Forum Discussion
Occasional ContributorAltera USB Blaster III LEDs usage
Hi,
I would like to know how is the RGB LED on Altera USB Blaster III used? What is the meaning of the LED colors!
Thanks!
Hi AnttiLukats,
Thank you for your patience, and I sincerely apologize for not addressing your question directly in my earlier reply.
Regarding your inquiry about the meaning of the RGB LED colors on the on-board USB Blaster III, please find the detailed information below:
- Off: No power / not connected / suspend mode
- Blue: Connected, not in use
- Green: Connected, an application is using JTAG, no traffic
- Green flickering: Connected, data is moving through the JTAG interface
- Purple flashing: Identify function has been triggered on this cable
If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I'm here to help and will ensure your concerns are addressed promptly.
Thank you again for bringing this up, and I appreciate your understanding.
Best regards,
Fakhrul
25 Replies
FvMSuper Contributor
Hi,
jtag_hw_usb-blaster3.dll is expecting VID_0403 & PID6011, corresponding to FT4232H. It could connect to an Arrow-USB-Blaster with FT2232H after changing the PID and seems to use a similar JTAG connection scheme. It reads ID of connected FPGA, operation is however extremely slow compared to Arrow_USB_Programmer2 driver, apparently something is missing, may be a different method to set the operation frequency. Other than original Arrow driver, it's not supporting the clock frequency setting in hardware setup as shown belowArrow-USB-Blaster with Arrow Driver
Arrow-USB-Blaster faking USB-BlasterIII
- FvM
Hi,
you have jtag_hw_arrow_usb_blaster.dll installed for 24.2 jtagserver, it's apparently tried first. I don't have it installed for 24.2.
I'm presently using 24.2 Pro Standalone Programmer for the tests, same JTAG server and drivers as full installation. - sstrell
There's currently no such thing as a USB Blaster III that I know of. Where are you seeing this product? Or better yet where did you get it?
- AnttiLukats
If you look at the Quartus installation files you find a file with _blaster3_ in the name. If you look inside that file you see string: "USB-BlasterIII" ! Also found in that file are links to FTDI DLL's. So it seems Quartus will soon support FTDI based USB Blaster III hardware. Pretty exciting!
- FvM
Hi,
Installation files of which Quartus version? You have been initially asking about RGB-LED, suggesting that have seen a picture, manual or real hardware of claimed USB Blaster III.Recent Quartus versions have this driver folders
- FvM
Hi,
as stated, I tried with Arrow-USB-Blaster, Port A is set to 245FIFO and D2XXX mode in EEPROM. Default FT4232H setting is UART and VCP.
You are talking about official USB-Blaster III and onboard solutions. Where did you get the info?- AnttiLukats
I'm possible talking too much
can you post your String desciption screen from FT_PROG. Here I really have no luck enabling UB3
- FvM
FT_Prog template appended
- AnttiLukats
It is interesting that there is no detailed info from Altera about UB3! The Agilex5 modular devkit already uses UB3 as can be seen from public documentation. So UB3 is coming, soon? Well the modular kit user guide does not explain how to enable UB3 it says connect Intel Download Cable II to 10 pin header
_AK6DN_Frequent Contributor
Well, here is the schematic of the 'UB3' from the Agilex5 devkit. See below.
So what makes you think the UB3 will be sold as a standalone device?
Maybe it is intended to be used as an embedded design on boards only.
- FvM
Hi,
Infineon is bringing FX2G3 ARM based processor series to replace FX2 with minimal hardware changes. 
FakhrulA_alteraRegular Contributor
Hi AnttiLukats,
Thank you for your patience, and I sincerely apologize for not addressing your question directly in my earlier reply.
Regarding your inquiry about the meaning of the RGB LED colors on the on-board USB Blaster III, please find the detailed information below:
- Off: No power / not connected / suspend mode
- Blue: Connected, not in use
- Green: Connected, an application is using JTAG, no traffic
- Green flickering: Connected, data is moving through the JTAG interface
- Purple flashing: Identify function has been triggered on this cable
If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I'm here to help and will ensure your concerns are addressed promptly.
Thank you again for bringing this up, and I appreciate your understanding.
Best regards,
Fakhrul
- AnttiLukats
Latest Quartus Prime Pro installation.
There are NO driver files for USB Blaster III, but if you look in:
quartus\bin64\
folder then you see file named:
jtag_hw_usb-blaster3.dll
this is the USB Blaster III support DLL!
- FvMThanks,
jtag_hw_usb-blaster3.dll uses the same low-level DLLs as usb-blaster, but it's not clear which USB adapter will be recognized by it. Probably it's supporting a future product.
- AnttiLukats
Well as there is string: "USB-BlasterIII" inside this DLL, it is clear that there will be USB Blaster III product. Based on FT2232H!
