I've got an upgraded S1 to the S3+ kit unit that has stopped functioning. It still power's up, and shows up on the mining page. The green light on the controller card blinks, but no beeping. I dont know how to reset, as you would an S3, I've upgraded the firmware, and rebooted, and powered down and back up. No luck. does anyone have any ideas?

The S1 upgrade kit was probably the biggest favor bitmain has offered it's customers, and I'm glad I bought mine when I did. Naturally it occurred to me with the glut of S1 for sale on ebay as people bail on mining, why not pick up a few units specifically to upgrade once bitmain restocked and started selling the kits again. Thank God I sent an email to bitmain before buying S1s for that purpose. Here's how it went.

2014-10-08 5:52 GMT+08:00

    Are you going to start reselling the S1 upgrade kit? If so when? Please respond. Thank you

Hi,
it's discontinued, consider other product to try:)

Best Regards

BITMAIN

The upshot, the upgrade kits which produced a cooler running, faster, more stable unit than the S3+, were cannibalizing bitmain's sales of the new S3+ units. Not good for their bottom line. If your sitting on a bunch of S1 waiting to upgrade them, you'll want to get what you can for them, as quickly as you can, before your left with a bunch of overpriced boat anchors. Thanks Bitmain, I'm taking my business elsewhere.

I've started a new team on BTC Guild. You are cordially invited to join Confederate BTC. Let's kick butt. No PIN required, Yankees welcome.

I didn't say anything about tossing them, on the contrary, someone more clever than me will figure a way to underclock them with cgminer loaded on a raspberry pi and I will have maximized the resources on hand. Understand? It's likely to look like a steaming pile, but if the boards you are ready to toss can be made viable why not? Of course there are a lot of miners that like everything in nice neat rows, ready to be photographed, suitable for framing, me...I'm in it for the coin. As soon as I come up with the solution I'll let you know, unless you want to toss those boards my way.

Then what? You've got s1 units that may or may not pay for the electricity they use even overclocked. Or you can pass them off to a noob on eBay, that's an ethical question. Or you maximize the equipment you've already paid for, basically converting a s1 to a s3+ while not having to pay for anymore PSUs. That's the logical choice. Again, Opportunity Cost, it's a term in economics. In a nutshell it's the cost you pay for making a decision, as opposed to the cost of the other choice. Look it up. I have looked at it ad nausea um, and from a p/l point of view, the upgrade makes since.

PS Noise isn't an issue, and you've still got the old boards. Mark my words, some clever soul will come up with a way to run those things profitably, that was the point of the thread, the upgrade debate is over, at least for me.

Brilliant! We can agree to disagree on the upgrade kits. The problem I'm left with is I'm going to have a LOT of old S1 boards without the cases. I need a schematic or diagram, to illustrate a method of powering, programing and getting them to produce. Your point on heating the house once winter gets here is well taken. While the electricity is cheap, natural gas cost is outrageous. My utility bill normally doubles during the winter months. I've already got some long Cat5 cables, and plan to strategically place my miners throughout the house to provide heat. Again, whats to do with the boards? There has got to be a way to power them up and have them mine.

I understand what your saying, and I've got 6 upgrade kits on the way as soon as they ship. But there has got to be a cost effective way to utilize the old boards. I live in a city that has some of the lowest cost per Kw/h in the US. I follow, the premise of under clocking them, but that's like telling me I have to rebuild the engine in my truck.  I'm gonna need a little more specific information. I'm not an idiot, I build my own PCs, but I don't know where to start on this project. There is a way, I see people offering to do the upgrades for free as long as they can keep the boards, so they have a intrinsic value, and can be put back in service in a cost effective manner. I imagine as more and more of them start to pile up in peoples workshops, the procedure will become less vague.   

Bitmain has done it's loyal customers a "favor" and released a DYI upgrade kit for the S1 units. According to the specs this will basically convert your old S1 to the equivalent of a S3+ (453 GH/s). Let the debate begin, "To upgrade or not to upgrade". I won't go through my thought process, believe me I've mulled it over. Price vs a new S3, potential snags associated with the conversion, the first release of the product etc, but I've decided to convert my S1s. There is a term central to economics, opportunity cost which taken into consideration makes the decision a little more complicated than chuck the S1s. I digress. My question, for the more technically inclined, how can the old boards and chips be put back to work? There has got to be a way to daisy chain them, use cgminer with a raspberry pie, and continue mining with them. Any ideas?
By the way, what is the dope on Bitmain's L1?
Thanks for any help, and keep it simple, pictures and line charts are good.