| Problem | Solution |
| Lab 2 | |
| Three students (including myself) have independently tried to program our EEPROMs today and none of our EEPROMs will work. We checked that our boards are alright and on the logic analyzer found that the EEPROM is not configuring the FPGA. I believe there may be something wrong with the machine that programs the EEPROMs. I thought you might like to know. If you have any suggestions for what to try, please help. | As it turns out Active High wasn't set in the polarity options. After I figured this out I discovered that there was an email on the subject and a note on the board. I put a note on the computer for dummies such as myself. |
| I've got a bug that has me stumped. My simulation waveforms are all correct with respect to inputs and outputs, but my board is not following my simulation waveforms. All of my inputs are being inverted. Thus 0000 on the dip switches is mapping to F (1111), and 1100 is mapping to 3 (0011). The LEDs are also lighting in accordance with inverted inputs. Maybe something is wrong on my board? | The DIP switches are hooked up in such a way as to produce a 0 when toward the ON position and a 1 when toward you. |
| Actually I've been banging my head against the wall for the past three hours, because I can't get Xilinx to give me a proper .mcs file, so now my EEPROM doesn't work at all (other people's do, and can program mine fine). For some reason every time I save my .mcs file, it's only 19kb and not 33 like everyone else's. The device properties are as specified, but on the PROM File Formatter it reads Data Stream #1 [Single Device 53984 bits] (lab handout reads 95008 bits) Z:\... [s05pc84] (lab handout reads s10pc84] | You've selected the Spartan S05. You should be using the S10. In the Project Manager, use File*Change Project Type to select the correct chip. |
| Lab 3 | |
| Help! When I use my EEPROM, all the LEDs turn on and none of the 7 segment displays turn on. My design simulates correctly and I already checked that the EEPROM is configured for Active High (see Lab 2 common problems). | You may have synthesized for the wrong kind of FPGA. Be sure you are targeting the 84 pin Spartan 10 chip: S10PC84. |