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Cmod A7 HW Target Shutdown


lawi

Question

I have bought a Cmod A7 Board, which looked nice for me.

One week ago I started to learn VHDL again using Vivado 2016.4. It worked nice.
I used the CmodA/_Master.xdc for the constraints and the board file provided by Digilent.
I made some blink led vhdl code and loaded it up directly to the FPGA.

Today I wanted to continue but it seems to be very hard to program the board again.
The board is recognized and sometimes I'm able to load up the bit file but the board disconnects in under 10 seconds so it is hard to select the file in this short time.

I've Vivado 2016.4 on two different WIndows 10 PCs. I tried all USB 3 and USB 2 Ports on both PCs. I tried eight different USB cables which I also use for debugging on Android and also
JTAG Targets (STM32 CPUs). The Cmod A7 is powered via USB of course.

I get following output:

program_hw_devices [lindex [get_hw_devices xc7a35t_0] 0]
[Labtools 27-3165] End of startup status: LOW
[Labtools 27-2269] No devices detected on target localhost:3121/xilinx_tcf/Digilent/210328A2B51CA.
Check cable connectivity and that the target board is powered up then
use the disconnect_hw_server and connect_hw_server to re-register this hardware target.
[Labtoolstcl 44-513] HW Target shutdown. Closing target: localhost:3121/xilinx_tcf/Digilent/210328A2B51CA

I tried now five hours on all different cables, reinstalling Vivado and drivers and two different machines.

Conclusion:

The Cmod A7 word last week without a problem.

This week without changing anything to the code the board connects and disconnects after some seconds.
The only thing I have done was to try to write the bin file to the SPI Flash like describe. But it disconnected during the transfer and so even the preprogrammed blink sample is lost.

Any idea?

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Hi Lawi,

What do you see in the device manager when the Cmod A7 is connected. I have attached a screen shot of what it looks like on my laptop. Just to clarify, does the Cmod A7 connect and then disconnects moments later? And without you removing the usb to micro b cable or moving the Cmod A7?  Are you able to do the tutorial here?

cheers,

Jon

CmodA7_ect.jpg

Edited by jpeyron
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Hi Jon,

thanks for the quick answer.

I attached a picture of the device manager output. Except the german translation all as in your picture.

Yes, the device seems to disconnect with the dingle ling sound when connected via Vivado.

If connected without acces by vivado it stays connected.

I haven't tried the microblaze tutorial yet. I tried this one: Programming Guide

Can the board be bricked?

regards,

lawi

usbtreiber.png

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Hi Lawi,

Another way to connect to the Cmod A7 and see it is through Digilents Adept 2(here). I have attached a screen shot of what Adept looks like when connected to the Cmod A7.  Please download and attach a screen shot of whats Adept 2 see's with your Cmod A7 attached. Also have you tried using an externally powered usb hub?

cheers,

Jon 

Cmod_A7_Adept.jpg

Edited by jpeyron
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Hi Jon,

I tried the Adept SW. It found and programmed the Cmod A7 ONE time ...

I'm using several USB Ports. Internal and external. I also updated the FTDI Driver to Version 2.12.24.0 from September last year.

... yes ONE time it started. Another time I got a blue screen. The message was driver related (IRQL_LEVEL:...) this can happen during
sudden disconnects on USB.

I'll try later today again. But now it is short before 3 AM in Germany :blink:

Thanks for your help so far.

regards,

lawi

 

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Hi Jon,

yesterday I tested again. I found another cable. Number 9 :) and it worked. It never disconnects with this cable. So I will take this now. 

I never had this kind of problems with USB cables. Maybe there is something wrong with my board. But as long as it works in this combination all is OK for me.

Thanks for your help. :)

Regards,

Michael 

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I try to download Digilent Adept 2 as u suggest but when i connect my cmod a7 35t to pc, as in the figure, only the fpga is showed. I can only program the device with .bit file put i can program the flash with firmware and data...i can't find a way to program the device with .mcs file....any suggestion?

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On 11/11/2019 at 6:13 PM, JColvin said:

Hi @tim1,

Could you clarify what issue you are encountering with your Cmod (presumably A7)?

Thanks,
JColvin

ERROR: [Labtoolstcl 44-494] There is no active target available for server at localhost.
 Targets(s) ", jsn-Cmod A7 - 35T-210328AB77C7A" may be locked by another hw_server.
 

The error I'm reading when I try and program my device

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On 2/18/2017 at 12:21 AM, jpeyron said:

Hi Lawi,

I had our design engineer look at this issue and this sounds like there might be an issue with the Cmod A7. I have sent you a PM about what to do from here.

cheers,

Jon

I have encountered exactly the same problem almost 3 years later. Why would you PM the solution instead of posting it in the forum??

After trying two cables and cleaning the connectors which helped little I connected the CMOD-A7 to an external 5V power supply and programming worked on the second attempt.

Is there a solution for programming from USB only or is a power supply required to work with the CMOD-A7?

EDIT: 

Writing for anybody reading this pulling hair out of their head in another 3 years.

I tried 5 cables and only the one with a ferrite bead worked. Either it is higher quality in general or the ferrite bead reduces noise that makes regular cable disconnect.

Edited by aletar
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On 2/17/2017 at 11:21 PM, jpeyron said:

Hi Lawi,

I had our design engineer look at this issue and this sounds like there might be an issue with the Cmod A7. I have sent you a PM about what to do from here.

cheers,

Jon

Hi,

I'm having the same problem.

Can you please send me the solution as well?

( I use Ubuntu 18.04 )

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Juan
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Hi @Juan,

To confirm your situation, you are not able to detect the Cmod A7 in the Vivado Hardware manager or through the Digilent Adept software? Do you have access to a Windows machine? The solution we have is only compatible with Windows.

Thanks,
JColvin

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