USB Blaster is recognized as Nios Dev kit

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, 

 I'm using a USB blaster device, under Windows 7 64bit. I installed it using the driver under C:\altera\14.1\qprogrammer\drivers\usb-blaster (I only have the programmer, not the entire Quartus installation). The USB Blaster is recognized as Altera Nios II Evaluation Board. The Quartus programmer indicates that there is no hardware and doesn't recognize the device. How can I solve this issue?  Thanks in advance

[Altera_Forum]

Have you installed the USB blaster windows drivers? When I received a similar message it turned out that the drivers weren't installed on the computer. See http://www.altera.com/download/drivers/usb-blaster/dri-usb-blaster-vista.html for instructions.

[Altera_Forum]

Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, I installed the driver. Before the driver installation, the USB Blaster was recognized as as an unknown device with some numbers on it. After the installation it's recognized as Altera Nios II Evaluation Board.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, I installed the driver. Before the driver installation, the USB Blaster was recognized as as an unknown device with some numbers on it. After the installation it's recognized as Altera Nios II Evaluation Board.  --- Quote End ---   What does your USB-Blaster actually look like? Is it an Altera USB-Blaster a Terasic USB-Blaster or a development kit with an on-board USB-Blaster or a clone?  Under Linux you can use lsusb to look at the USB Vendor ID and Product ID. Under Windows you can use the device manager.  The USB-Blaster Vendor ID is 0x9FB ... which you can see here  http://www.altera.com/download/drivers/dri-usb_b-lnx.html  The product ID is typically 0x6001. If your product ID is different, then it will be recognized with a different name. The Windows .inf file probably has the mapping ... yep ... this is from 12.1sp1 web edition   USB\VID_09FB&PID_6001.DeviceDesc="Altera USB-Blaster" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6002.DeviceDesc="Altera Cubic Cyclonium" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6003.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios II Evaluation Board" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6004.DeviceDesc="Altera Cyclone III EP3C25 Starter Kit" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6005.DeviceDesc="Altera Cyclone III EP3C120 Development Kit" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6006.DeviceDesc="Altera Stratix III EP3SL150 Development Kit" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6007.DeviceDesc="Altera Stratix III EP3SL340 Development Kit" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6008.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios Embedded Evaluation Kit" USB\VID_09FB&PID_6009.DeviceDesc="Altera Nios Development Kit, Cyclone III Edition"   So for some reason your USB-Blaster has a product ID of 6003. You can use FT_PROG to re-program the EEPROM if it bothers you, however, it should work just fine as it is.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Dave, 

 This is an original Altera USB Blaster. You're right, it does have PID 6003. However, when I connected it to another PC, it recognized it as Altera USB Blaster (still with PID 6003). On both PCs this USB Blaster isn't recognized by the quartus programmer. Another USB Blaster that I have is working fine. I saved the FTDI data from the working device and burned it to the non-working, but the problem remains. Any ideas?

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   This is an original Altera USB Blaster. You're right, it does have PID 6003.   --- Quote End ---   Ok.    --- Quote Start ---   However, when I connected it to another PC, it recognized it as Altera USB Blaster (still with PID 6003). On both PCs this USB Blaster isn't recognized by the quartus programmer. Another USB Blaster that I have is working fine. I saved the FTDI data from the working device and burned it to the non-working, but the problem remains. Any ideas?  --- Quote End ---    The only thing used to distinguish whether or not a USB device is a USB-Blaster is the USB descriptors it sends when the device enumerates. If you've use FT_PROG to save the setup of one USB-Blaster and programmed it to another, then assuming you did not change the serial number, the two USB-Blasters are indistinguishable to the operating system, so either one should show up in the Quartus programmer.  Having identical serial numbers is not useful if you plug both USB-Blasters in at the same time, but you could make them the same for the purpose of testing each USB-Blaster one at a time.  Try jtagconfig -n with the USB-Blaster plugged into a board too.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

When I try jtagconfig -n with the problematic device, it says "No JTAG hardware available". 

When I try the working device, it says "USB-Blaster [USB-0], Unable to read device chain (JTAG chain broken)". Not sure why it can't read the jtag chain, but at least the USB Blaster is recognized. The problematic USB Blaster isn't recognized at all.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  When I try jtagconfig -n with the problematic device, it says "No JTAG hardware available". When I try the working device, it says "USB-Blaster [USB-0], Unable to read device chain (JTAG chain broken)". Not sure why it can't read the jtag chain, but at least the USB Blaster is recognized. The problematic USB Blaster isn't recognized at all.  --- Quote End ---    But FT_PROG can see it? How about USBView? This site has an improved version of USBView ...  http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtreeview_e.html  Cheers, Dave