DE2 Programming Problems

[Altera_Forum]

Folks, 

 I've been struggling with a DE2 Board. The board's self-test works fine and I can push simple designs (all that I've tried) through Quartus II. However, I've never been able to program the board. I've updated my Quartus II to 7.1 and my USB-Blaster Driver to 2.0.0.0.  When I try to program the board in JTAG mode I get --  Info: Started Full Compilation at Thu Jul 12 14:03:28 2007 Eastern Standard Time Info: Ended Full Compilation at Thu Jul 12 14:04:42 2007 Eastern Standard Time Info: Started Programmer operation at Thu Jul 12 14:21:30 2007 Error: Can't access JTAG chain Error: Operation failed Info: Ended Programmer operation at Thu Jul 12 14:21:30 2007  When I try to use Active Serial Programming I get --  Info: Started Programmer operation at Thu Jul 12 14:23:06 2007 Error: Can't recognize silicon ID for device 1 Error: Operation failed Info: Ended Programmer operation at Thu Jul 12 14:23:06 2007  Does anyone have any suggestions? Did I get a bad board or am I doing something wrong?  Simon Read

[Altera_Forum]

Make sure you select the USB-Blaster in the programmer (Hardware Setup button in top left of the programmer screen). 

 Also, leaving programs like the DE2 Control Panel connected to the board will prevent you from programming.

[Altera_Forum]

It turns out that the issue was "User Brain Dead". 

 I had left the board turned off (little red button up). Somehow the idea of it being programmed during self-test threw me.  Thanks to everyone (including a patient Altera AE) for their help.  Simon