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I don't have another Avalon, so no, I have not. That said, if it doesn't work, a portion or all of the escrow would be returned, just ship the device back to me.
The board itself shows absolutely no signs of damage. My hunch is the melted USB cable had something to do with why it stopped mining because the few times I started it up that first night and it didn't mine, the logs showed USB connection problems. In IRC it was recommended that could be a power issue (seems they we're right). When it did start up correctly, it worked great and got me over .7 coins that first night in Slush's pool.
Either way, I'm doing my best to be up front about everything that happened and a board that probably works is better for someone who has one that definitely doesn't. That's why this an auction. If someone sees value here, they can obtain it.
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If you're interested in the back story of this sale, you'll find it here.        The starting bid is 10 BTC which (almost) gets me back to my original costs on this rig. As of this posting, the four modules are sold and in the mail to new owners. What I'm auctioning are original Avalon batch 3 components: - Metal Chassis
- Control Unit
- Router
- 2 Fans
The power distribution board is not included. My plan is to run this auction through the weekend, and if the response is favorable, close it out some time on Monday or Tuesday. If not, I may hold on to the parts until more batch 3's are delivered. I've already heard a few stories of broken components during shipping, so this might be a faster option than waiting for Avalon to send replacement parts. You agree to pay for escrow via John K, pay for whatever speed shipping you want, and pay for whatever insurance you want on the shipment (though I doubt an insurance company would know how to price this stuff, so I personally wouldn't bother). I'll be shipping everything in the original Avalon packaging. I hope this helps someone get their rig going. If you have questions, feel free to PM me. I don't know what a fair price for this is at the current difficulty and all the craziness to follow with Avalon, so I'm letting the community decide. If there isn't much interest now, I'm fine with holding on to it until someone needs it. I prefer to sell the whole thing, so if you only need one part, you might considering reselling the other parts or keeping them as backups. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me out over the past few days. It's nice to connect with some great people in the community. |
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There is a lot of good that goes on in the community and it is nice to hear that you have found so many willing to help. I wish you the best and ya do a nice blog about it as it will be good for others to read and gain insight. From your loss there could be a few less tragedies I suppose. Glad your house didn't catch fire either and no one was hurt those are some horrific burns to the unit.
I was thinking the same thing. My entire house could have burned down because the PDU doesn't isolate where it gets power from and, as I've stated many times, I was an idiot and didn't think it through. I checked it via the web interface that morning around 6:00am and it was still cranking away when I left a few minutes later. When I got back around 9:30am, it wasn't mining anymore. Things can _always_ be worse. I realized I've been pretty wrapped up in this thing since I first contemplated buying one so many months ago. I tried powering one of my 7790 GPU's with a sata cable and bricked my $2000 mining rig a few weeks ago. Except for usb block erupters I think I'll pay for hosting from now on...
Ouch. So very sorry that happened to you. I hope our experiences will help others avoid similar problems. |
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Update: 3 of the modules are sold and in the mail. The last one is claimed and in process.
I plan to auction off the remaining pieces (chassis, control unit, router, fans) over the weekend. I've already been contacted by three different people interested in the components, and I really don't know what to price them at so I'll let the community decide.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me and encouraged me through this process.
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So any news on the melted Avalon?
I think I'm going to go ahead and sell the components so others can get mining again quickly. I have two pending orders, one for 3 modules and one for a single module. There's also interest in buying the control unit and chassis. I'll probably auction that off in hopes of getting close to my original investment back. It's been a stressful few days, but I'm thankful for the community, and the many who reached out to me. I've had numerous phone calls, skype, irc, google chat, email, and PM conversations. Some things I learned: - Batch 2 control units are not be compatible with batch 3 modules. - People who deal regularly with solder, circuit boards, and the like think creating a board is trivially easy and rerouting fan wires to custom connections is doable. I commend you all, but I'm just not there. - THINK before you turn on something new. I was so excited to get mining, I didn't think. Looking back, it's obvious the unit needed a distribution of power. I'm just surprised and deeply saddened it turned on at all. I hope future PDU boards have better power isolation. When the sales are finalized, I'll give more updates. I'll probably blog about it as well as a handy reminder whenever I need another dose of humility. |
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Lukestokes, I feel for you, so sorry.
An alternative you might not have considered: don't try to sell the working parts on clearance. Hang on to them and watch the forums for someone else having a problem, then sell the parts at a markup. Since you're already in the US and you can ship them overnight anywhere in the CONUS, you might be able to command enough of a premium to cover your original cost.
Thanks. That's a nice idea in theory, but the value of the miner (and its parts) is based on time. As the difficulty goes up, the value goes down. That said, you're right that a dead miner is much less useful than a working one which means people may really want the other parts. I've got a few different legitimate offers for the modules and a couple offers for the control board, router fans, and case. I'm not interested in charging a premium or gouging, I would just like to get back as much of my original investment as possible. It's sad to see this equipment just sitting here. |
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where are you based ? I'll probably take this  Sent a PM. For everyone else, I'm in the USA. |
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If you'll pay 25 BTC per module plus escrow, I can have them shipped out today.
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I have a spare board from strombom , please contact him , maybe he still has some spare parts.
Thank you, I have. It seems there are some significant differences between batch 2 and batch 3 components. strombom mentioned it should be possible to wire up the power cables even without a PDU, but I don't have the expertise for that. |
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Thanks for the all the input, everyone. It's sounding like the best option is to get replacement parts directly from Avalon. I'm not sure how feasible that is or how long it would take. I've also started this thread to see what interest there is in buying the modules directly: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269845.0 So far I've gotten some offers, but they would all put me at a loss. Any other thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated. |
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So in retrospective, for those of us looking on what NOT to do and prevent accidents, why did this happen? That power supply should have handled current perfectly. Did you do custom cabling or what? I thought Avalon provided with proper cables. I still don't understand why this happened.... He ONLY installed the 24pin mainboard connector. Sorry for my ignorance but what else was he supposed to connect? power only comes through one cable AFAIK. I thought the same thing. And you if you try that, you'll end up with a melted miner. You have to hook up the 24pin ATX cable AND all of the power supply cables, like you would if you were supplying power to devices in your computer like a hard drive or a DVD player. Why it runs at all with only the single cable plugged in? I have no idea. I've put this thread up as well to see how much interest is out there for buying Batch 3 modules: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269845.0 I've gotten some serious offers, but most are lower than I was hoping. |
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I've gotten a few different offers to purchase the modules. Still not sure if that's what I want to do, because so far the offers would put me at a loss. No word from Avalon yet on replacement components. I may hold out a little bit longer until I hear from them, but you're welcome to send me your offer as well.
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You can read the whole story here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269802.0I've got a support ticket with Avalon to get a replacement PDU and an RMA request for a new PSU, but I hate to see these things just sitting here. If I get an offer from someone I can trust, I might be willing to sell the modules. I'm fairly confident the modules themselves are fine because they were cranking out 90GHs+ last night and this morning. I would only finalize a sale after confirmation they were working as expected. You could buy one or all four. PM serious offers only, please. |
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Thanks all. I've got a support ticket going with Avalon. I'll keep you posted.
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So this is your "wow, I'm glad I'm not as dumb as that guy" moment for today. Yesterday I was excited to finally receive my Batch 3 Avalon. Having had ATX/AT power supplies before, I incorrectly thought it was an either/or situation and didn't connect all the power wires from the PSU. I fired it up, mined some coins through the night, checked it in the morning, all was good... went to a meeting, came back and discovered a melted ATX wire which then melted the PDU. You can see the whole story here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=140539.msg2885086#msg2885086https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=140539.msg2886607#msg2886607Here's where I need your help: I have to decide on what to do now. Should I sell my 4 modules and be done with it? I'm fairly confident they are all working, but understandably the forth one may bring some doubts with it. If you are interested in buying them, please PM me. I spent 101 BTC on this rig, not including the PSU I purchased and I'd really hate to lose so much money. Or, if you have spare parts or work with someone who does, here's what I need: - One (1) Batch 3 PDU (what I have looks different than this picture: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon#PDU ) (see posts linked to above for pictures) - four (4) power cables. - one (1) usb cable - one (1) 10-wire cable connecting the PDU to the Control Unit - 5 zip ties If you can give me a quote for these components along with shipping costs and estimated delivery time to middle USA, please PM me. There's also been some talk of having someone else host my modules. I'm interested in all possibilities to get these things running again as soon as possible. So, those are my options as I see them. Do you see any others? What do you think I should do? Can you help? [Edit: I'm selling the components in hopes of recovering my costs. Modules are in the process of being sold, other components will be auctioned.] |
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Another option is to have someone host your modules.
Hosting would be interesting... there'd have to be a lot of trust on both sides. I'd recommend the owner of the module would need access to the pool login or something like that to ensure things are running smoothly, maybe settling out every week. How would the owner guarantee future payouts? Nothing prevents someone from just pointing it to a different pool and the owner would have no recourse. Big money, no recourse, and strangers make for interesting dynamics. I sold shares in my current Avalon. I mine at eligius, and the statistics are all visible to the public. There is no password at the pool, and no administrative tasks to perform there. That payout address is dedicated to those 3 modules. It is pretty clear when down-times are, and I usually post something in the auction thread. Yesterday it was down about a half hour, and I linked to a nice photo of a friend holding some hailstones. I would use a different payout address for the 4th module. I could point it to the owner's address directly, and trust him to make the fee payment back to me, after all, I would be holding pretty good collateral. For physical recourse in case of theft or catastrophic auto accident or whatever twists life throws, I suppose there could be a contract stating that the module remains the property of the owner and is to be returned at any time, for any reason, id documents, and of course a signed shipping receipt. I don't know who would enforce such a document, perhaps the local police would do a "health & welfare" check. I sent off some enquiries about getting a replacement controller. Thank you. I've sent some enquiries as well to those who already responded to me. Here's a breakdown of what I think I need: - One (1) PDU (?) (what I have looks slightly different than this picture): https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon#PDUMine also has plugs for the fans and what appears to be a different configuration. Maybe the wiki isn't updated with Batch #3 components? Here's the mess:         - four (4) power cables. - one (1) usb cable - one (1) 10-wire cable connecting the PDU to the Control Unit - 5 zip ties I also need any tips you have on how to clean the circuit board. I was told isopropyl alcohol and qtips. I think the fourth module is going to be OK as I don't see any evidence of melting, bulging, etc, just what looks like burnt wire insolation.  If you have access to what I need, please quote me a price and estimated delivery time via a PM. |
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I was wondering too.
Did you get a reply from Yifu ?
I emailed the info@ address and got a reply from NG Zhang about an hour later. I have yet to receive a follow up reply. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I've contacted a few clone builders and am going to take everything apart right now to get an idea of what parts I need and how much they will cost. Another option is to have someone host your modules.
I have been approached by someone who wants me to host their module in my Batch #2 Avalon. I have thought of building up several additional "zero module" Avalons and offering a module hosting service. If I stepped up the efforts on that, it would match up with your situation of modules that need a host. Essentially, I am at the same place that you are, I need another controller.
I also have thought of having a repair service. I have repaired 1 Avalon thus far. I work with (use, troubleshoot, repair, cuss at, design) high dollar scientific instruments in my profession.
I don't know what a fair price is for hosting a module. I am assuming I would be paid in bitcoins as it mines, but I don't know what the split should be.
Do you encourage me to get a "zero module" Avalon in operation?
That's a really interesting question. I'm interested, but first I want to take what I have apart and figure out what the costs (and timeframe) would be of getting this thing running again. I'll probably start up a thread about selling these modules as well, to gauge interest there. Hosting would be interesting... there'd have to be a lot of trust on both sides. I'd recommend the owner of the module would need access to the pool login or something like that to ensure things are running smoothly, maybe settling out every week. How would the owner guarantee future payouts? Nothing prevents someone from just pointing it to a different pool and the owner would have no recourse. |
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I think that is the controller board. It has an FPGA on it. To get a replacement, you go do a lot of basic simple correspondence. To start, ask Avalon and burnin if they will ship you a replacement. Ask what damage trade-in price they will give you.
I've emailed Avalon and just sent a PM to burnin as well. Thank you. While you are in the midst of a misfortune, your device is nonetheless valuable to the community, so continue to treat it with care. It documents a failure mode, and the process of examining it should give insight for design improvements, and practice for the soon to be important repair business.
The rest of the community also wants to know how to get replacements, and who will be helpful when disaster strikes. It will strike. Yesterday we had 2" hail and violent weather. I could easily have taken a lightening strike and had the same mess. Other people will have different issues, perhaps a mouse seeking a warm place to sleep, a dog marking territory, or a wife disappointed with a relationship with a secretary.
I would be very conservative. If the module is damaged, it could in turn damage a replacement part. I would run the unit with 2 modules to be sure that the repair worked. I haven't thought through when & how to bring the suspicious module back online.
Again, take photos of each item that you remove. Perhaps on white butcher paper with a carefully lettered 3x5 card with date and description.
Especially, take some close up photos of the controller board, front and back.
You might create a new payment address and put it in your posting signature, perhaps one or two Avalon owners can send a bitcoin or two as a hand-up.
Thanks, once my emotions settle down a bit, I'll dig into taking everything apart and do exactly that. If someone has access to modify the wiki, they might want to add a note about ensuring power is properly distributed to help someone else avoid this tragedy. I'm also wondering if I should just sell the modules in an attempt to recoup my costs. The temperatures were fine last night and this morning, so I would be surprised if any of them were damaged. I was getting over 90GHs. Maybe a long escrow could handle that. I don't know. I'm not sure where to start with that or what the market is for them. I'm open to any advice. I feel I should wait to hear from Avalon or Burnin or someone else regarding replacement parts, but I also realize an idle miner is terribly wasteful. I feel like I should move direction or the other very soon: 1) Get all the parts needed ASAP 2) Put the parts up for sale ASAP. |
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