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[Resolved]Mimas out of box won't program

Discussion in 'FPGA Boards' started by Ggiorgio, May 3, 2015.

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  1. Ggiorgio

    Ggiorgio New Member

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    I've just recieved my Numato Mimas.
    When I plug the usb connector in the pc Windows8 prompts me with the driver installation, which goes fine till the end.
    The system assign the board the COM6 (checked in Windows device manager as stated in the User Guide) but "Mimas FPGA configuration tool v1.0" can't program the board ("Unable to open selected port...").
    The strange thing is that the D9 led on the board (tied to the DONE pin of the fpga) remains ON all the time (checked the Spartan 6 datasheet and this means that the fpga is in the process of reading the data from the flash chip).
    I've tried reinstalling the drivers, changing cables but nothing can be done to upload any program to the flash memory.
    Anyone can help me please?
     
  2. cyrozap

    cyrozap Moderator

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    This may sound very simple, but have you made sure SW7 is in "configure" mode and not "UART" mode? If it is in the correct position, have you tried running the configuration tool as Administrator (right click->Run as Administrator)? I use Windows 8 and I've never had a problem programming my board without running the config tool as admin, but doing this will hopefully at least eliminate permissions as the cause of your issue.

    As for the LED lighting up, that's normal behavior for an unprogrammed board. The D9 LED is active low, so it lights up when the DONE bit in the STATUS register is unset.
     
  3. Ggiorgio

    Ggiorgio New Member

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    Hi cyrozap and thank you for your answer,
    but this is not my case: I do not own the Mimas V2 but the smaller one so theres no configuration switch to disable the uart mode.
    Since yesterday I've made few steps towards the solution: I've completely uninstalled the driver from the system, then re-installed it.
    Now I can get the board programmed but in order to let Windows 8 recognize it I have to slowly plug the connector to make first contact with the supply pins of the USB mini connector, wait for fpga to completely boot then fully plug the connector to make the "D+ D-" contact.
    If I fail in this operation (ex. plugging too fast the connector not allowing the fpga to get fully configured) Windows can't recognize the board and the result is "Device Descriptor Request Failed".
    This is pretty annoying :(
     
  4. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

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    Hello Ggiorgio,

    This could be because of one of the two reasons below.

    1. A bad USB cable
    2. Conformal coating stuck in the USB connector

    Since you have tried different cables already, we can rule that out. The only other thing to try is to clean the contacts inside the USB connector. If that doesn't help, please create a ticket here for further help.

    Thanks,
    Tom
     
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