Problems with Setup New Hardware

I have a BeMicro, but have not tested it under Windows 7.

The USB-Blaster driver is a custom driver from Arrow, and its possible it does not work under Windows 7. If you look at the BeMicro page for the system requirements

http://www.arrownac.com/offers/altera-corporation/bemicro/getting-started.html

It does not say anything about Windows 7 support.

Can you try running a Windows XP Virtual Machine?

If you can't, let me know, and I can try the BeMicro under Windows 7 (64-bit edition).

Cheers,

Dave

Well, Iḿ now reinstalling everything in another machine I have back here at home, that runs on Win XP. Itś weird, because there are some instructions on the tutorial about installing the driver on Win 7 32-bits. I followed them and the drivers were apparently correctly installed. I tried reinstalling them, but it wasn`t recognized inside Quartus.

I will see if it all goes correctly in Win XP.

It's a shame Arrow only supports obsolete systems and doesn't update their drivers.

update: I installed everything again and transferred my project to that machine with Win XP and the same problem occurred. Now I'm starting to not have a clue on what's going on. Can it be something that I've done wrongly in the creation of the project? Maybe I should've added some file or something like that.

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I installed everything again and transferred my project to that machine with Win XP and the same problem occurred. Now I'm starting to not have a clue on what's going on. Can it be something that I've done wrongly in the creation of the project? Maybe I should've added some file or something like that.

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In Quartus, you should be able to bring up the programmer tool, and set it up to use the Arrow-USB-Blaster. Once you have selected that hardware, you should be able to scan the JTAG chain and find the FPGA on the BeMicro. Once you have that working, you can program the device.

I have seen the tool 'fail' to program when using the Arrow-USB-Blaster, but when you try again, it works ... who knows why ...

Cheers,

Dave

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In Quartus, you should be able to bring up the programmer tool, and set it up to use the Arrow-USB-Blaster. Once you have selected that hardware, you should be able to scan the JTAG chain and find the FPGA on the BeMicro. Once you have that working, you can program the device.

I have seen the tool 'fail' to program when using the Arrow-USB-Blaster, but when you try again, it works ... who knows why ...

Cheers,

Dave

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But that is exactly the problem. When I run the programmer tool, in that part of "setup new hardware", it doesn't read the Arrow-USB-Blaster. I tried reinstalling the drivers, then I tried to download Quartus in a machine running on Win XP, installed and reinstalled the drivers in this machine and it always show "No hardware". I will try making the project all over again tonight, but I don't know if this will do.

I'm really new to this world. This is the first fpga-based board I am using, so I am kind of confused with it.

But thanks for the help :).

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But that is exactly the problem. When I run the programmer tool, in that part of "setup new hardware", it doesn't read the Arrow-USB-Blaster. I tried reinstalling the drivers, then I tried to download Quartus in a machine running on Win XP, installed and reinstalled the drivers in this machine and it always show "No hardware". I will try making the project all over again tonight, but I don't know if this will do.

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Lets first check if the board is showing up correctly.

On your Windows XP machine, start the device manager, i.e., Start->Control Panel->System, and then click on the Hardware tab, and then the Device Manager button.

Scroll down to the USB controllers section at the bottom.

If I plug my BeMicro in, then I see 'Arrow USB-Blaster Port A' and 'Arrow USB-Blaster Port B'. These are the two ports on the FTDI FT2232 device that is used to implement the Arrow USB-Blaster.

If you do not see this, then it is a driver installation issue, and has nothing to do with Quartus. Follow the Arrow USB-Blaster installation instructions again, and see if you can get the drivers installed ok.

Make sure you do not have any other FTDI devices installed, eg. a USB-to-serial adapter.

Cheers,

Dave

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Lets first check if the board is showing up correctly.

On your Windows XP machine, start the device manager, i.e., Start->Control Panel->System, and then click on the Hardware tab, and then the Device Manager button.

Scroll down to the USB controllers section at the bottom.

If I plug my BeMicro in, then I see 'Arrow USB-Blaster Port A' and 'Arrow USB-Blaster Port B'. These are the two ports on the FTDI FT2232 device that is used to implement the Arrow USB-Blaster.

If you do not see this, then it is a driver installation issue, and has nothing to do with Quartus. Follow the Arrow USB-Blaster installation instructions again, and see if you can get the drivers installed ok.

Make sure you do not have any other FTDI devices installed, eg. a USB-to-serial adapter.

Cheers,

Dave

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I won't be able to access my Win XP machine till tomorrow. But as far as I can remember, the drivers were appearing just as you described there. Apparently, they were successfully installed. And I tried installing them again.

So it must be something about Quartus?

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I presume, you followed the bemicro embedded system lab instructions and executed setup.exe to install jtag_hw_arrow_usb_blaster.dll before performing the Quartus hardware setup?

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Those are exactly the instructions that I am following. And what exactly is Quartus hardware setup?

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And what exactly is Quartus hardware setup?

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Bring-up the Quartus programmer (Tools->Programmer).

The 'Hardware Setup' button on the programmer should have Arrow-USB-Blaster next to it. If it does not, click the button.

Under available hardware, you should see Arrow USB-Blaster. Double-click it to select it, and then click Close.

You should now be able to scan the JTAG chain.

Cheers,

Dave

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Bring-up the Quartus programmer (Tools->Programmer).

The 'Hardware Setup' button on the programmer should have Arrow-USB-Blaster next to it. If it does not, click the button.

Under available hardware, you should see Arrow USB-Blaster. Double-click it to select it, and then click Close.

You should now be able to scan the JTAG chain.

Cheers,

Dave

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That's the problem. When I go to Hardware Setup Arrow USB-Blaster doesn't show up in avaiable hardware. All I get is "No Hardware". And I just checked here in the Win XP's device manager and "Arrow USB-Blaster Port A" and "Arrow USB-Blaster Port B" show up correctly installed. And I don't have anything else plugged in USB or Serial Ports.

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That's the problem. When I go to Hardware Setup Arrow USB-Blaster doesn't show up in avaiable hardware. All I get is "No Hardware". And I just checked here in the Win XP's device manager and "Arrow USB-Blaster Port A" and "Arrow USB-Blaster Port B" show up correctly installed. And I don't have anything else plugged in USB or Serial Ports.

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Ok, I see.

What version of Quartus are you running under Windows XP?

I am running version 10.1.

Cheers,

Dave