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Eco help

rdohanyos

I have the original database (enc.dat) file and the verilog file. When I restore it I get all the routing back, but the cells aren't placed where they were previously.  They are just placed off to the side in big blocks.

**ERROR: (SOCSP-503):   Design must be placed before running "ecoDesign -postMask -modifyOnlyLayers M1:M2 ************_enc.dat cellname_here ************_p2.v".

Basically I don't have any spare cells defined we are just making a change to how a few gates are wired.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

Thanks

Robert 

  •  Your command looks correct. Make sure that the ecoDesign command is the FIRST thing you do when encounter comes up. Don't have a database already loaded. Another thing to try is just to restore your enc.dat design and make sure the placement looks ok. Maybe there is a problem with the starting database.

  •  In order for the ECO flow to work in Encounter, the names of the modules and instances must be maintained between the two versions of the netlist. Look at the log or eco report and verify that only the number of changes you expected were actually made.  Based on your description it sounds like it didn't find any of the original cells and considered all the cells of the design as unplaced.

    How were the changes made to create the new Verilog?  Did you do manually edit theVerilog file or regenerate from another tool?

    If the netlist was generated by a synthesis tool, then you can use Conformal ECO to have it compare the netlists and update the new one to use the original names.  You will need Conformal ECO license if you need to do this.

    To debug the problem I would recommend just restoring the original design. If the original design was from an older version of FE then you are currently using, save it using the following command, to a new database name, so you don't clobber your original data:

    Verify that all the cells are placed correctly.  

     enc> saveDesign <newName.enc>  -def

    The -def option will force FE to also write a <design>.def file into the .dat directory.  When the design is restored, the DEF file will also be read, so only use this option at the end of your flow, when you are going to achive your design.  The DEF file will contain both the placement and routing in a text format, so it is more portable between different tools and versions.  I also recommend using the -def option, when saving blocks, if you are going to assemble a hierarchical design.

    Exit FE and try the ecoDesign command again, again check the log and report files to verify that only the number of changes you expect are being detected.

     Good luck,

    - Tom Belpasso

    Integrated Vision

     

     

     

     

     

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