Flashing using the USB blaster¶

Software¶

If you have Quartus II installed for compilation you can just use the programmer included with that. If not then you just need to download the programmer from:
http://dl.altera.com/?product=qprogrammer#tabs-4
Check only the "Quartus Prime Pro Edition Programmer and Tools" tag. Then download it and install it on your PC.

Process¶

Its possible to update the core using the USB blaster
To do this:
#Connect power to the board
#Connect the jtag
#In quartus go to tools->programmer
#In the programmer select 'add file' and choose the .sof or the .jic file (It may be required to click a box or two to say program, I forget)
#Tell it to start

If you flashed a .sof, then it will start immediately. It will only last until power off.

If you flashed a .jic, then it will require the board powering off/on to load. This will load until you flash the next jic or update via sd card.

Troubleshooting¶

You may encounter an error about hash codes not verifying when trying to install the USB Blaster driver in Windows 10. This appears to be caused by an unsigned driver provided by Altera. You can force the driver to install by temporarily putting Windows in "unsigned driver mode" and then manually installing the driver through Device Manager. Here are the steps:

1. Go to windows 10 settings and search for "advanced startup options"
2. Under Advanced startup, hit "Restart now"
3. After a moment, you'll get a "choose an option" screen - choose "Troubleshoot", then "Advanced options", then "Startup Settings"
4. You'll get a screen telling you what you will be able to change and a single "Restart" button - press it.
5. If your boot drive is BitLocker encrypted, you'll need to enter the recovery key (press return, enter the key in the text box then hit return again - it took me three goes to realize I had to hit return before I could enter they key !)
6. You'll be given a menu of options, number 7 disables driver signature enforcement
7. When the PC restarts, use Device manager to update the drivers - this time you'll get a warning about the signature, but they install fine.
8. When you've finished, restart normally to re-enable signature enforcement