USB Blaster not recognized in Windows 7

Am experiencing the same problem with Prime Programmer 15.1, 15.2 and 16.0.....(with appropriate upgrades applied).... on Windows 7.

After a computer reboot I can run the Programmer and it sees the USB Blaster.

After one program cycle the USB Blaster disappears from the Hardware Setup and it is not listed in the Available Hardware Items.

From reading all the posts in this and other threads it seems a common problem with no satisfactory solution.

Seems like Altera isn't interested in solving this issue.

I have a similar problem with the programmer or Signal Tap not recognizing the USB Blaster when I load my DSP via a USB Jtag interface through Code Composer

I found this thread after I started my own thread, so I'll just copy my info here.

In Quartus Prime Programmer, after clicking the "Hardware Setup" button the USB Blaster hardware DOES appear or is recognized before loading my DSP through Code Composer. However, once the program STARTS to load the Quartus Programmer does not recognize the USB Blaster. If I stop Code Composer (hitting the red square) the programmer again recognizes the USB Blaster. The problem was originally found when trying to connect to the USB blaster when trying to use a signal tap file at the same time the DSP was loaded and running.

Things I did and it still does not work:

When the Programmer does NOT recognize the USB blaster, Windows 7 Device manager does recognize it and says the USB Blaster is working properly

I have updated to the latest USB Blaster Driver

I have reloaded and upgraded TI Code Composer

I have replaced all the hardware with know working pieces including, target board, USB Blaster, TI XDS100 emulator, cables etc

I have tried many different USB ports on the same computer

Things I did to get it to work:

I loaded Quartus on a separate computer and connected the USB Blaster to it, then ran Code Composer on the other computer and it did work

There seems to be some problem with both Code Composer XDS100 working with USB Blaster on the same USB hub.

One last note, this all worked fine at one time. The only thing that may have changed may be from automatic Windows Updates.

I'm out of ideas, using two computers it not feasable. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Rich

I had a similar problem when I tried using the USB Blaster while using an FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 USB to RS232 cable. Altera said that the USB Blaster would not work if there was another cable that used FTDI USB chip.

Altera suggested that I should use a USB Blaster II.

One of my co-workers offered to build a USB to RS232 cable that used a different controller.

I just used two computers.

Not mentioned in rbattista's posts, but XDS100 JTAG adapter seems to use a FTDI chip.

If so, the post has been actually posted in the wrong thread. There are previous threads about the USB Blaster/other FTDI devices problem, which apparently got worse with Windows 7 and/or 64 Bit FTDI drivers, I'm not quite sure. See e.g. http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2015

It's really annoying that Altera doesn't manage to fix the problem in the USB Blaster driver. No other device using FTDI USB bridges seems to have this kind of massive problems.

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Could it be that the drivers provided by Quartus installation package have some issue? Anyone facing similar case?

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I'm having this issue also. We have Quartus II installed on Windows 7 machines in the lab (at a university). I get the exact same "no hardware" message, and the drivers for USB-Blaster are installed (according to Windows).

-SEAM