Author Topic: Quartus / USB Blaster / Windows 10 blue screen of death (Read 21963 times)

Macbeth · « **on:** November 30, 2015, 11:01:33 am »

I previously used Quartus II Web Edition 14 on my desktop Win 7 with my clone USB Blaster without issue. Since upgrading to Win 10 I get blue screens when trying to use the Blaster. I've got the latest Quartus Prime Lite 15.1 and still have the same problem with the drivers. I've also tried with a fresh install of Win 10 on my laptop.

Thankfully the linux kernel driver works just fine so I dual boot into Ubuntu but it can be a drag when most of my other work I get up to runs under windows.

Anyone else using Win 10? I am beginning to suspect Altera are doing an "FTDI-gate" with their win drivers to root out all the clone hardware $:-\$

obiwanjacobi · « **Reply #1 on:** November 30, 2015, 08:48:05 pm »

Not sure about the blaster but the supported windows version for 15.1 is 8.1 - the simulator is only good for windows 8.0.
So you're on unsupported territory with Windows 10...

Macbeth · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2015, 09:46:49 pm »

I'll stick with the Ubuntu dual boot I think. I might try a VirtualBox in Win 10, but it's slow enough as it is!

Kjelt · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2015, 09:49:32 pm »

Can you in win10 select the compatibility mode for that program and choose win7 or 8 ?
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/set-compatibility-mode-windows-10

Macbeth · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2015, 09:57:21 pm »

Not really, it's not the Quartus application but the USB Blaster drivers that are crashing windows. A hardware fault.

Rasz · « **Reply #5 on:** December 01, 2015, 07:30:25 am »

thats what virtual machines are for
some people even keep separate VMs per client/project

1uk3 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 01, 2015, 09:54:13 am »

The original USB Blaster works fine here

(Win10 Pro N 64bit)

I ordered a clone from china, will post here as soon as it arrives(~2 weeks)

kscarbery · « **Reply #7 on:** December 18, 2015, 08:01:09 pm »

I am experiencing what could be the same BSoD with a bugcheck of PFN_LIST_CORRUPT: 0x4E (0x9A, 0x425536, 0x6, 0x2) https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff559014%28v=vs.85%29.aspx. I'm running Windows 7 x64 with Quartus Prime 15.1.0 Build 185. I'm seeing the BSoD immediately after trying to load the driver for the (generic) USB Blaster.

Macbeth · « **Reply #8 on:** December 18, 2015, 08:12:21 pm »

I managed to overcome my USB Blaster BSOD problems. I got an FPGA board from AliExpress that had a spare USB Blaster with it. That one worked.

See my post here https://www.eevblog.com/forum/microcontrollers/beginner-fpga-dev-board/67/

kscarbery · « **Reply #9 on:** December 18, 2015, 10:10:38 pm »

Wow, changing to a different USB Blaster clone also solved my problem. The Terasic Blaster is working fine for me.

free_electron · « **Reply #10 on:** December 18, 2015, 10:21:15 pm »

if i remember right the blaster uses an ftdi chip ....

fake china blasters may have fake ftdi's in em ... er emulated using a cypress chip ...

not altera's fault.

marshallh · « **Reply #11 on:** December 19, 2015, 01:01:31 am »

I'm currently using one that uses a PIC18F14K50 and an octal buffer. It's actually slightly faster than the real one.

Macbeth · « **Reply #12 on:** December 19, 2015, 11:20:43 am »

Yep, that looks the same as my (new) one

miguelvp · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2015, 04:15:05 am »

Speaking of Quartus, has anyone migrated to the new Quartus Prime Lite?

https://www.altera.com/products/design-software/overview.html

Are we going to loose features compared to Quartus II Web Edition?

https://www.altera.com/products/design-software/fpga-design/quartus-prime/download.html

tpw_rules · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2015, 07:49:01 pm »

How do you all run the driver with windows 10 anyway? I'm using a Terasic board and I can't find a signed driver for it. Every time I reboot, I have to go back into debug options and disable signing to be able to do anything. Super obnoxious. Never had a blue screen though.

miguelvp · « **Reply #15 on:** December 20, 2015, 08:01:54 pm »

To tell you the truth, I don't think I fired up Quartus since my Windows 10 upgrade.

marshallh · « **Reply #16 on:** December 21, 2015, 02:46:09 am »

Legit USB Blaster Rev C:

Macbeth · « **Reply #17 on:** December 21, 2015, 02:13:08 pm »

Quote from: tpw_rules on December 20, 2015, 07:49:01 pm

How do you all run the driver with windows 10 anyway? I'm using a Terasic board and I can't find a signed driver for it. Every time I reboot, I have to go back into debug options and disable signing to be able to do anything. Super obnoxious. Never had a blue screen though.

I'm using the Altera driver that comes with Quartus. In my case that's C:\altera_lite\15.1\quartus\drivers

DuMOHsmol · « **Reply #18 on:** February 13, 2017, 08:41:46 pm »

For those suffering BSODs (or hanging Quartus) with cloned USB Blasters, try this driver: http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19233. Or (mirror) https://yadi.sk/d/lLD5vgk03E2Hb3. Or get it from this post

You may need to disable driver signature enforcement to install it. Worked for me!

p_wolf · « **Reply #19 on:** September 19, 2017, 09:39:20 am »

Thank you very much! The driver works fine for me with Woindows 10 and Altera prime 16.1!


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Author Topic: Quartus / USB Blaster / Windows 10 blue screen of death (Read 21963 times)

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