Arty Z7 won't auto-load from SD or flash - Requires pressing PROG

[jasons]

I seem to be having a similar issue with my Arty Z7 as this poster.  At one point, my board was booting just fine from flash (via QSPI) or an SD card (with FSB, bistream, and SDK program).  However, something happened along the way and I have to press the PROG button every time I power it up to boot it (true for either QSPI flash or SD).  Only after I do this does the DONE light light up and the SDK program runs.  My bitstream isn't compressed and I'm using Vivado 2018.2.  I haven't messed with any of the bitstream or device properties.

Any ideas?  Thanks!

[JColvin]

Hi @jasons,

When you said "I haven't messed with any of the bitstream or device properties" does that mean your project has not changed or that your project has been changed an updated, but the creation process hasn't changed?

In general, you may need to adding an initial delay in the beginning of the SDK code can sometimes help if the application is trying to run before all of the power rails are fully up. This can be an issue when the verbose is commented out. Could you post a screen shot of your Block design, the wrapper file and the SDK code?

Thanks,
JColvin

[jasons]

Hi @JColvin, thanks for responding.

My project has changed slightly but the creation process hasn't changed.  I was mainly referencing the settings you highlighted in the other post.  What's really strange is this behavior started happening after I left the board on overnight and resumed work on it the next day.  Of course, it's certainly possible I changed something but I tried to revert all my changes to no avail.

Just to make sure I'm not crazy, I loaded up this project (with no modifications) and observed the same behavior (proper boot requires a PROG press): https://github.com/Digilent/Arty-Z7-20-hdmi-in.  Is it possible my board is defective?

Cheers,

-Jason

[jpeyron]

Hi @jasons,

Since the BOOT.BIN could be corrupted I would suggest to reformat your SD card and make a BOOT.BIN(here is an older tutorial that can be used with the Arty-Z7) from a verified project. Making sure that the Mode Jumper is set to SD. This way you can confirm the hardware is working as expected. Also I would suggest to use a Scandisk or Samsung SD Card. We have seen some SD cards consume more current on power up than is set by the SD protocol. 

thank you,

Jon

[jasons]

@jpeyron - That was my thinking as well.  I've since tried reformatting the SD card and switching it to another.  Both cards are Samsung branded, high quality cards I often use in my cameras without issue.  What's interesting is I observe the same behavior when booting from the QSPI flash chip.  I did this using an unmodified version of https://github.com/Digilent/Arty-Z7-20-hdmi-in project.

I doubt the BOOT.BIN file is corrupted as the board boots normally after PROG is pressed.

[jpeyron]

Hi @jasons,

Since this a HDMI project are you powering up the board with the HDMI cables connect to monitors?

There is a distinct possibility that the HDMI devices(monitors) are back power through the HDMI cables effecting the power up sequence. This could easily cause the boot.bin to not configure the  FPGA. Please disconnect all of the HDMI cables or at the very least make sure that the HDMI devices(Monitors) are turned off while you are powering on the Arty-Z7.

Are you using any special configurations on your bitstream settings?

When you made the boot.bin did you follow a process similar to this tutorial here.

thank you,

Jon

[jasons]

Hi @jpeyron,

Thanks again for getting back to me.  I tried disconnecting everything from the board and powering it up with the supplied PS without luck.

I'm not using any special configs or bitstream settings and I'm testing using a vanilla Digilent example project.

That tutorial is exactly what I used to create the boot image and copy it to an SD card,

Cheers,

Jason

[jpeyron]

Hi @jasons,

1) Have you tried externally powering the Arty-Z7? Through a wal-wart.

2) Do you have more information about   "something happened along the way"? What kind of project were you doing?

thank you,

Jon

[jasons]

Hi @jpeyron,

1. Yes, I only power the Arty-Z7 with the recommended power supply (https://store.digilentinc.com/12v-3a-power-supply/).

2. The only thing I noticed was the board starting behaving this way after being left on overnight.  My project is very, very similar to the reference HDMI-in project.  It simply reads the HDMI signal and then writes to an addressable LED strip (across a level shifter).

Cheers,

-Jason

[jpeyron]

Hi @jasons,

1) To verify the FLASH is working correctly i would suggest using a verified non HDMI  project like the XADC  here. And configure the FLASH with this project.

2) Have you tried to add the ILA IP to your design to get a better idea of what is going wrong in the design on power up? 

thank you,

Jon