Forum Discussion
Occasional ContributorAltera USB Blaster problems, findings and sources.
Hello Aqid,
I have checked out the links you provided. They were helpful up to a point in that the problem is a bit more defined now: expired certificates. It is likely that if I install Quartus 21 with the patch that the driver will work. I've noted that version 21 no longer has MultiSim, at least not by that name, so I stuck to 20.1.1.
I do have more useful information though. And that is that I had installed Quartus 13.1 once more, to be exact, version 13.1.0.162.
I then proceeded to install the USB Blaster, which installed successfully. And so I can now confirm that the USB Blaster driver with the aforementioned version works.
However, since the installation problems for the newer Quartus versions pertain to expired certificates, I went to see what the certificate information was for the driver supplied with Quartus 13. The information said the certificate was supplied by VeriSign to Delaware Altera. And not just that, also the dates: Valid from 6/28/2011 to 8/24/2012. So this looks like an expired certification also. And yet it works.
You will find 2 attachments: The certificate properties screenshot for this driver and a zipfile containing this driver.
Since I can get around with this driver and still use Quartus 20.1.1.720 with MultiSim, this is what I'll keep using for now.
Hope this helps with future driver releases.
Regular ContributorHello,
Do you have any updates on this issue?
Regards,
Aqid Ayman
Occasional ContributorHello Aqid,
Yes I have. Yesterday I have installed a number of previous Quartus versions though this had a different cause which had to do with the Verilog HDL language. I however realized I might as well test the USB Blaster drivers that came with those. These are my findings:
I installed Quartus 18.1 side by side. Mind you, this is an original 18.1 from Altera, downloaded back in time. It's these USB blaster drivers I tried. And these installed successfully. They were in a different folder than those of Quartus 20.1.1. I received a Windows message asking me whether I trusted Altera as a driver source. The standard driver signature validation with UAC enabled.
For the Verilog HDL test in previous versions I had also installed Quartus 7. I then rememebered I had made a copy of the USB Blaster driver a long time before, originating from this Quartus version. I had Quartus 7 uninstalled again. I used the copied separate driver install instead. First I uninstalled the previously successfully installed USB Blaster driver so I could test installation again.
First, those of Quartus 20.1.1. These kept failing. The I tried the Quartus 7 copied USB driver files. These failed too. These are still with the separate FDTI chip driver files.
I did not reinstall Quartus 7 nor Quartus 13 yet, so for now I'm still without a USB blaster. But it is likely that with reinstalling Quartus 13 and using the drivers that come with that will install propery again. Both 13 and 7 are original Altera versions.
As far as the Verilog issue goes, I'll put that in a separate post. I may reinstall Quartus 13 later today and install its USB blaster driver again and see whether that works a second time. If it does, shall I attach to a followup post a zip file with this driver?
Thanks for asking,
Arno van Harskamp.
