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USB Blaster replace/repair

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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I have a RevB USB-blaster (yellow cable) that has never worked (maybe once every 30 tries).  

Signal integrity on TCLK etc is very bad compared to ByteBlasterII.  

Replacing the long yellow flex with a 4" ribbon did not help. I don't see any obvious solder bridges etc. 

 

I am checking to see if Altera will replace it, but considering the long lead on these I may try a fix it if  

seems possible.  

 

Are there any 3rd party replacements for these? 

Any new SW I don't know about? 

Any info on fixing these?
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
601 Views

Yikes! Sounds like some sort of defect; please contact Altera customer service on this one for a replacement. The rev. B cables have been very robust for us.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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from ALtera support "FIND ANSWERS" 

 

Problem 

 

Are there any known errors in the Stratix and Cyclone Configuration chapters  

with reference to the external pull-down resistor value recommended for the  

JTAG TCK signal? 

 

Solution 

 

Yes. The JTAG TCK pull-down resistor value is incorrectly specified as  

10k-ohms in the Stratix and Cyclone Configuration chapters. The correct  

external pull-down resistor value is 1k-ohm. This stronger resistor ensures  

that the TCK signal is biased at a logic low level despite the weak internal  

pull-up on this pin. The internal pull-up ranges from 20k-ohms to  

40k-ohms across process, voltage and temperature. 

 

Future versions of the Stratix and Cyclone Handbooks will be updated accordingly.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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I have the 1K pulldown on TCK, and 1K pullups on TMS, TDI. TDO has nothing. 

 

Some of the pulses on TCK look OK, but many are runt pulses. There could be timing problems as well. 

In contrast, the byteblasterII produces nice clean signals.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
601 Views

I've had several ByteBlasterII's that either failed after a few uses or never worked. Some painful (partially due the fact Altera hasn't published a schematic for this device) investigation showed the problem to be weak vias on the PCB that weren't reliably plated through. Some vias on the board had been repaired/reinforced at the factory using a small length of wire (standard practice). Some apparently were missed during assembly/test, or were ready to fail but hadn't yet. After these were tracked down and repaired the blasters work fine. 

 

Maybe the USB Blasters are subject to the same lack of quality control. http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
601 Views

Good to know about the vias. 

 

Altera is taking the attidude that this is a vendor problem. I can&#39;t find the PO so I don&#39;t know the vendor was. The vendor-of-the-day on Altera&#39;s site has no record of this order, and say they would not replace it anyway since it is more than a month old. Etc,etc, kiss that $400 goodbye. 

 

Are there really no schematics or 3rd party cables? 

 

The USB Blaster board is 4-layer, and has an EPM7064. As long as you could get/read the code for the PLD, it would not be hard to duplicate. Registration is a bit off so I can believe it might have a via problem.  

 

 

The board does work for certain operations (below). It might be easier to fix if it was completely broken. 

 

Using ByteBlasterII, no problem with any operation using any type of file: sof,pof,jic 

 

Using USB Blaster (http://forum.niosforum.com/work2/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif , 

 

Programming pof via active serial header works every time 

Programming sof via jtag header works sometimes 

Programming jic via jtag header never works, but with different errors 

 

Using ByteBlasterII: 

 

Info: Configuring device index 1 

Info: Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020850DD 

Info: Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured 

Info: Device 1 silicon ID is 0x10 

Info: Performing verification of type standard on device(s) 

Info: Successfully performed operation(s) 

 

Using the USB Blaster: 

 

Info: Configuring device index 1 

Info: Device 1 contains JTAG ID code 0x020850DD 

Info: Configuration succeeded -- 1 device(s) configured 

Error: Serial Flash Loader IP not loaded on device 1 

Error: Operation Failed 

 

or 

 

Info: Configuring device index 1 

Error: Can&#39;t configure device. Expected JTAG ID code 0x020850DD for device 1, 

but found JTAG ID code 0x00000000 

Error: Operation Failed
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Finally got around to fixing the USB-Blaster. 

 

There was an open ground connection due to a bad via. The ByteBlasterII is still more dependable when using the debugger, and isn&#39;t that much slower to download.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
601 Views

Hi everyone! 

I have an experience ,but I&#39;m not sure1 

 

I have the 1K pulldown on TCK, and 1K pullups on TMS, TDI.  

For TDO ,in datasheet there is no connection, but When I pull up TDO. 

It&#39;s morer stable than before. I think there is a error inthe datasheet! 

Best Regards, 

Fei Wu
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