ARTY-Z7 / No Schematic (neither Rev. B.2 nor D.0 revisions provided by DIGILENT) matches the Hardware !

[didierjehanno]

Hello,

I am using a ARTY-Z7 board (please see attached picture) bought online from RS in July 2022.

Both schematics (rev. B.2 and D.0) available here on DIGILENT web pages do not correspond to the board I have :

https://digilent.com/reference/programmable-logic/arty-z7/start?redirect=1

It seems (not sure) that I have the Rev. B.

Here are the ICs I have on my board :

COMPONENT side : IC1, 3, 6, 20, 22, 23, 24

SOLDER side : IC2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26

Nota : IC11 not found on the board and IC18  is not mounted

REQUEST :

would you please tell me WHERE I can download the schematic corresponding to my board ?

usually, is there any LAYOUT diagram for DIGILENT's boards ? Such diagram is quite useful. Is there any for the ARTY-Z7 board I have ?

Many thanks for your help.

 

[elodg]

Your board revision is written on the silkscreen just below the barcode. Our published schematics are generally correct. Designators do not have to be sequential and some components can be left not loaded. Digilent does not publish board layouts.

[didierjehanno]

Dear elodg,

The text below the barcode (there are actually 2 barcodes... therefore I assume you mean the barcode "DB5BE18", the other one is "00183E03FF4F") reads "REV B".

I understand from your answer that the board I have bought should not exist, as no schematics provided by DIGILENT matches to the components.

This is quite a weird situation.

For instance, I have IC15, IC16, IC17 (just check the picture ZOOM.PNG) and no schematic, neither B.2 nor D.0, contains these chips...

What should I do now : throw away the board REV. B and buy a new one, hopefully it will correspond to an existing schematic ?

Would it be impossible to find @DIGILENT the schematic corresponding to the board I have bought ?

Is it a usual case in DIGILENT company that a board (available for sale) does not have a corresponding schematic ?

Many thanks.

[elodg]

The USB-JTAG programming circuit is the only exception to our otherwise open schematic policy. The components you are now inquiring about have been redacted from the the schematic page with the note "This Page Intentionally Left Blank". This applies to all revisions and Digilent rev boards.

If you want to copy our programming solution, you may license it from us. Or you can refer to Xilinx documentation for a different solution that might work for you.

 

[didierjehanno]

I see : the blank sheet 6/13, corresponding to the USB-JTAG programming part, is not documented, which is on purpose from Digilent.

As a conclusion, the PCB REV.B I am using has to be associated to the schematic REV B.2.

I would recommend that, instead of having a 100% blank sheet, we would have a basic indication, something like "This page initially contained the USB-JTAG schematic, but for internal policy reason, it is not available for customers. Please contact DIGILENT for specific request.".

It would spare a lot of time.

Many thanks.