May 2, 2002

Overview

Release 3.4.7 of the Empack software includes Version 3.4.7 of the host libraries and Version 3.4.7 of the Embedded Firmware and FPGA configurations.

The following changes are introduced in this release:

• Bug fixes in the EMC12 FPGA configuration.

• Bug fixes and modifications in EMC12 diagnostic programs.

• A Patch for EMC12 for those unable to upgrade.

• Modifications to the EmDiag program.

• Bug fixes and modifications in other diagnostic programs.

• Bug fixes and modifications to support programs.

• Bug fixes and modifications to the API Library.

Note:

This release includes a new FPGA configuration for EMC12 mezzanines. Customers should run the emflash utility after installation.

Bug Fixes in the EMC12 FPGA Configuration

The FPGA configuration for the EMC12 mezzanine includes design changes to correct various timing problems.

Recent production EMC12 mezzanines have exhibited intermittent failures running the emfft and emscp diagnostic programs. Due to differences in electrical and timing characteristics of recent lots of certain components on the EMC12 mezzanine, latent defects in the FPGA logic design have become significant. Some of these problems were corrected in the FPGA configuration released with version 3.4.5 of the Empack software.

Additional problems have been discovered and are corrected in the FPGA configuration, which is released with version 3.4.7 of the Empack software.

Bug Fixes and Modifications in EMC12 Diagnostic Programs

In addition to the FPGA configuration, modifications to the FFT (emfft) and C12-Noise (emscp) diagnostic programs included in version 3.4.7 eliminate some sources of the reported errors and provide better tools for diagnosing problems encountered with EMC12 mezzanines.

These host programs report more information about the status of the Codecs and provide additional, specialized command line options to help determine the cause of errors.

The DSP code for emfft (in the dspemfft file) has been modified to allow the DSP to process the audio data samples quicker, eliminating problems encountered with the higher sample rates used in the test.

A Patch for EMC12 for Those Unable to Upgrade

For those users who are unable to upgrade to a new version of the Empack API and embedded code, a patch is available to upgrade only the EMC12 FPGA configuration and the DSP executable code for the emfft diagnostic program.

The patch is compatible with versions 3.4.0 through 3.4.6 of the Empack software releases. The patch is provided on the Empack software CDROM in the directory named patches/c12patch and on-line using the following link:

http://www.cacdsp.com/software/empack_downloads/patches/c12patch

The patch will not provide all of the software enhancements and bug fixes provided by a full upgrade but it will eliminate most of the timing related problems with the EMC12 mezzanine.

Modifications to the EmDiag Program

Due to recently discovered problems with the embasediag program, the emdiag program has been modified to not include the embasediag program by default. The other programs used with emdiag test all of the subsystems that embasediag is designed to test. The only exception is for systems that do not include an EM6X32C mezzanine.

The embasediag has been found to falsely report certain errors when the embedded code that runs the tests fails to execute. Although the host portion of the embasediag program has been fixed to detect and report this failure, other problems may occur as a result. It is possible that the failure can result in the Empack failing to respond (requiring a power cycle to recover) and, under some circumstances, can cause an error in the SCSI controller device driver which can crash Windows 2000 systems.

As of version 3.4.7, the emdiag program does not use embasediag when test modes 1, 2 or 3 are selected. If test mode 4 ("run selected diagnostic routines") is selected, the user may choose to include embasediag.

Diagnostic configuration files created with older versions of emdiag include embasediag by default. The diagnostic program control word for configuration files has been changed so that when the new version of emdiag is run with older diagnostic configuration files, it will not run embasediag.

For those who are unable to fully update the Empack software, it is still recommended that the new version of emdiag be used to avoid running the embasediag program in production diagnostic configurations. A patch is available to upgrade only the emdiag program.

The patch provides the version of emdiag from the 3.4.7 release and is compatible with versions 3.4.2 through 3.4.6 of the Empack software releases. The patch is provided on the Empack software CDROM in the directory named patches/emdpatch and on-line using the following link:

http://www.cacdsp.com/software/empack_downloads/patches/emdpatch

Bug Fixes and Modifications in Other Diagnostic Programs

A bug is fixed in the emchip program that caused it to skip the serial DMA test under some circumstances. In addition, the emburn program is modified to invoke emchip with the -A option to have it perform all test operations.

The eme1t1loop program has a new -T option. This is a new "no transmit" made that has the Empack derive its TDM clock from the received E1 or T1 source. This was added to allow using the program on an Empack that is receiving the E1 or T1 test signal from another Empack.

A bug is fixed in the empiomem program that, under some circumstances, caused the random data portion of the test to malfunction.

The embasediag program is fixed to check that the function used to invoke the embedded test code returns successfully. A new -C option has been added that has the program invoke the embedded test code in a continuous loop.

Bug Fixes and Modifications to Support Programs

A problem in emflash on Intel x86 Solaris systems with processing data for the -L option has been fixed.

The eminit program is modified to skip the second initialization phase for Empack units it could not access during the first phase.

Bug Fixes and Modifications to the API Library

A minor bug in the EmInitModule function is fixed. The bug had the function attempt to close a resource that was not open when an error was detected during initialization of EMC12 modules. The result was an incorrect error status reported when the EMC12 initialization failed.

A new macro for EMC12 register access is introduced in the API. The macro is EM_CS4231_SYSTEM and is used with the EmReadReg and EmWriteReg functions to read or write registers in the SYSTEM resource of EMC12 mezzanines. It is primarily intended for use in diagnostic programs. The EM_CS4231_SYSTEM macro is passed as the Reg argument to the function along with an offset to the desired SYSTEM resource register (see Table 1-5 in the EMC12 Hardware Reference Manual). For example, the read the PIO interrupt status register:

    RESOURCE_HANDLE c12_resource;
    long irq_stat;

    EmReadReg(c12_resource, EM_CS4231_SYSTEM + 0x2, &irq_stat);