Frequently Asked Questions

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How do I format CompactFlash cards for use with the SystemACE controller?

The SystemACE controller can only use CompactFlash cards formatted as FAT12 or FAT16 drives. Starting with XP, Windows will only format drives as FAT32 or NTFS. Instead, you can use an open-source command line tool, mkdosfs, to format cards.

1. Download mkdosfs.zip. You can read more about mkdosfs and download the source from the author's ​site.
2. Unzip the program, open a Windows command prompt and change to the mkdosfs directory.
3. Mount your CompactFlash card and look for the drive letter Windows assigns it in My Computer.
4. Run the following command, replacing "X" with the drive letter of your CompactFlash card:

      mkdosfs -v -F 16 X:
   

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The WARP Board does not appear in the list of available boards in the Base System Builder.

There could be a few reasons for the board not appearing in the list.

1. Make sure the you have the latest board description file (*.xbd) from the repository. Refer to the XBD Installation Readme for details on where to save the file.
2. If the board still does not appear when trying to create a project:
   1. Start Base System Builder
   2. On the page to select project file, under "Advanced Options", check "Use Repository Paths" and give the location as:

       C:\EDK\board
      

      Then select "Ok" and the board should appear in the list.

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How do I install custom peripherals from the repository?

1. To install the custom peripherals create a folder on your computer:

   <xilinx_install_drive>:\EDK_user_repository\MyProcessorIPLib
   

2. Create two folders, pcores amd drivers.
3. Copy the folders of the peripheral you wish to install from the repository to your computer. Remember to keep the same directory structure as seen in the repository. Copy the pcore as well the driver or the Base System Builder will give an error. Some peripherals do not have drivers; in this case the driver is not needed for XPS to recognize the peripheral.

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I'm trying to run an Ethernet demo. I get no response when I attempt to ping the board, despite everything else working, generating and downloading properly…

This is most likely due to the clock speed your PLB bus is running at. If you've included the 10/100 Ethernet core in your project and you review the hardware generation log -- you might notice an inconveniently small block of text telling you that the bus must run at a speed greater than 65mHz for 100 Mb Ethernet connections to work. You need to either connect the board to a 10 Mb Ethernet port or regenerate your hardware platform, selecting 100MHz for the bus speed in Base System Builder.

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I'm attempting to run Xilkernel and/or LWIP. Despite having all of the necessary libraries added into my C-Code, the compiler still gives me errors for undefined functions that are Xilkernel/LWIP-based.

The problem may be more general and not just limited to Xilkernel or LWIP, but rather any libraries you've included in the software platform settings menu. The common problem is that the library paths have not been added to the compiler configuration menu. The fix is as follows:

1. Go to Applications Tab -> Expand Project View -> Right-click on "Compiler Options" and click "Set Compiler Options..."
2. Go to "Paths" Tab and then in the "Libraries to Link against(-l)" box, make sure this field contains a value like:

      xilkernel lwip4
   

You only need to list the libraries your code requires.

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I'm not getting any serial port interaction.

There are several problems that could cause this:

1. Incorrect cable type (this is most common): the WARP FPGA board's RS-232 interface is configured exactly like a PC. In order to connect it directly to another PC, you need a null modem cable or adapter (i.e. one which cross the Tx and Rx signals).
2. A system with a different hardware configuration has been redownloaded to WARP. In rare cases, the program running in the FPGA's PowerPC can lock up if a new system has been downloaded that has a different hardware configuration. The solution to this is to simply power cycle the board; be sure to leave the board off for a few seconds to allow the capacitors to discharge.

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The serial port only shows random characters.

Make sure the Baud Rate set in Tera Term Pro is the same as that in the XPS project. To check the Baud Rate in a XPS project is go to System Assembly View -> Right-click "RS232" -> Configure IP. If you do change the Baud Rate in XPS the bitstream will have to be regenerated. Avoid using a Baud Rate of 115200 as it is known to give problems when interacting with the PC.

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During Bitstream generation in XPS, the process gets stuck at "Using Options File: xflow.opt" in the output display.

This occurs when the user has insignificent read/write privelages on the computer.

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I cannot get my personal peripheral repository to appear every time I open Xilinx Platform Studio

Move your peripheral repository to (or make sure it is in):

<xilinx_install_drive>:\EDK_user_repository\<folder of any name containing drivers and pcores>

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The non-Xilinx-made peripherals in the WARP *.xbd file are not showing up in Base System Builder

It appears that this occurs when the EDK installation directory is not in C:\EDK. This is an issue currently being looked into. A temporary fix for this problem is to move custom made pcores into:

\\<EDK Installation Directory>\hw\XilinxProcessorIPLib\pcores\

and place the corresponding driver files in:

\\<EDK Installation Directory>\sw\XilinxProcessorIPLib\drivers\