SDK: Can't run/debug microblaze from DDR

[jarvis]

I'm on an Arty A7 35T, creating microblaze applications to run out of DDR. I'm not 100% sure why, but when I try to use SDK's run or debug application (TCF), I'm seeing absolutely nothing happen in the terminal or LEDs, as if the code isn't running. I don't get any error messages or stuck progress bars, I see text scrolling in the "SDK Log" window when I click debug/run, but other than that I get no execution.

However, if I go through the process of creating a SREC bootloader and boot the DDR application from QSPI, everything works fine. So it seems the problem is specifically trying to run the code from SDK. 

I can successfully program the bitstream from SDK, and I can tell the clocks are running correctly and nothing is held in reset. It's programming the microblaze with "bootloop".

Any ideas how to diagnose this issue?

 

[artvvb]

Hi @jarvis

A couple of thoughts:

1. Check the Run/Debug Configurations to make sure that the intended elf file is being loaded. There's a screenshot below from 2023.1. The UI differs between versions, but is where a lot of the specifics can be selected - like under "target setup", you can specify whether to reset the FPGA and put a new bitstream in when you click run. I think in older Xilinx SDK versions, you would pick a specific ELF file instead of picking a system project.

2. Whether you are building the ELF under a Debug or a Release build configuration could matter.

Thanks,

Arthur