Begins the V2 Neural Multiprocessor / Dataflow architecture per docs/v2-description.md, per explicit user request to freeze V1 and start V2 development, copying from V1 what's needed. Scaffold: - hardware/v1/: byte-exact, read-only copy of the current V1 codebase (rtl, testbenches, tools, constraints, a representative subset of synthesis results, and reference docs) -- verified identical via diff/cmp against the live top-level tree before being made filesystem-read-only. The live top-level tree is untouched and remains the project's "production" V1 (see hardware/v1/README.md and hardware/v2/logs/decisions.log DEC-0001 for why copy-not-move). - hardware/v2/: mandatory structure (rtl/sim/constraints/synthesis/ reports/scripts/logs/docs) plus the full logging system required by the spec (development/architecture/simulation/synthesis/timing/ benchmark/decisions/experiments/errors.log). M1 -- Neural Processor (hardware/v2/rtl/neural_processor.v): - 8-stage pipelined perceptron unit (P_IN=8): input align, 8 multipliers, 3-level adder tree, accumulator, bias+activation, INT8 saturation. Genuine 1-tile/cycle throughput, not just a wider combinational datapath. - 7-state FSM (NP_IDLE..NP_ERROR per docs/v2-description.md §6, with 4 baseline states merged into NP_WAIT_OPERANDS -- see decisions.log DEC-0002); valid/ready/data/last stream interfaces per §7. - Bit-exact vs the frozen hardware/v1/rtl/neuron_parallel.v + mac8.v + mac_unit.v: 7/7 tests pass (hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v), covering regular/mixed-sign/extreme-INT8 vectors, both activations, a zero-idle-gap back-to-back-tiles throughput check, and an 8-tile job -- verified with Verilator (see below for why). - Real synthesis + place&route (Yosys + nextpnr-ecp5): 0 CHECK problems, Fmax 183.12 MHz at ACC_WIDTH=32 (PASS at 80MHz, ~3x V1's isolated PARALLEL=8 Fmax of 61.71 MHz) and 176.21 MHz at ACC_WIDTH=24 (a user-requested comparison experiment, also bit-exact-verified; see experiments.log EXP-0001/EXP-0002 and benchmark.log). Three real bugs found and resolved during M1 development (full diagnostic record in errors.log): - Two independent, reproducible Icarus Verilog v13.0 scheduling defects (ERR-0001, ERR-0002) that silently produced wrong simulation results for standard sequential Verilog -- confirmed via Verilator 5.050 giving correct results on the same minimal repros. Verilator is now the trusted simulator for hardware/v2/ (decisions.log DEC-0004); Icarus's affected protocol-violation check was removed from the RTL and deferred architecturally to the Neural Director (DEC-0003) rather than chased further. - One real RTL bug (ERR-0003): last0 wasn't gated like valid0, letting a "last tile" tag leak into the pipeline ahead of its actual valid tile on back-to-back jobs. Fixed and verified. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_013xXuuRUWZScuo1DeYJxs3v
101 lines
5.8 KiB
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101 lines
5.8 KiB
Plaintext
# V2 errors log -- solo append, mai troncato/sovrascritto (vedi README.md)
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# Nessuna entry ancora -- popolato incrementalmente man mano che avanza lo sviluppo V2.
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ERR-0001 (Icarus Verilog v13.0 toolchain bug, TASK/SCOPE-ENTRY DESYNC)
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DATE: 2026-09-05
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MODULE: hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v (M1 testbench development)
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SYMPTOM: a task (or any named `begin:label` block) whose FIRST executable
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statement is a blocking assignment to a signal read by another module's
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`always @(posedge clk)`, when the task/block is entered immediately after
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a time-consuming statement in the caller with no intervening
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`@(posedge clk)`, can make that FIRST assignment invisible to the DUT at
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the very next clock edge (the DUT's own always block behaves as if the
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signal never changed). Confirmed at V1's own frozen `neuron_parallel.v`
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(unmodified, already certified) via a minimal 3-statement task
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(`v1_start=1; @(posedge clk); v1_start=0;`) -- `busy` never asserted.
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REPRODUCTION: /tmp/mt6.v-style repro (not committed, transient scratch
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file) -- see conversation record for the exact minimal case.
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DIAGNOSIS METHOD: bisected from the full dual-DUT testbench down to a
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standalone ~15-line repro, ruling out RTL, port connections, and
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operator precedence one at a time.
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WORKAROUND: always begin such a task with an explicit `@(posedge clk);`
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before its first assignment (matches the pre-existing convention in
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hardware/v1/sim's own tasks, e.g. neuron_parallel_tb.v's run_neuron,
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which is presumably why V1's own test suite was never affected).
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STATUS: WORKAROUND APPLIED in hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v's
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run_case. NOT reported upstream (out of scope for this session). See
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ERR-0004 for the broader consequence of this finding.
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ERR-0002 (Icarus Verilog v13.0 toolchain bug, SPURIOUS CONDITION EVALUATION)
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DATE: 2026-09-05
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MODULE: hardware/v2/rtl/neural_processor.v (protocol-violation guard,
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removed -- see decisions.log DEC-0003)
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SYMPTOM: `if (operand_valid && !operand_ready && (state-is-one-of-four))`
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inside `always @(posedge clk)` evaluated TRUE at an edge where
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`operand_valid` was independently confirmed (via $display in the same
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timestep, and via the testbench's own port-connected signal) to be 0.
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Bisected term-by-term: even `if (operand_valid && !operand_ready)`
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alone, and even `if (operand_valid)` alone with explicit `== 1'b1`
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comparisons, still fired spuriously. Confirmed NOT a precedence issue
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(parens are unambiguous) and NOT specific to this exact expression
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shape (multiple simplified variants all reproduced it).
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CROSS-CHECK: root-caused further via a minimal 2-state FSM
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(`if (go) st<=B;`) with NO relation to the removed guard -- Icarus
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failed to transition on an ODD-numbered testbench clock edge
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(`repeat(3)` before the pulse) but succeeded on an EVEN-numbered one
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(`repeat(4)`), reproduced identically with both `always #5 clk=~clk`
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and `initial ... forever #5 clk=~clk` clock generators. VERILATOR
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5.050 gives the CORRECT result for the same repro in both cases.
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This suggests ERR-0001 and ERR-0002 are two symptoms of the same
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underlying VVP scheduling defect (edge-count/thread-parity dependent),
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not two unrelated bugs.
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STATUS: the offending RTL block (protocol-violation detection) was
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REMOVED rather than chased further -- see DEC-0003. Root cause not
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fully isolated (documented honestly, not overclaimed).
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ERR-0003 (real RTL bug in hardware/v2/rtl/neural_processor.v, FOUND AND FIXED)
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DATE: 2026-09-05
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MODULE: hardware/v2/rtl/neural_processor.v, stage 0 (input
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alignment/register)
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SYMPTOM: back-to-back single-tile jobs (and some multi-tile jobs)
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produced result_data=0 instead of the correct value, while the
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internal `y7` register (one stage upstream of the FSM's capture)
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showed the CORRECT value one cycle later than `valid7` first asserted.
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ROOT CAUSE: `last0 <= tile_last;` was unconditional, while
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`valid0 <= operand_valid && operand_ready;` was correctly gated. A
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master asserting `tile_last` before `operand_ready` rises (legal
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valid-before-ready behavior) let a "last" tag propagate through the
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pipeline (last1, last_tree[], last5, last6) with NO corresponding
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valid tile behind it, arriving at stage 7 one cycle ahead of the
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real valid/data pair and causing the FSM to capture a stale/wrong
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`y7`.
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EVIDENCE: isolated to a single-DUT, no-task, no-V1 repro
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(hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v run under Verilator, with a
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cycle-by-cycle dump of valid5/last5/valid6/last6/valid7/y7) --
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`last5=1` while `valid5=0` on the same cycle, confirmed the
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desync's exact origin at stage 0.
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FIX: `last0 <= (operand_valid && operand_ready) ? tile_last : 1'b0;`
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-- last0 is now gated identically to valid0.
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VERIFICATION: full 7-test bit-exact-vs-V1 regression
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(hardware/v2/sim/tb_neural_processor.v under Verilator) -- 7/7 PASS
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after the fix, including the back-to-back and single-tile-after-
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multi-tile cases that exposed it.
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STATUS: FIXED, verified.
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ERR-0004 (methodology consequence of ERR-0001/ERR-0002)
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DATE: 2026-09-05
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NOTE: this session's V1 certification campaign (docs/validation/,
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hardware/v1/docs/validation/) was verified exclusively with Icarus
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Verilog v13.0, the ONLY simulator available on this machine at the
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time. ERR-0001/ERR-0002 show that v13.0 has at least one real,
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reproducible scheduling defect around clock-edge/task-entry timing.
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V1's own testbenches were NOT observed to trigger it in this session
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(V1's `run_neuron`-style tasks already begin with `@(posedge clk)`,
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which incidentally avoids ERR-0001's trigger condition), and V1
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remains frozen/untouched regardless. This is flagged here for
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honesty, not to imply V1's certification is wrong -- re-verifying
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the full V1 suite under Verilator was explicitly OUT OF SCOPE for
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this V2-kickoff session (V1 is frozen, not to be touched) and was
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not performed. See decisions.log DEC-0004.
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STATUS: OPEN CAVEAT, not actioned in this session by design.
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