Problems with Cyclone III - NIOS II Embedded Evaluation kit

It looks like that weird error was indeed due to the spaces in my path. Here's what happened once I fixed that problem:

- I created a new project in the Nios II IDE again, based on the binary counter template. This time, it built successfully

- I then went to run as hardware, and got the following message in the IDE log:

Using cable "USB-Blaster [USB-0]", device 1, instance 0x00

Pausing target processor: OK

Reading System ID at address 0x00021048:

ID value does not match: read 0x00FFFFFF; expected 0x064BB6F8

Timestamp value does not match: image on board is older than expected

Read timestamp 21:20:15 1970/07/13; expected 9:28:00 2008/03/25

The software you are downloading may not run on the system which is currently

configured into the device. Please download the correct SOF or recompile.

Restarting target processor

I went ahead and added the .SOF file anyway at the programming screen, and when I clicked Start, it downloaded the program. The only thing that happened was my screen slowly turned all white, and all of the LEDs were on. For a binary counter project, I was expecting to see the LED states count up in binary, but they didn't.