FAQ FMC Product


Where can I download the FMC board support package?

The BSP is downloadable from the internet at the following URL :
http://www.4dsp.com/FMC/BSP/

Which operating system is supported by the FMC board support package?

Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit

Why is only Windows 7 supported?

Many of our customers are already using Windows 7 and have discontinued using Windows XP. Also, future FMC products require certain TCPIP support code from the Windows 7 operating system that does not exist in Windows XP.

What if I want to run on Windows XP?

Please make a topic in the forum indicating you would like to use the BSP on Windows XP.

I have just installed the FMC board support package and I cannot locate the firmware. Where are these components located?

The firmware source code is available at the following location:
C:\Program Files\4DSP\Common\Firmware

The firmware recovery files (ready to upload to the hardware) are available at the following location:
C:\Program Files\4DSP\Common\Firmware\Recovery

I have just installed the FMC board support package and I cannot locate the software. Where are these components located?

The precompiled software is available at the following location:
C:\Program Files\4dsp\FMC Board Support Package\Bins

The software source code is available at the following location:
C:\Program Files\4dsp\FMC Board Support Package\Refs\Software

Which development environment is required in order to compile reference software?

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 with Service Pack 1.

The precompiled application refuse to start asking me to reinstall the product, what can I do?

This means you do not have Visual Studio 2008 installed on your machine. Please either install Visual Studio 2008 or the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Redistributables ( small installer downloadable from the Microsoft website ).

The application starts but displays "Could not obtain sipcid table". What can I do?

  • This indicates no communication could be established with the target hardware. Check if the firewall is disabled and make sure the target hardware is not connected through a network switch/router.
  • Please check with your IT department to make sure that the system does not have an additional firewall or anti-virus software besides the Windows Firewall.
  • Make sure that you have configured the FPGA with the right bitstream.
  • The Ethernet cable used should be short (cable provided with the dev kit or a length under 6 feet/2 meter) and should connect directly between the host and the development kit.
  • Ensure that the development kit jumpers or switches that define the Ethernet mode are in the default factory position.
  • Make sure that the FMC is plugged on the correct FMC site in the case your development kit has several FMC sites.
  • In Windows 7 the network adapter has to allow the 4DSP software to be part of the Ethernet stack. Open the "Network and Sharing Center" and click on "Change Adapter Settings" on the right. Right click on the ethernet card and select "Properties" and check that the 4DSP ethernet driver is there and checked.

The application creates buffer on the disk but the data quality is low and unstable, what can I do?

The current board support package does NOT operate on 100Mbps Ethernet interface, make sure you are using a 1Gbps Ethernet interface card for this purpose.

I can see references to StellarIP in the documentation, what is StellarIP and how can I obtain it?

StellarIP is a design assistant designed by 4DSP. It will be provided free of charge for FMC customers. You do not need StellarIP in order to compile the FMC firmwares.

The operating system is unable to detect the 4DSP hardware. The application shows "No Device Found".

Since the FPGA on the boards is pretty large it takes a few milliseconds to configure. In our experience this can take longer than the time that the mainboard waits for PCI bus enumeration. The result is that the card is not detected in the operating system. Reboot the OS without powering down the system (use "Restart" option in Windows) and setup the BIOS to wait longer before it initiates the PCI bus enumeration.

The diagnostic software in the FMC BSP reports abnormal voltage for AIN1 to AIN8.

The system is writing values too fast to the monitoring device so the values are partially overwritten. To solve the issue, please locate the reference software for you specific board (the default install location is: C:\Program Files\4dsp\FMC Board Support Package\Refs\Software) and inside the board specific folder navigate to Libs\I2CMASTER\Impls and open i2cmaster_fmcXXX.cpp (where XXX is the board's three digit number).

Locate the following lines of code in the i2cmaster_getdiagnostics() function:

//Control configuration 1
rc = WriteSystemRegister(bar+0x18, 0x29);
if(rc!=ERR_ETH_API_OK)
    return rc;
Sleep(10);
//Control configuration 3
rc = WriteSystemRegister(bar+0x1A, 0x10);
if(rc!=ERR_ETH_API_OK)
    return rc;
Sleep(10);
Change the lines "Sleep(10);" to "Sleep(100);" to increase the delay between writes.

If I cannot find an answer that solves my problem, what is the next step?

Please post a message in the forum.