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SEL_TestEngineer's avatar
SEL_TestEngineer
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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 happens, the JTAG clock frequency is not settable, and the pod will not operate correctly.  The problem occurs equally with Quartus Prime 16.1 and Quartus Standard 24.1.  I have not tried other versions of Quartus.

This appears to be the same root issue that AdamLevine experienced in a previous Altera forum post: USB Blaster II | Altera Community.

To answer the questions he was asked,

  1. Yes, we experience this issue on all the PCs we have tried the USB-BlasterII on.  My company is running Windows 11.
  2. We tried numerous boards, but similar to Adam, the problem occurs whether a board is connected to the Blaster or not.  The issue appears to be with the driver for the Blaster and how it is detected when it is connected to the PC.
  3. This problem has been occurring more lately than it used to, but we have had significant failure rates with this for the past two years almost.
  4. I know our JTAG pin connections are correct because the USB-BlasterII works perfectly IF AND ONLY IF it is detected with the correct device name but cannot work at all if it shows up with the wrong name in Quartus.

Our conclusion is that the drivers for the USB-BlasterII have a problem.  I suspect that the driver caches the Blaster devices that have been connected and encounters an error if the cache is not cleared by ejecting all the Blaster devices.  Just a guess.  

Has anyone found the issues with the drivers?  Is anyone from Intel available to look into this behavior?  If not, would Intel supply my corporation with the driver source code so our engineers can fix it? 

Thanks!

8 Replies

  • sstrell's avatar
    sstrell
    Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
    5 months ago

    How have you installed the drivers?  Try downloading the standalone Quartus Programmer (the latest, 25.3).  You can choose to install the drivers at the end of that installation.

    Also, if you do jtagconfig from a command line, what output do you get when it shows up as a "variant?"

  • 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

  • FvM's avatar
    FvM
    Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
    1 month ago

    Hi Keegan,
    regularly, jtagserver will be installed as a Windows service with your latest Quartus install and start automatically. State can be questioned with "Services" Windows tool under "Altera JTAG Server". Properties dialog shows the location of presently installed jtagserver.exe, should be e.g. Quartus Prime Pro 23.2 bin64 folder. Using a recent Prime Pro jtagserver garanties that it contains proper support for advanced devices and newer programmers, e.g. USB Blaster II.

    Can you check what's the .exe path of said "Background Process" and how it's started on your PC? It may be an older version without USB Blaster II support. Normally, if jtagserver isn't running, Quartus will start jtagserver of presently running Quartus version as local process. It should also know how to handle USB Blaster II.

    The intended jtagserver version can be installed as a service by excuting jtagserver --install in administrator command shell from respective bin64 path.

    Regards
    Frank 

    P.S.: If programmer shows as "USB-Blaster variant", see you any differences in Device Manager Driver Details or uses it exactly the same driver files as USB-Blaster II? Also do you see same USB Hardware-ID?  

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

      I will show you how it looks in our device manager, task manager, and services panel. It's just the default executable included with the Quartus installation. We installed everything normally, including installing the JTAG drivers when prompted to by the main installer, and we haven't done anything involving windows services.

      The VID/PID does indeed show up differently when it is showing as "Usb blaster variant" vs "Usb-BlasterII",  specifically the "REV". And again, you can hear the windows device connect noise and see the device manage refresh when reopen Quartus Programmer after killing jtagserver.exe

      While not working:

      Altera USB-Blaster II (JTAG interface)
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&REV_0127&MI_00
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&MI_00

      Altera USB_Blaster II (System Console interface)
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&REV_0127&MI_01
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&MI_01

      While working:

      Altera USB-Blaster II (JTAG interface)
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&REV_0142&MI_00
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&MI_00

      Altera USB_Blaster II (System Console interface)
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&REV_0142&MI_01
      USB\VID_09FB&PID_6010&MI_01

      Device Manager:

       

       

       

      Windows Process:

      Service:

       

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

        As we haven't received a response to our previous notification, this thread will be transitioned to community support. We hope all your concerns have been addressed. If you have any new questions, please feel free to open a new thread to receive support from Altera experts. Otherwise, community users will continue to assist you here. Thank you.