Problems getting started in Quartus 2 and Altera FPGA board

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, 

 This is my first post. I'm trying to get acquainted with Quartus 2 and my Altera FPGA board but I'm having problems starting.  Firstly when I'm in Quartus I can't seem to find my device. I'm using a cyclone 3 EP3C16F484C6N and I do not see "cyclone 3" listed in the "family" pull down menu under the family & device settings nor do I see the EP3C16F484C6N listed in available devices.  Secondly, I don't know whether this is a big issue or not, but I can't seem to get my DE0_controlPanel to work. I think I successfully installed the drivers for the board. However when I try to open the DE0_controlPanel I get errors like:  "The program can't start because jtag_client.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem"  "Load DLL (TERASIC_JTAG_DRIVE.dll) fail"  "Please make sure Quartus is installed" (it is and I can run it)  "download SOPC file (DE0_ControlPanel.sof) fail!"  I don't know whether this is a good idea but when I move the jtag_client.dll file from Quartus to the file in which the DE0_controlPanel is in then I can make the first error go away. Someone suggested I should also move the dinkum_alt.dll file in there as well but I can't find it.  Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   This is my first post. I'm trying to get acquainted with Quartus 2 and my Altera FPGA board but I'm having problems starting.   --- Quote End ---   Welcome to the group and to FPGAs! Sorry you're having trouble ...    --- Quote Start ---   Firstly when I'm in Quartus I can't seem to find my device. I'm using a cyclone 3 EP3C16F484C6N and I do not see "cyclone 3" listed in the "family" pull down menu under the family & device settings nor do I see the EP3C16F484C6N listed in available devices.   --- Quote End ---   Altera (and Xilinx and Lattice) discontinue device support in their "latest version" of tools. When you download Quartus, you need to select the version based on the device you are interested in. The DE board is one of the University Program boards, and they have a good tool overview on their page;  http://www.altera.com/education/univ/software/unv-software.html  "Quartus II software v13.0 SP1 supports all Altera University Program FPGA boards"  So basically you need to download 13.0sp1    --- Quote Start ---   Secondly, I don't know whether this is a big issue or not, but I can't seem to get my DE0_controlPanel to work   --- Quote End ---   This issue occurs because the Terasic Control Panel application is probably looking for a specific version of Quartus. You can probably read the documentation for your board to determine what version they recommend. Try and see if the panel works once you have downloaded 13.0sp1. Because the control panel is closed-source, you won't actually learn much from it. Once you get the software installed, decide on a project, and then come back to the forum for advice when you get stuck.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Welcome to the group and to FPGAs! Sorry you're having trouble ...   Altera (and Xilinx and Lattice) discontinue device support in their "latest version" of tools. When you download Quartus, you need to select the version based on the device you are interested in. The DE board is one of the University Program boards, and they have a good tool overview on their page;  http://www.altera.com/education/univ/software/unv-software.html  "Quartus II software v13.0 SP1 supports all Altera University Program FPGA boards"  So basically you need to download 13.0sp1   This issue occurs because the Terasic Control Panel application is probably looking for a specific version of Quartus. You can probably read the documentation for your board to determine what version they recommend. Try and see if the panel works once you have downloaded 13.0sp1. Because the control panel is closed-source, you won't actually learn much from it. Once you get the software installed, decide on a project, and then come back to the forum for advice when you get stuck.  Cheers, Dave  --- Quote End ---    Hey Dave,  Thanks for the help, on a Sunday of all times. Yeah, I've noticed that too after some sleuthing. I will try 13.1, unless you advise against it. My professor wrote that we should install the latest one (14.1) but I guess that's a mistake on his part. I will come back if I require assistance.  Thanks again

[Altera_Forum]

I also had a problem with the Terasic control panel application not starting. It depends on the drivers for the USB blaster being installed. You also need to reboot your PC after doing the installation. 

 If the Quartus programmer application is able to see the USB blaster, then I don't know what's wrong. :confused:

[Altera_Forum]

Thank you for the replies. 

 I have version 13.1 of Quartus installed now. However when I open the DE0 control panel I still get the error:  "Load DLL (TERASIC_JTAG_DRIVE.dll) fail"  and   "fail to connect your development board"

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   I have version 13.1 of Quartus installed now.   --- Quote End ---   Ok, that should work with the Cyclone III.    --- Quote Start ---   However when I open the DE0 control panel I still get the error:  "Load DLL (TERASIC_JTAG_DRIVE.dll) fail"  and   "fail to connect your development board"  --- Quote End ---   As I commented, the panel only works with a single-specific version of Quartus - the version Terasic used to develop the panel. You should try contacting them directly to ask for their advice.  Sorry, this group is run by users of Altera devices, not by Altera or Terasic, so we cannot help with the control panel problem.  Personally I would recommend not even bothering, as it does not provide you anything to learn from.  Cheers, Dave

[EPoli]

I have used DE0 long time ago and it worked fine.

I need to use it now so I installed Quartus II web edition 13.1, the highest version that supports Cyclone III, DE0's FPGA. However, I faced the same problem as you guys.

Taking the advice from Dave, what I did is I installed the Quartus II software that came with DEO. In my case, it's version 9.0. It still installs in Windows 10, the OS I am using. I uninstalled 13.1 first.

The DE0 control panel still did not work at this point because the Altera USB blaster driver was not installed successfully, no matter what Windows 10 notification says.

So, I manually installed the driver. The driver I used is in the driver folder in the Quartus II install path. I needed to disable digital signing because if not, the driver installation will fail.

I checked if the driver is loaded fine by looking to see if I can select it in the Programmer tool of Quartus II. I can.

DE0 control panel, then, launched correctly.