Getting 13.4ish with 160MHz / icarus-timing 1.0=20

HW errors around 1% - is this reasonable? EDIT - just saw Kramble's post error rate seems simlar.

For anyone needing the header connector for the Icarus, RS part no. 670 3695 fits perfectly. If you are in the UK I have a few spares as you have to order in bags of 10.

Kramble, today every .mcs I have loaded appears to work. I suspect the makeshift connector I had was possibly to blame as well as user error! The unit which had DONE1 but not DONE2 works after reprogramming.

I have tried turning on the Lancelot and Icarus simultaneously and both take the same time before DONE lights up. Also setting 1 bit / 4 bit makes no difference to the programming time. I surmise that it is running in 1 bit mode regardless of the option chosen in impact.

Out of interest, FPGA1 running 3 core and FPGA2 running 2 core returns WU around 10 (clocked at 160MHz).

By "it did not work", I meant it wouldn't mine. I am assuming the "done" lights mean "I am booted up and ready to go" or similar (they are orange on Icarus). Unfortunately I was not aware of them earlier so did not check them.

I have several boards as follows:

1. The board which mines blakecoin now. Done 1/2 illuminate after around 10 seconds.
2. The board which I started with and put to the side in case it was faulty. Done1 illuminates after around 10 seconds, done2 does not illuminate at all.
3. Another board which I have not attempted to program. Done1/2 illuminate almost immediately.


EDIT:

Here is my hypothesis:

1. Your 2 core MCS probably would have worked but I did not flash both FPGAs and reboot and test due to the error message.
2. My first attempt at building a .MCS was flawed and although I did flash both FPGAs and reboot and test it did not work (I seem to recall getting a different error at some point and this file did not load on Lancelot.)
3. My second attempt at building an MCS worked, I ignored the errors and rebooted and "it worked".

I will retry tomorrow using your 2 core mcs file and let you know how if it does indeed work in spite of errors. Unfortunately the long programming time makes checking all the options rather a slow process.

Success!

I rebuilt the .mcs file from scratch - tried it on Lancelot and it worked. Then tried it on Icarus (with 4 bit) still got the failed message as before but when I rebooted it worked!

I will now try it with Bluedragon's .mcs to see if this works.

I have ordered a 2mm header and will report back if this fits.

Thank you both for all your assistance.

Looks like the pullup resistor on the Icarus CSO_B pin is there, it's just shown separately on the Icarus schematic - look down from U4, below RN3 there are 3 pullup resistors - the bottom one R25 connects to FPGA2_CS which is also connected to U4 pin 1.

Just downloading ug380, will take a look.

Could either of you post the contents of your .cfi / .prm files so I can compare to the ones I am generating please?

Built the new .mcs and it does not work with Icarus. Currently trying it on the Lancelot to compare the log outputs.

>>>> Lancelot failed with the 3 core .mcs file, so I must be doing something wrong in the build process. Now retrying Lancelot with the older .mcs file which did work. I have noticed that trying to program my .mcs file (created with 1 bit selection) choosing 4 bit for lancelot generates a warning. However, using your file there is no warning - possible something to do with the missing .cfi file?

Contents of .cfi file:

# PROMGEN: Xilinx Prom Generator O.40d
# Copyright (c) 1995-2011 Xilinx, Inc.  All rights reserved.

SOFTWARE_VERSION O.40d
DATE            04/08/2014 - 18:14
SOURCE          C:\blake\blakeminer_FourGatexClk_3core_fmax-102.mcs
DEVICE          8192K
DATA_WIDTH      1
FILL_DATA       0xFF
SIGNATURE       0x45C1113A
START_ADDRESS   0x00000000 END_ADDRESS 0x00406533 DIRECTION_UP   "C:/blake/blakeminer_FourGatexClk_3core_fmax-102.bit" 6slx150fgg484


Tried power cycling after programming but it did not work.

It flagged the missing cfi file previously when I programmed Lancelot but it still worked.

Still failing on 1 bit - see pastebin for output.

http://pastebin.com/rQB8PYWm

I'm going to try using your instructions to convert the 3 core .bit file to a .mcs and see if this works.

Hi,

Was just posting re. the data width, I have selected 4 which works with Lancelot (was following instructions here: http://www.cardreaderfactory.com/lancelot-firmware-update.html?sl=en)

I will try again with 1 and see what happens.

It seems to be failing after verification so presumably at the initialisation stage.

Thanks.

Working with Bluedragon's .bit file!

Getting WU of 13.7 after 5 mins.

Bzyzny,

I have the Icarus initialising Jtag chain successfully. I'm using 13.1 64 bit - which worked to program a Lancelot previously.

I haven't needed to reset anything on the Icarus to get this far.

However, after programming, I get an error as follows:

"Configuration data download to FPGA was not successful. DONE did not go high, please check your configuration setup and mode settings.
INFO:iMPACT - '1': Flash was not programmed successfully."

Currently stuck at this point.

Kramble,

I am using the .mcs file which you posted earlier in this thread, which works on my Lancelot board. I will try a .bit file and see if I have any more success.

Hi Kramble,

Thanks for the info re. Lancelot WU etc. I am using 195MHz clock and Icarus Timing 1.0 = 20 so looks like it's doing OK.

Currently trying to get an Icarus working. I am using a bunch of chopped off resistor ends as a Jtag connector, will let you know if it works. I am assuming I can use the same .mcs file as for the Lancelot board.

If it's any help to the others trying to program these, the GND lines appear to be on the top row of the Jtag connector when viewed with the writing facing the correct way. This makes VREF the bottom right pin.

Hi,

Got a lancelot running at 993Mh/s which seems fast, however comparing it to a GPU running at 2Gh/s, the lancelot shows WU of 10.8 compared to the GPU's 27.7

Comparing these gives an "effective" hashrate of around 780Mh/s for the Lancelot which seems about right. Is there any obvious explanation for the higher hashrate number? I have no experience of FPGA bitcoin mining so I may be missing something simple.

Also are there any significant differences between Lancelot and Icarus boards when mining blakecoin?

Thanks.

Registered for pool but no confirmation email. Anybody successfully using this pool?

Crover - the HMRC declaration relates to sales / purchases / profits on bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

It does not relate to purchases of what at the end of the day is electronic hardware. This is no different than if you buy a PC or laptop whether from PC world (where the VAT is included in the price) or from abroad where HMRC require you to pay VAT on delivery.

Many ebay sellers undervalue / pretend they are sending a gift in order to avoid you having to pay VAT / duty on the product. Not only is this illegal, but you as the recipient are liable for any false declaration.

It may well be that due to the large quantity of Antminers being sent to the UK that HMRC have got wise to Bitmain undervaluing and told them to ensure the correct duty is charged or they will seize shipments, which I am afraid they are more than entitled to do.

I'm no fan of paying tax any more than anyone else but I'm afraid there's no easy way round it.

I paid 102.55 VAT plus an admin fee of 11 when buying a miner at 1.45BTC. BTC exchange rate at the time was roughly £375 so the VAT is very close to 20% of this value.

Mine has gone through eventually and Bitmain have accepted it thankfully.

Zelek - as well as the issue which you have reported, payments made from a blockchain account appear not to have been processed correctly whilst they were having an issue - I checked my transaction on alternate (fully up to date) block explorers and the transaction was not there.

Is anyone else still having problems with blockchain.info? I sent a transaction at 18:47GMT yesterday and it still shows as unconfirmed.

Searching for the transaction on http://blockr.io/ and it's not found.

Is anyone else still having problems? I sent a transaction at 18:47GMT yesterday and it still shows as unconfirmed.

Now resolved - showing 4 confirmations.

Definitely stuck - check another block explorer or see this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=498723.0

My order on bitmaintech still shows as paying although the 1 hour window has expired so they may be giving some leeway if aware of the issue.