webpage discusses that Windows 8 will not allow the device driver to install and to override this by accessing the terminal. The other, more recent, webpage discusses that Windows 8 has the most up to date and necessary driver to run papilio and to cancel out of the driver installation part. I exited the driver installation when asked instead of accessing the terminal because that was the most recent webpage. My Windows 8.1 laptop is fairly new. I have installed, uninstalled and re-installed the Papilio Loader several times.
I know that this explanation is hard to follow. I apologize for that.
This sounds like a strange issue here... But there have been some weird stuff going on with Windows 8 so far so I want to get to the bottom of it. I'm reworking all of the drivers and tools right now as I work on the Papilio DUO test plan but I have not run into something like this. I even did a brand new fresh install of Windows 8.1 to try to identify any issues... So far it is mostly related to mingw and cygwin stuff, but I have seen that there seems to be some zombie processes that are hanging around on my machine causing problems.
Can you look at task manager and see if there are a bunch of java processes hanging around? If so end them all and see if that makes a difference. If you can attach the bit file I will test it on my Windows 8.1 machine here. Oh, and if you attach the source code that would be good too.
Jack, if I close the Papilio loader GUI I then always have to kill a 32-bit Java runtime process using task manager.
My workaround has been to just keep the loader app open, but this is at odds with using the right-click menu in Windows explorer to upload .bit files.
Attached is my bit file. i checked the task manager and their are no extra java programs running. I have also attached a zip file of the Xilinx source code.
Hmmm, well, it appears that writing to SPI Flash seems to have a problem... If I write directly to the FPGA then the bit file works, but writing to SPI Flash does not. Can you verify on your side?
It's a problem with your project settings.
If you change the FPGA Start-Up Clock from JTAG to CCLK it will work. Go to "Generate Programming File" and right click and choose process properties. Then choose Startup Options Category, then change FPGA Start-Up Clock to CCLK.
In the future I recommend just creating a new project when something weird like this happens. That's what I did, I just made a new project and pasted your code into it. When it worked I just did a diff between the xise files and saw that your FPGA Start-Up Clock was different and it doesn't make sense for it to be set to JTAG.
It looks like the option to write a bit file and quit is not working. If you change the setting to load a bit file and wait, then you manually close the application then it closes properly. So I need to look into what system call we are using to load a bit file and exit, it doesn't seem to work under Windows 8.1. For now we can just change the setting and manually kill the app.