BEE2 Self-Test Suite
This page describes the BEE2 self-test suite (STS). The STS has a series of tests and utilities that can be used to verify the proper operation of your BEE2 and aid in its configuration. This document describes how to download and run the STS, and also how to build it from source.
Performing initial power-up test
The test procedure for starting a completely new, untested board can be found here. All boards are passed through this test before shipping out.
Acquiring Self-Test Suite
We have provided a binary version of the self test suite for those of you who don't like spending hours waiting for tools to run. You can download cf_card which contains all of the files needed to run the test suite.
Formatting the CF
The SystemACE chip that is used on the BEE2 requires special formatting options to properly read the files on the FAT16 partition. Once you have acquired a CF card you need to format it using the following command (assuming you are in Linux):
mkdosfs -s 2 -F 16 -R 1 /dev/sda1 (16MB CF) mkdosfs -s 8 -F 16 -R 1 /dev/sda1 (128MB CF) mkdosfs -s 16 -F 16 -R 1 /dev/sda1 (256MB/512MB CF) mkdosfs -s 64 -F 16 -R 1 /dev/sda1 (1GB CF)
We have tested all of these parameters on CFs at Berkeley, however they may not be right for your particular CF. More information can be found in the XUP documentation (search for "mkdosfs"). You can also download "mkdosfs" for Windows which should be run with the same options (the only difference is "/dev/sda1" would be replaced with "DRV:/" where DRV is the driver letter of the CF).
Copying the Files
The next step is to copy all of the files in "cf_card.tar.gz" onto the CF. The zip contains the following files:
system.ace - The ACE file containing the control FPGA bit-stream
u<1-4>.bit - User FPGA<1-4> bit-stream
test.txt - Test file for System ACE test
To perform the copy in Windows simply drag and drop the files from the zip to the CF. In Linux you need to unzip the file, mount the CF, and then copy the files:
tar xvzf cf_card.tar.gz mount /dev/sda1 /mount/path cp cf_card/* /mount/path umount /mount/path
Make sure you properly unmount the CF in both Windows and Linux otherwise you may lose some of the files. Once you've copied all the files over, your copy of the test suite is ready to go.
Using Self-Test Suite
Detailed instructions on the use of the self-test suite can be found in BIST_procedure.pdf. Here is a quick highlight of important facts.
Setting up for the test
Connect to the board with a RS232 serial cable and setup your terminal emulation program to run the serial port with "8N1, 115200, No flow control". You should also connect a monitor to the DVI connector via an HDMI cable (see Bee2Setup), as some of the tests require more compicated output.
Getting help
At any time you can type help to see a list of commands at your disposal. In addition, tab completion works for the names of commands. Finally, to get information on the parameters a command takes, first type the name of the command and then type ? to get a printout of the parameters.
Complete testing
The testall command will run though all of the tests to verify the functionality of your board. This test requires you to connect some cables before hand, including a loopback on the Ethernet jack and all of the Infiniband connectors. The detailed instructions describe this in more detail.
Testing the memory DIMMs
Before running memory tests, all memory banks should be reset using ddroff followed by ddron.
Testing the XAUI links
Start the XAUI tester using the xauistart command. Each FPGA's XAUI links can be turned on using:
xauireset <refclock> <loopback> <mask>
The basic test for 10Gbps communications is:
xauireset 1 0 xff
which gives you a 156MHz reference clock, no loopback, and masks with 0xff.