Why Can't I Program Using Active Serial Programming with my USB Blaster III? - Why Can't I Program Using Active Serial Programming with my USB Blaster III? Description Due to a firmware issue the USB Blaster III Development cable may not have the correct product ID and may inadvertently disabled the active serial programming feature. Resolution To resolve this issue the Product ID of the cable should be updated to (6023). Perform the following steps on Windows to update the ID. Download and Install the FT_PROG.exe the EEPROM Programming Utility from FTDI https://ftdichip.com/utilities/ Plug-in your USB Blaster III development cable into your computer. Uninstall the USB Blaster III device driver from the device manager. Open the Windows Device Manager. Find the group called JTAG cables , under this group there should be a USB Blaster III device. Right Click on the USB Blaster III device and Click Uninstall. Tick "Attempt to delete the driver for this device" or "Delete the driver software for this device" during uninstallation. This prevents the UB3 driver from being automatically reinstalled. Install the FTDI Device driver. Open the Windows Device Manager. Find the group called Other Devices . In the group Other Devices there may be several USB Blaster III devices. To Identify the correct USB Blaster III device Right click on each USB Blaster III device and click Properties. Find USB Blaster III device that contains values that end with MI_00 Once Identified, Right click on correct USB Blaster III device and click Update driver To Update driver click Browse my computer for drivers Search and select the USB Blaster III driver directory under your Quartus installation. <Quartus Path>\qdrivers\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-iii Click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer . If, Select your device’s type from the list below , choose Universal Serial Bus controllers. When selecting a driver click the FTDI manufacturer then select USB Serial Converter A Version: 2.12.36.4 and click the Next button. Program your USB Blaster III Development Cable with FT_PROG.exe to update your product ID. Open the FT_PROG.exe from FTDI installed in step 1. From the DEVICES menu click Scan and Parse to bring up your USB Blaster III Device Under the Device Tree select the section called USB Device Descriptor This should contain a property called Product ID and should have a value of 6023 , change this to 6023 if it is not set to this value. Once changed, under the DEVICES menu click Program to flash the EEPROM Uninstall the FTDI driver installed in step 4. Open the Windows Device Manager. Find the group Universal Serial Sub controllers In the Universal Serial Bus controllers right click on the USB Serial Converter A and Click Uninstall. Do not tick "Attempt to delete the driver for this device" or "Delete the driver software for this device" . Re-Install the USB Blaster III device driver. Open the Windows Device Manager. Find the group called Other Devices. In the group Other Devices there may be several USB Serial Port devices or USB Blaster III devices. To Identify the correct USB Serial Port device Right click on each USB Serial Port device and click Properties. Find USB Serial Port device that contains values that end with MI_00 Once Identified, Right click on correct USB Blaster III device and click Update driver To Update driver click Browse my computer for drivers Search and select the USB Blaster III driver directory under your Quartus installation. <Quartus Path>\qdrivers\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-iii Click the Next button. Windows should show USB Blaster III driver installed. Verify USB Blaster III device has the correct Product ID. Open the Windows Device Manager. Find the group called JTAG cables , under this group there should be a USB Blaster III device. Right click on each USB Blaster III device and click Properties. Values should contain PID_6023 in the string, if not unplug and re-plugin the device. Open Quartus Programmer and Validate that the Active Serial programing is now available. Custom Fields values: Errata QS-346418 novalue ['FPGA Dev Tools Quartus® Prime Software Pro'] novalue 25.3 ['Agilex® 3 FPGAs and SoCs', 'Agilex® 5 FPGAs and SoCs', 'Agilex® 7 FPGAs and SoCs', 'Agilex® 9 FPGAs and SoCs', 'Arria® 10 FPGAs and SoCs', 'Cyclone® 10 GX FPGA', 'Stratix® 10 FPGAs and SoCs'] - 2026-06-26

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Support Resources > Knowledge Articles
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khoros