Troubleshooting

This page group the most common problems when installing or utilizing the ROACH tools and the ways we have solve them, so you don't have to deal with them alone :)

Ubuntu

  • [Ubuntu 16.04/18.04] I'm getting 'awk: symbol lookup error: awk: undefined symbol: mpfr_z_sub' while running startsg

MATLAB

  • MATLAB keep asking for the license even though I already provided one.
    • Make sure your license hasn't expired. Ask for some lab member for the proper license. You can check the license expiration date if you open the file with a text editor.
  • [MATLAB R2013b] MATLAB freezes when it ends up loading
    • This is due to a bug in MATLAB 2013b when starting from a startup.m script. Make sure you follow the step 5. of the MATLAB installation instructions on the software page.
  • I'm getting 'Insufficient Java heap memory to continue operation' while compiling
    • You can increase the Java heap memory for MATLAB under: Preference > MATLAB > General > Java Heap Memory. Also make sure you are not running out of RAM.

Xilinx ISE

  • I'm getting 'ERROR: A license checkout has failed for System Generator for DSP (SysGen).' (or similar) while compilling

First, make sure you have the proper Xilinx license and it's activated. Run the Xilinx License Configuration Manager:

    • sudo /opt/Xilinx/14.7/ISE_DS/common/bin/lin64/./xlcm
    • Go to the the Manage Licenses tab and make sure the Expiration Date column reads 'Permanent' for all of the features, and that the Network Interface Card (NIC) ID reads the MAC address of your PC.
    • If the MAC address reads '00000000', then Xilinx is not checking your MAC correctly. When Xilinx check the license it compares the MAC address you provided with the one read from the network interface called 'eth0', the standard name for wired connection. Some linux distributions change the default network name to some other name like ens33, enp0s3, etc. You can check this by typing in terminal: ip a. To change it to the old eth0 do the following:
      1. Edit your /etc/default/grub changing the line from:
          1. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
          2. To
          3. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"
        1. In terminal: sudo update-grub
        2. Reboot the system
  • [SmartXplorer] Getting 'smartxplorer: error while loading shared libraries: libncurses.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory' while tryig to run SmartXplorer
    • Apparently SmartXplorer is a 32-bit program. To fix this install the 32-bit version of ncurses:
      • sudo apt install libncurses5:i386
  • [SmartXplorer] Getting 'smartxplorer: No such file or directory'
    • Refer to the solution from the above bullet.
  • When trying to run Xilinx license manager program xlcm I get 'error while loading shared libraries: libQt_Network.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'
    • Type the following in terminal:
    1. Install the old QtNetwork libraries: sudo apt install libqt4-network
    2. cd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
    3. sudo ln -s libQtNetwork.so.4 libQt_Network.so
    4. sudo ldconfig

CASPER

  • I'm getting 'ERROR:EDK - IPNAME: XXX: - cannot find MPD for the pcore 'XXX' in any of the repositories' while compiling
    • You most probably didn't add the necessary pcores while installing the CASPER library. Follow the instructions from this link.

corr / roach_tools

  • I'm getting error messages when trying to install corr / roach_tools
    • Ok, I know this entry is not very specific but I found out that when I get these cryptic errors updating pip and / or virtualenv (for virtual environment) usually fix the problem. Installation in virtual environment should work with pip>=10.0.1 and virtualenv>=15.0.1.