Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
12 years ago

USB Blaster driver issue

I've been going through the forums and I have been unable to find an answer to my exact USB Blaster Driver issue. I have installed the free version of Quartus 13.1 and I now trying to use the USB Blaster cable to do some SignalTap analysis. However, I cannot even get the blue light to light on my USB Blaster cable. I am using a terasic USB blaster cable and Windows 7 64-bit. I seem to be having different results from most of the other issues I can find on the forum and I am hoping that means I am doing something dumb and easy to fix. I have tried multiple versions of the driver after looking through the forums, but no luck. If I go to device manager, the device shows up as “USB <-> Serial Converter” instead of the expected USB Blaster information I have seen in other posts. If I then try to install the driver for this device, I can point it to all the possible locations and Windows reports that it could not find a driver to install. I have tried point it to the following locations:

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\drivers

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster\x64

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-ii

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-ii\x64

All had the same results. I have also tried installing the drivers from older version (9.0 and 10.1) as I heard this solved some issues from others. I am now back in the original configuration and would love some help or ideas of things to try.

10 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    Sounds like the FTDI EEPROM was not programmed. Follow the instructions in this thread:

    http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42843

    and program your USB-Blaster EEPROM (via the USB interface), and then cycle power and it will appear as a USB-Blaster. At that point you can install the Quartus driver and it will work fine.

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    Dave,

    Thanks for the quick answer. I am having some trouble running the FT_PROG program however. When I start it up, it pops up a lot of errors saying "Failed to load FTD2XX.DLL Are the FTDI drivers installed?". I went back to the site and got the D2XX drivers for Windows 7 64-bit and installed them. Windows indicates that the drivers have been successfully installed. However, when I restart the FT_PROG application, I get the same error. I am still digging for info to help, but do you have an idea of what I might be messing up?

    In addition, if I click through all of the errors, the application does come up but the scan indicates that if there is a device it may still be enumerating...
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    Reading through some advice, it said to grab the USBView application and look for the VID/PID of the device. Here is the output from this program:

    Device Descriptor:

    bcdUSB: 0x0200

    bDeviceClass: 0x00

    bDeviceSubClass: 0x00

    bDeviceProtocol: 0x00

    bMaxPacketSize0: 0x08 (8)

    idVendor: 0x0403 (Future Technology Devices International Limited)

    idProduct: 0x6010

    bcdDevice: 0x0400

    iManufacturer: 0x01

    0x0409: "FTDI"

    iProduct: 0x02

    0x0409: "USB <-> Serial Converter"

    0x0409: "USB <-> Serial Converter"

    iSerialNumber: 0x03

    0x0409: "42424242"

    bNumConfigurations: 0x01

    ConnectionStatus: DeviceConnected

    Current Config Value: 0x00

    Device Bus Speed: Full

    Device Address: 0x01

    Open Pipes: 0

    Configuration Descriptor:

    wTotalLength: 0x0020

    bNumInterfaces: 0x01

    bConfigurationValue: 0x01

    iConfiguration: 0x00

    bmAttributes: 0x80 (Bus Powered )

    MaxPower: 0x32 (100 Ma)

    Interface Descriptor:

    bInterfaceNumber: 0x00

    bAlternateSetting: 0x00

    bNumEndpoints: 0x02

    bInterfaceClass: 0xFF

    bInterfaceSubClass: 0xFF

    bInterfaceProtocol: 0xFF

    iInterface: 0x02

    0x0409: "USB <-> Serial Converter"

    0x0409: "USB <-> Serial Converter"

    Endpoint Descriptor:

    bEndpointAddress: 0x81 IN

    Transfer Type: Bulk

    wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 (64)

    bInterval: 0x00

    Endpoint Descriptor:

    bEndpointAddress: 0x02 OUT

    Transfer Type: Bulk

    wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 (64)

    bInterval: 0x00
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    I've successfully run FT_PROG on Windows 7 64-bit. Re-read the installation instructions, you must have missed a step, eg., perhaps reboot the machine?

    The output of USBview matches an FTDI FT245B with a blank EEPROM. Once you've got FT_PROG working, program the EEPROM, unplug and plug the USB-Blaster back in, it will enumerate correctly as a USB-Blaster.

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    For some reason it could not find a copy of FTD2XX.DLL on my computer. I ensured it was in the path and still nothing. So finally, I just moved it into the FT_PROG folder and the program works fine now...

    However, the program does not recognize my device. The exact error I get is "If there is an FTDI device connected it may still be enumerating. Please try again in a few moments." Still working to try and get this resolved, so let me know if you have any advice.

    Thanks for all of your help!
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    In the USBView output above are the lines:

    idVendor: 0x0403 (Future Technology Devices International Limited)

    idProduct: 0x6010

    An FTDI 0403:6010 is a FT2232H/D device, not an FT245B/R. Are you sure you have a Terasic USB-Blaster? I just erased my one, and it reports as an 0403:6001.

    Either way, FT_PROG would recognize the device if you have the driver and DLL setup correctly. Note that Windows *must* successfully install a USB-to-Serial converter driver for the FT2232H/D before FT_PROG can actually access it. Check your device manager to see if it has installed a driver.

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    Yes, I am sure that I have a Terasic USB Blaster-B part. It is printed on the PCB. I also see a FT245BL chip on the board. However, I am having trouble getting my computer to install a driver for this device. It does not locate one automatically. I installed the drivers from the FTDI site successfully but it didn't seem to help. In device manager, it still shows no driver and I'm not sure where to manually point it to find the driver. Given your line about the driver needing to be installed for FT_PROG to work, this definitely seems to be the overall problem.

    Update in mid-Post, :)...I found where to manually point the driver and now FT_PROG works. I was able to apply your XML file and get my computer to recognize the cable as a USB Blaster. I was then able to successfully apply the drivers from the Quartus installation. I am still unable to get SignalTap to detect my device however, and I do not have blue light on the USB Blaster. Getting much closer to success though! Thanks a ton for your help so far!

    Quick edit...I get blue light when scanning the chain, but not otherwise...May indicate the problem is on the board side?
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I was able to apply your XML file and get my computer to recognize the cable as a USB Blaster. I was then able to successfully apply the drivers from the Quartus installation.

    --- Quote End ---

    Great!

    --- Quote Start ---

    I am still unable to get SignalTap to detect my device however, and I do not have blue light on the USB Blaster. Getting much closer to success though! Thanks a ton for your help so far!

    Quick edit...I get blue light when scanning the chain, but not otherwise...May indicate the problem is on the board side?

    --- Quote End ---

    If you were able to use the USB-Blaster to program the FPGA, then it should detect the SignalTap II instance correctly too. Check your Quartus project settings, perhaps you did not enable the SignalTap II instance in the build (look in the hierarchy tab in the main display to see if its included within the design).

    Cheers,

    Dave
  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    I actually did not program the device using this computer or cable. I believe that SignalTap is in the build (Not sure how to check this without the JTAG chain). I am actually having trouble detecting the hardware in Programmer as well. Debugging the JTAG chain indicates that it is detecting the EP4CGX30 but I get a "JTAG chain problem detected" error. It indicates that the "TDI connection to the first detected device EP4CGX30 might be shorted to GND" a "The TCK and TMS connections to the device before the first detected device EP4CGX30 might have a problem". Tracking these issus down now...

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    12 years ago

    --- Quote Start ---

    I actually did not program the device using this computer or cable. I believe that SignalTap is in the build. I am actually having trouble detecting the hardware in Programmer as well.

    --- Quote End ---

    Ok. I'd recommending trying to program a known-good board with the Terasic USB-Blaster first.

    If the USB-Blaster cannot program any boards, then given that the EEPROM was not programmed, perhaps the board has other issues ...

    Cheers,

    Dave