ISE 8.1SP4 PN doesnt start

hi

after deleting unused xilinx webpack directory the main ISE doesnt
start anymore
is there some trick except full re-install of ISE and service packs?

at the moment PN starts shows the main gui windows,
an hourglass and consumes 99% of CPU time (winXP)

I already tried to fix the registry to fix-remove the references to
webpack install location but that did not help

Antti

sorry, problem solved the hard way (it was 8.1SP3 not 4 as my posting
heading was)

attempts to revocer, all failing

1 windows registry clean and fix
2 ISE SP3 re-install
3 8.1 re-install
4 win reboot
5 8.1 de-install
6 8.1 install
7 reboot
8 path and env clean up and fix
9 8.1 webpack install to same path where it was initially
10 reboot

at this point both webpack 8.1 and 8.1 all did FROZE after startup.

I was joking that all that helps is

Format [X] ilinx

but then I tried to double click on .ise file, and ISE started normally

so the all problem was damaged .ise project file that ISE tried to load
as default project.

nasty BUG in ISE - did cost me half a day. :(

Antti

Antti -

I ran into a similar problem - ISE would freeze when starting up.  My
solution was:

a) delete the damaged.ise file and rebuild the project
b) change the option in ISE to **NOT** load the previous file on
startup by default.  Make me do it manually.

If Xilinx hadn't changed the .ise file to binary, this may have been
easy
to find and fix.

XILINX - please change the .ise file back to text format!  The binary
version is a BAD idea for a bunch of reasons!

John Providenza

ME TOO! PLEASE PLEASE!

just the f****  up binary format - the cost for me was a perfectly
wasted half a day.
and I am not the only one - heavens sake a damaged file should not make
an IDE to freeze !!!

there is no reason for having the file in bin format - but if it is
then it should be checked for correctness
without causing system freezes

Antti

ISE 8 already fucked me three projects, I had to rcecreate them. It is
specially annoying, when each VHDL file is another directory. In ISE7
you could drag and drop files.

johnp wrote:
> Antti -
> 
> I ran into a similar problem - ISE would freeze when starting up.  My
> solution was:
> 
> a) delete the damaged.ise file and rebuild the project
> b) change the option in ISE to **NOT** load the previous file on
> startup by default.  Make me do it manually.
> 
> If Xilinx hadn't changed the .ise file to binary, this may have been
> easy
> to find and fix.
> 
> XILINX - please change the .ise file back to text format!  The binary
> version is a BAD idea for a bunch of reasons!

  Perhaps now is a good time to ask Xilinx for a time-frame, when they
WILL be making this fix ?
  IIRC there are other threads on the same time-sink flaw ?
-jg

Hi Jim,

there was some discussion about the ise binary project file, but
unortunatly I remembered it too late also I wasnt so aware that the
damaged .ise file will make PN start look like freeze.

I hope that the issue was solved yesterday, but sinked another two
hours into the same time-sink today, a project that DID work yesterday,
did not work today, failing on MAP with no error messages. after
re-building a .ise file for that project again from scratch it all
worked.

it looks like I may up sinking more time into this by remaking the
damaged .ise files :(

Antti

"Jim Granville" <no.spam@designtools.co.nz> wrote in message
news:44736721$1@clear.net.nz...
> johnp wrote:
>
> > XILINX - please change the .ise file back to text format!  The binary
> > version is a BAD idea for a bunch of reasons!
>
> Perhaps now is a good time to ask Xilinx for a time-frame, when they
> WILL be making this fix ?
> IIRC there are other threads on the same time-sink flaw ?

I believe the shortcomings of the binary ISE project file format are being
addressed for the next major release.

Yes, I appreciate that this is a rather weasley answer. That's because I
don't have the details of what exactly is going to happen. But I for one am
certainly hoping that we will get an ASCII project file and thus return to
the world of EDA sanity. Of course, there are other possible outcomes, but
I'm trying not to think about them (it's too horrible).

The veritable deluge of complaints - both from customers and from internal
users - has not simply leaked away into the Water Table of Inaction: rather,
it has been funneled through the Downpipe of Customer Support and collected
in the Water Butt of the Change Request System. Some of it is currently
leaking through the Damp-Proof Course of Management. Erm, stop me when I've
taken the analogy too far... :)

Cheers,

        -Ben-

Disclaimer: I just work here!

Antti wrote:
>
> it looks like I may up sinking more time into this by remaking the
> damaged .ise files :(
>

If you haven't already spotted them, here's a few things that can help
with the #$%&^! .ise file problems:

 - there's a tcl script mentioned in Answer Record 21067 that converts
   from .ise <-> ASCII dump

 - try using the .ise_ISE_Backup file when the .ise has been corrupted

 - for the registry key to edit to prevent opening last project, see :
   Answer Record: 20892  8.1i ISE - Project Navigator hangs at startup
   and project does not open 

Brian

thanks Brian!

FYI, on of my last trips to US in a big book store there was one book
thicker then the others. That one book had a proude title: "Surviving
Windows 95 Registry"

I hope Xilinx can fix the issues without the need of the book called
"Surviving WinXP Registry Vol IV"

But thanks, I actually do manage with the registry, even without that
damn book, if I know that something is fixable

Antti