To program configuration memory attached to an FPGA device, Vivado Hardware Manager first downloads a flash controller bitstream to the FPGA device. The Hardware Manager sends flash commands and data through the FPGA device's JTAG port to be processed by the controller, sending the processed flash commands/data to the configuration memory interface.
The controller bitstream downloaded by Hardware Manager is generated for the latest silicon revision of the FPGA device. For example, the configuration memory controller bitstream for the XCKU115 in 2016.3 was later generated for XCKU115-es2 silicon.
When programming configuration memory attached to this FPGA, if the user has an XCKU115-es1 device on the board, the error message shown in Attempting to Program an FPGA Device with a Bitstream Generated for a Different Silicon Revision of the FPGA appears. This is because Hardware Manager is attempting to download the -es2 flash controller bitstream into the -es1 device.