Forum Discussion

SEL_TestEngineer's avatar
SEL_TestEngineer
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
5 months ago

USB-BlasterII mounts as "USB-Blaster variant"

 Hello!  My company uses the USB-BlasterII pods with Quartus.  Many times, when the Blaster is plugged in, it is detected by Quartus as "USB-Blaster variant" instead of "USB-BlasterII".  When this ha...
general
Platform
Keegan1's avatar
Keegan1
Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
1 month ago

We have the exact same problem. You plug in the blaster and sometimes it works (shows up as USB-BlasterII) and sometimes it doesn't work at random (shows up as USB-Blaster variant). We use the Quartus Prime Programmer included with Quartus Prime Pro 23.2. Upgrading to a new quartus version is not trivial for us, since this is the last version that still supports Nios II, which we require.

We have never identified any pattern as to make sure it doesn't happen, we usually just disconnect and reconnect and/or restart the PC until it shows up correctly.

It will not work for programming if it shows up as "USB-Blaster variant"

Of course we have the driver installed, it works sometimes.

I'm fairly sure it's only a Windows 11 problem, as I had Windows 10 personal machine for a long time and never had the issue until I upgraded. Our other machines are all Windows 11.

  • Keegan1's avatar
    Keegan1
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    1 month ago

    I found a workaround in another thread about this issue here: [USB-Blaster] Detected as "USB-Blaster Variant" on SLES12 – Causing Detection Issues | Altera Community - 319603

    The pattern is that the device shows up incorrectly as "USB blaster variant" if it got plugged in while  "jtagserver.exe" is running in the background. In task manager it is called Background Processes > Intel Quartus Prime Pro Edition Software (jtagserver.exe).

    **Kill this process before plugging in the device**, then open Programmer. You hear the Windows device connect sound when the software opens, and then it shows up correctly as "USB-BlasterII".

  • FakhrulA_altera's avatar
    FakhrulA_altera
    Icon for Regular Contributor rankRegular Contributor
    1 month ago

    Hi Keegan1, 
     

    Thanks for the details. This behavior can occur if the cable is plugged in while jtagserver.exe is running. Please try:

    1. End jtagserver.exe in Task Manager.
    2. Open Programmer, then plug in the cable.
    3. Set the Altera JTAG Server service to Manual or reinstall it from your Quartus version using:jtagserver --uninstall jtagserver --install
    4. In Device Manager, update the USB‑Blaster II driver from <Quartus>\drivers\usb-blaster-ii.

    If it still happens, please share your Quartus edition and version.

    Regards,
    Fakhrul