Couldn't install usb blaster driver on HP dv4-1020us notebook (64bit Vista)

This is a Vx64 SP1 issue apparently. Here is the complete fix that was provided to me by tech support:

The solution is input to:

bcdedit /set testsigning on

bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

in cmd , then reboot the OS to re-install the driver.

Please refer to the following link for more information about this issue:

http://www.vistax64.com/drivers/166307-driver-signings.html

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Be aware that it prints TestMode on all 4 corners of the desktop along with a win version in the center top. Otherwise worked great. Tech support said they are working on a fix.

I just had a nice experience with this..

Was copying my old instructions for this and it wasn't working!

If you do a copy and paste out of the web page it seems the '-' minus character ends up on the command line as something that looks like a minus character but isn't!!!

you must replace the minus signs manually....

and then all works again..

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You can get around this in a bit of a long winded way via following the MSDN instructions to sign a test driver.

This is a requirement from Vista64 sp1 onwards

Basically you need to grab the WinDDK

After installation go to c:\winddk\6.xx(version)\bin\selfsign

Create a self signed root certificate:

MakeCert –r –pe –ss PrivateCertStore –n "CN=mydomain.com(Test)" testcert.cer

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You cannot sign a PnP kernal driver this way. PnP kernal driver, such as USB-Blaster, requires the creation of a catalog file that contains a hash for each file in the driver package. It is both not necessary and not sufficient to sign the individual driver files (e.g. FTDIBUS.sys). In order to run the driver without turning your machine into a kernal driver test bench, the catalog file must then be signed by the Microsoft WHQL. This a free process for commercial software vendors (it does require that the vendor have a commercial signing certificate, which costs about $150). The driver package's .inf file must have a pointer to the .cat file. During the installation, the .cat file is installed in the driver repository (I believe at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\).

During the catalog signing process, MSFT runs tests on the kernal driver to insure that it won't blue-screen your system. I suspect that the recent USB-Blaster drivers do not contain a signed catalog because they indeed do not pass these tests.

I received a version of the USB-Blaster driver from Altera support that does contain a signed catalog. I believe that this is an old version. The .inf says it version 2.0.0, dated 05/19/2006. The file versions in this package are 2.0.0.1 for FTDIBUS.sys and 3.1.7.1 for the FTD2 library dlls.

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I received a version of the USB-Blaster driver from Altera support that does contain a signed catalog. I believe that this is an old version. The .inf says it version 2.0.0, dated 05/19/2006. The file versions in this package are 2.0.0.1 for FTDIBUS.sys and 3.1.7.1 for the FTD2 library dlls.

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These dates and versions match the driver included with Quartus II 7.2 SP2. As far as I know, this was the last version to include a signed driver. I just installed 9.0 SP1 today which still does not include a signed driver again.

Kevin,

Have you actually had success installing the Quatus 7.2 SP2 driver for use with 8.0 or 9.0 SP1?

I attempted to install the 7.2 driver and again received an warning about unsigned drivers. Now I'm wondering if it's because some remnant of the previous failed installation was left on my machine.

Yes, I have had success using the 7.2 SP2 driver with 8.0 SP1. I have not actually tried the USB blaster with 9.0 SP1 yet.

On a PC which had never had any other driver installed, the 7.2 SP2 driver installed without a problem. On another system, I did try to install the 8.0 SP1 driver first which failed. Before I could get the 7.2 SP1 driver to install on that system, I had to do a system restore to the point before where I tried to install the 8.0 SP1 driver.

I may be recalling a completely different driver, but I seem to recall there was still some kind of warning while installing the 7.2 SP1 driver, but it functions without problem anyway.

It's all a big pain in the butt, even if you ignore the fact that the driver also conflicts with most USB to Serial adaptors with an FTDI chipset. I really wonder what is taking Altera so long to fix the driver in the latest releases. At least for the subscription edition, they indicate support for Vista x64 which seems a little dishonest to me if they don't include proper Vista x64 drivers. Almost every time I talk to my Altera FAE I remind him about the driver problem and also remind him that Xilinx includes (or at least did include) a properly signed 64 bit driver for their JTAG hardware.

Sorry to bump an old topic.

From what I've gathered in this thread, it seems that the 7.2sp2 USB blaster drivers work in Vista x64.

Would anyone be kind enough to zip up and upload the 7.2sp2 drivers (or whatever version has confirmed signed drivers) in their Quartus install directory? I have Quartus 9.0sp2 installed, and I would rather not have to hit F8 every time I boot, or have to download and install nearly 800 MB of software just to obtain 1 MB drivers.

Hi Thomas

Did you actually read all of the instructions which in one of the steps tells you to turn on test mode??

I'm pretty sure all of this is fixed now, as the last update I used from Quartus seems to have installed the driver correctly, so we no longer need this method unless altera forget to sign the driver again ;)

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You cannot sign a PnP kernal driver this way. PnP kernal driver, such as USB-Blaster, requires the creation of a catalog file that contains a hash for each file in the driver package. It is both not necessary and not sufficient to sign the individual driver files (e.g. FTDIBUS.sys). In order to run the driver without turning your machine into a kernal driver test bench, the catalog file must then be signed by the Microsoft WHQL. This a free process for commercial software vendors (it does require that the vendor have a commercial signing certificate, which costs about $150). The driver package's .inf file must have a pointer to the .cat file. During the installation, the .cat file is installed in the driver repository (I believe at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\).

During the catalog signing process, MSFT runs tests on the kernal driver to insure that it won't blue-screen your system. I suspect that the recent USB-Blaster drivers do not contain a signed catalog because they indeed do not pass these tests.

I received a version of the USB-Blaster driver from Altera support that does contain a signed catalog. I believe that this is an old version. The .inf says it version 2.0.0, dated 05/19/2006. The file versions in this package are 2.0.0.1 for FTDIBUS.sys and 3.1.7.1 for the FTD2 library dlls.

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