Help Can't Install The Driver For Usb Blaster

[Altera_Forum]

Trying to load programs on to my board, but the stupid driver for the blaster isnt working. I have windows vista 64 bit, both on my laptop and my pc.... and I need a driver to make this work. So please someone help me with this issue. 

 Thank you

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Mastaan 

just a few questions.. 1)When you were installing quartus II on your computer, did u notice the driver being installed? 2)When you plug in the USB blaster cable, does your computer detect a new hardware? 3)After you plug in the USB blaster, go to hardware on the upper left of the screen and click on that. Is USB blaster available from the drop down menu. If so, then select it and then try to program? I hope this helps Regards,  Joseph

[Altera_Forum]

1) Yes I did see the driver being installed, I mean is there a possibility for the driver not being installed? I got the folder inside the driver folder... called usb-blaster... 

 2) Yes it does detect the haRdware, and when i try to install it it says ... to put a disk in or rederict to a folder to look in.. so i chose USB-BLaster folder, and it shows installing driver and then it just says an error occured .. couldnt finish installing the driver ... something about the digital signature of the file ..   3) No USB-blaster is not avialable from the drop down list

[Altera_Forum]

Hi 

What does it say about the digital signature?  Just to make sure, you are selecting the driver folder called x64 yeah? I had this issue when i was installing my driver, but i just choose to ignore what it says about the digital signature and continue the installation.  Regards,  Joseph

[Altera_Forum]

1. Can you please avoid these spam-alike cross-postings? 

 2. The issue has been discussed in the forum extensively. The most recent thread effectively contains all available information. It may help you to find a solution, e. g. using a second OS for Quartus.  http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3534  Best regards

[Altera_Forum]

I know of _very_ few companies that have moved to Vista, including mine. If doing a technical job, choose the OS that is best suited to it. Vista is not well suited to most any ASIC/FPGA design flow....yet. 

 Use XP or, better still, Linux.  Cheers!

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Mastaan. I'm not using Vista 64, just the Vista 32. I couldn't opt for a different OS because the owner of the machine wouldn't let me. I was then provided with a new notebook but discovered that new notebooks come with Vista and Vista only drivers for the hardwares. Installing XP resulted in some hardwares not recognized. I am just a student so I just have to make use of what's available to me. I did have lots of problem with the USB Blaster driver. But I got it solved. 

 I noticed that Vista doesn't release the services even after uninstalling the device. I'm not computer savvy so that made it worse. I deleted and cleaned this and that and ended up with other things not working too!! In the end I restored my PC back to factory default and installed Quartus 7.2, Nios and Modelsim-Altera, then installed the blaster driver, then applied the patch so that Nios could invoke Quartus. Then I installed v8sp1. It worked when there were no mistakes in between. The driver worked and Nios could interact with Quartus.   The Altera "mysupport" staff helped me out too. Good luck.

[Altera_Forum]

I already expressed my opinion regarding Vista (either 32 or 64) usage for professional EDA. Companies, who equip their employs with Vista-only computers effectively are burning a lot of money. A simple truth. 

 On the other hand, I think, Altera can't declare Quartus Vista-compatible, but supply a non-operational driver. This seriously damages the product quality.  It may be, that some properties of Vista make it difficult to achieve reliable driver operation. Then Altera should clearly tell.