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Cyclone II Windows 7 x64 USB Serial Bus

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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I've been working on this problem for a few days and would really appreciate some assistance.  

 

I have the Cyclone II FPGA Starter Board and am using the Windows 7 Home x64 operating system, and Quartus II 7.2.  

 

I have the VHDL written and want to send the program to the board, however the 'start' button isn't lit up in the programmer window. I did add the program to the list. I also attempted the CII_Starter_USB_API program in the demonstrations directory.  

 

When attempting to use the CII_Starter_Control_panel.exe program, when opening the USB port 0, the light comes on the board indicating the connection is there, but the demonstration lights continue on the board, and any changes made with the control panel are not evident on the board. I did ensure that I closed the control panel before attempting to program. 

 

The driver in the device manager on the Windows 7 x64 operating system reflects that it is being controlled by "USB Serial Bus Converter". While reading through the documentation, it mentions USB-Blaster driver is used. I did download the USB Blaster drivers from the altera FTP site and attempted to use them, but windows 7 would not recognize them, even after completely removing the USB Serial Bus Controller driver from the system. After this attempt I did allow windows to re-download and install the USB Serial Bus Controller. I got the USB Blaster drivers from this post: 

<altera site> /support/kdb/solutions/rd06212010_676.html 

 

When I use the 'Hardware Setup' button in the programmer and click 'Add Hardware', I am given the options of ByteBlasterMV or Byte Blaster II, or Ethernet Blaster, neither which work correctly. 

 

Yes, the switch is set to 'run' and the Mode in the programmer is set to JTAG.  

 

Please guide me through the process to which I can reach the goal of getting my ( *.sof) file into my board. 

 

 

*Edit - I didn't mention this but I did download the 10.1 programmer from the FTP site also to same effect. 

 

Further notes and observations... when using the CII Starter Kit Control Panel - Tools Tab - Board Test, The LED Test, 7 SEG Test, and LCD Test all come back OK, but SDRAM, SRAM, and FLASH Tests fail (FLASH erase timeout) . All three pulldowns above are set to host. (no asynchronous)  

While the tests are going on, the blue Load LED blinks as data is being transfered, and the whole time, the board LEDS and 7-segment display continue their testing powerup pattern.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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Here are the steps I followed... 

 

 

( From <alterasite>/download/drivers/usb-blaster/dri-usb-blaster-vista.html ) 

 

--- Quote Start ---  

 

USB-Blaster Driver for Windows Vista 

 

Home > Support > Downloads > Cable & Adapter Drivers > USB-Blaster Driver for Windows Vista 

You must install the Altera® USB-BlasterTM download cable driver before you can use it to program devices with Quartus® II software. 

 

The first time the USB-Blaster download cable is plugged in, the Windows Vista Found New Hardware dialog box prompts you to install the driver. (Note: Do not use the Add Hardware Wizard from the Control Panel.) 

 

You must have system administration (Administrator) privileges to install the USB-Blaster download cable driver. 

 

Driver Installation 

 

Plug the USB-Blaster download cable into the PC. The Found New Hardware dialog box appears. 

Select Locate and install driver software (recommended). 

Select Don't search online. 

When you are prompted to Insert the disc that came with your USB-Blaster, select I don’t have the disc. Show me other options. 

Select Browse my computer for driver software (advanced) when you see the Windows couldn’t find driver software for your device. 

Click Browse... and browse to the <Path to Quartus II installation>\drivers\usb-blaster directory. Click OK. 

Select the Include subfolders option and click Next. 

If you are prompted Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software, select Install this driver software anyway in the Window Security dialog box. 

The installation begins. 

When The software for this device has been successfully installed appears, click Close. 

To complete your installation, set up programming hardware in the Quartus II software. 

--- Quote End ---  

 

 

Where I differ from the instructions is that the instant I plug in the cable I have two choices... 

 

# 1. Do nothing and let the window come up near the clock which mentions "Installing Device Hardware" and the system installs the USB Serial Bus Converter Driver. 

 

# 2. Click on the window that pops up and cancel the auto-installation of the USB Serial Bus Converter Driver, which leaves me with a "USB <-> Serial" item in my 'Other Devices' in my device manager. Following this course of action, I attempted to point it to the USB blaster drivers via the 'Update Driver Software' - 'Browse my computer for driver software', and the blaster directory. Nothing is found for the hardware.
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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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At this point I am wondering if there is something wrong with the board itself because I am having the same issues with a Win XP x32 computer installed with the Programmer 10.1, and a Windows 7 Home x64 laptop. None of the computers recognize a 'Altera USB-Blaster' even when supplied drivers.

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Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
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After going around and around with this, it turned out that the EEPROM needed to be reprogrammed. Fresh out of the box it had the wrong USB ID in it. Used a program called Mprog to give it the correct ID as suggested here: 

<alterauserforums> /forum/showthread.php?t=22079&highlight=Mprog 

 

Took about 5 minutes to figure out Mprog, was pretty self explanatory... 

 

Save this template as an *.ept file in the templates directory of the (free) Mprog installation. 

 

[Basic Details] 

Device Type=3 

VID PID Type=2 

USB VID=09FB 

USB PID=6001 

[USB Power Options] 

Bus Powered=1 

Self Powered=0 

Max Bus Power=150 

[USB Serial Number Control] 

Prefix=91 

Use Fixed Serial Number=0 

Fixed Serial Number=91d28408 

[USB Remote WakeUp] 

Enable Remote WakeUp=0 

[Windows Plug and Play] 

Enable Plug and Play=0 

[USB String Descriptors] 

Manufacturer=Altera 

Product=USB-Blaster 

[Programming Options] 

Only Program Blank Devices=0 

[BM Device Specific Options] 

USB Version Number=0 

Disable Serial Number=0 

IO Pin Pull Down in Suspend=1 

[Dual Device Specific Options A] 

RS 232 mode=1 

245 FIFO mode=0 

245 CPU FIFO mode=0 

OPTO Isolate mode=1 

High Current Drive=0 

[Dual Device Specific Options B] 

RS 232 mode=1 

245 FIFO mode=0 

245 CPU FIFO mode=0 

OPTO Isolate mode=0 

High Current Drive=0 

[Dual Device Driver Options A] 

Virtual Com Port Driver=1 

D2XX Driver=0 

[Dual Device Driver Options B] 

Virtual Com Port Driver=1 

D2XX Driver=0 

 

 

Then make sure your device is connected via USB and program it. Now when you disconnect and reconnect your device it will be correctly identified and you can point it to the correct drivers in your Quartus/drivers directory.
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