Spartan-3 download

Looks like this may have been a common problem back the. See this Xilinx forum post for an alternative method of launching.

https://forums.xilinx.com/t5/FPGA-Configuration/Xilinx-14-7-Impact-error/td-p/675370

Bryan

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. But this is different issue. My iMPACT doesn't crush. It opens nicely every time.

My problem is this missing target target device message, despite the fact I set the target device. (at least I can see the target in the schematic view: two items: one bit-file and the FPGA)

Maybe I should try batch run anyway.

Which JTAG cable are you using?

Bryan

Maybe this is it

https://forums.xilinx.com/t5/FPGA-Configuration/DLC10-iMPACT-on-win10pro-issue/m-p/918016

" Xilinx ISE 14.7 and IMPACT 14.7 Lab tools are not officially supported for Windows 10. So, you need to use workaround provided at https://www.xilinx.com/suppor t/answers/62380.html for Xilinx ISE 14.7 to make it work on Windows 10 platform."

Sorry about that. Seems odd that Xilinx would create a Win-10 compatible set of tools but then have a key component not work, but it appears that is the case here.

Bryan

It is not JTAG, but PSoC MiniProg by Cypress: CY3217CY3217.  The kit is USB-powered.

(AVNET SPARTAN-3A Evaluation Kit)

This (alledgedly. I could find no active support page, group, for this kit anymore) software with driver for that combination still seems to be available. https://avprog.software.informer.com/versions/

Download from that link is not working.

You may be out of luck then. The files from sourceforge are also gone. And most of the search links on google related to this kit aren't active anymore.

What's the Cypress programmer for. Are you trying to reprogram the microcontroller? Probably best not to at this point, unless you know the fpga/flash programming stuff is missing and you're trying to restore it back to what was originally there.

This looks like it's the manual for the programming utility that Avnet supplied for programming the FPGA.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~kyle135/Supplementary/FPGA/SPARTAN3A/User%20Guide/Avnet%20Programming%20Utility%20(AvProg)%204.05%20User%20Guide.pdf

IMPACT, within ISE, won't know anything about this board (they wouldn't have had a separate programming utility if they'd done a deal with Xilinx to build it into IMPACT).

The utility looks like it was written for XP/Win 7. You might get it to run on something more recent.

Hi Peter,

It is possible to directly program the bitfile for almost any Xilinx chip from (say) a Pi, e.g. see here:

https://github.com/yuyomagico/rpi-jtag-spartan3

Another example here using a BeagleBone Black, not tested for many years though:

BBB - FPGA / CPLD Programmer for the BeagleBone Black

There are lots of examples of source code doing this, because Xilinx published the core code to do it, and it can connect to microcontroller boards with no additional interfacing circuitry required.

I don't know if this is what you're trying to do, or if your particular board doesn't expose the JTAG connections and you are forced to use the existing USB connection, in which case please ignore.