Hello, my name is Intel F. Hanako.
My name is Intel F. Hanako and I am a technical support person for Intel® FPGA products at Macnica.
When writing to devices with Quartus® Prime, debugging with Signal Tap, or debugging with Nios® II Software Build Tools, you communicate with a download cable such as Intel FPGA USB Download Cable II (aka USB-Blaster II). When debugging with Signal Tap or debugging with Nios® II Software Build Tools, you use a download cable such as Intel FPGA USB Download Cable II (also known as USB-Blaster II).
When you do this, a program called JTAG Server is running in the background.
We will explain What is JTAG Server? later...
If this JTAG Server is not functioning properly,
USB-Blaster II or USB-Blaster does not appear in the Programmer's Hardware Setup (of course, the driver is already installed).
Even if the SOF file is downloaded by the Signal Tap Logic Analyzer, the status will be in red and "Program the device continue" will be displayed.
The following problems may occur.
The causes may include the following
The status is blocked by a firewall or anti-virus tool.
⇒ [Countermeasure]: Temporarily disable the firewall or anti-virus tool, and then start the JTAG Server.
(Then enable the firewall or anti-virus tool.)
JTAG Server is not installed. (Then, enable firewall or anti-virus tool.) JTAG Server is not installed, or the service is stopped.
⇒ [Countermeasure]: Install JTAG Server. If the service is stopped, start the service.
The version of JTAG Server in use is not the latest.
⇒ [Countermeasures]: Uninstall the old version of JTAG Sever, install the latest version of JTAG Server, and start the service.
This section describes how to start/stop/install/uninstall JTAG Server.
Please note that these operations must be performed with administrative privileges.
Although you can start and stop the JTAG Server from the GUI (Windows Service), we will show you how to perform all operations using commands here.
Before we begin,
Check the version of JTAG Server
To check the version of the JTAG Server program that is running (in use), use jtagserver -v at the command prompt.
The procedure is as follows
(1) Start the "Service Management Tool" of the OS.
In Windows 10, use the search box next to the Start menu and enter "service" as the search keyword.
Select "Services" from the search results to launch the Service Management Tool.
(2) Right-click "Altera JTAG Server" in the list of services and select "Properties" to display the properties of Altera JTAG Server.
(3) Check the "Executable File Path" in the "General" tab.
This path is the currently running JTAG Server.
This corresponds to which version of Quartus Prime installation folder you are pointing to and equals "JTAG Server Version".
From here, if you want to check it further,
(4) Launch the Command Prompt.
(5) Enter the path confirmed in (3) above, followed by a space, then -v, and press the Enter key.
The version of JTAG Server is displayed.
How to start JTAG Server
(1) Start the command prompt.
(2) Use the cd command to move to the bin64 folder under the Quartus Prime installation folder.
(3) Execute the following command to start JTAG Server.
jtagserver --start
(4) Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server.
Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server. jtagserver --status
If "Server is running" is displayed, the service is "started".
How to stop JTAG Server
(1) Start the command prompt.
(2) Move to the bin64 folder under the Quartus Prime installation folder by cd command.
(3) Execute the following command to stop JTAG Server.
jtagserver --stop
(4) Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server.
Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server. jtagserver --status
If "Server is stopped" is displayed, the service is "stopped".
How to install JTAG Server
(1) Start the command prompt.
(2) Move to the bin64 folder under the Quartus Prime installation folder by cd command.
(3) Execute the following command to install JTAG Server.
jtagserver --install
If the message "Server is already installed" is displayed, JTAG Server is already running.
If you want to install a different version of JTAG Server than the one shown,
Stop the running service and uninstall the JTAG Server. After that, install the JTAG Server.
Restart the OS after installation.
(4) After restarting the OS, execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server.
jtagserver --status
If "Server is running" is displayed, the service is "started".
How to uninstall JTAG Server
(1) Start the command prompt.
(2) Move to the bin64 folder under the Quartus Prime installation folder by cd command.
(3) Execute the following command to stop JTAG Server.
jtagserver --stop
(4) Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server.
Execute the following command to check the status of JTAG Server. jtagserver --status
If "Server is stopped" is displayed, the service is "stopped".
(5) Execute the following command to uninstall JTAG Server. Then, restart the OS.
jtagserver --uninstall
(6) Execute the following command after restarting the OS to check the status of JTAG Server.
jtagserver --status
If "JTAG Server not installed" is displayed, JTAG Server has been "removed.
What is JTAG Server?
JTAG Server is a program that communicates with hardware such as USB-Blaster II to allow multiple programs to use JTAG resources simultaneously.
This means that if the JTAG Server is not running properly, it cannot communicate with the USB-Blaster II or other FPGAs via the download cable.
Normally, the JTAG Server is installed with the Quartus Prime installation and the service is started automatically, so there is no need for the user to separately install or start/stop the service.
You can check the installation status in "Windows Service".
If multiple versions of Quartus Prime are installed on a single PC, the last Quartus Prime version installed will overwrite the JTAG Server.
At that time, if the service is operating normally, the version of JTAG Server will be replaced as soon as the Programmer of Quartus Prime is started.
However, for some reason, the JTAG Server may not be installed or the version may not be updated.
Uninstalling/reinstalling JTAG Server can avoid such problems.