S9i - i managed to brick it

[koinkab]

Hi Folks
S9i was working fine apart from sometimes it seemed to
break and fans would go FULL PELT for no apparent reason
so in my misguided wisdom i decided to flash firmware
and i seem to have bricked it

and it didnt work so i have tried all sorts of firmware and braiins
and im a bit confused and getting nowhere

so i want to start again with a clear head ......

Anybody prepared to take me through this in baby steps ?
 

[paid2]

-You will need to remove the Control Board from the miner (remove the fans, and every cable connected)

-Once done you need to extract this : https://file12.bitmain.com/shop-product/firmware/t9%2B%20-SD%20Tools.zip on your SD card. After that, of course, you insert the SD card in the control board.

-You put the jumper in the good position as per : https://support.bitmain.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019493654-S9-series-S9-S9i-S9j-S9-Hydro-Control-Board-Program-Recovery

-You put the ethernet cable in the ethernet port of the control board

-You put the 6pin cable from your PSU to your control board

-The control board will be powered on. You need to wait at least 90 seconds for the files to load automatically. When loaded, the red and green indicator lights on the control board will blink.

-Once done, you access the control board through its IP address, and you flash the firmware you want from the Bitmain's interface (in your case, this firmware : https://file12.bitmain.com/shop-product/firmware/fbfdf7bc-ac9c-4049-abd5-92b8c6af22f0/2019/08/08/22/Antminer-S9i-xilinx-201907311618-autofreq-user-Update2UBI-NF-sig.tar.gz)


And that's all, you should be fine

[koinkab]

MANY thanks for time taken to reply.

Downloaded files described and added to desktop and extracted to 8GB SD card

removed all cables , inserted ETH cable* , inserted power


nothing , no blinking red/green lights on front

moved position of jumper ** , this time life however red/green lights permanently on , no blinking

waited at least 3-5  mins each time


* in the video the guy does not attach ETH cable
** might seem simple to those doing regular but its really not
clear in images which position is the flashing position , im guessing
moving to closest to R4 is flashing position

on the actual board there is a little bank of tiny LEDS , they are lit permanently except
one which blinks constantly

[BitMaxz]

moved position of jumper ** , this time life however red/green lights permanently on , no blinking

waited at least 3-5  mins each time

You have to wait at least 15 mins and if still doesn't work nothing changes on your miner's firmware try the exact firmware from Bitmain below

- https://shop.bitmain.com/support/download

Click the drop-down arrow and look for the exact model because the link provided above is for t9 so try the s9i under the tf card service pack

[koinkab]

heys thanks , Ok I can go try that in due course

but before i go further I really need to establish 101% which position for
jumper is flashing position

two pins closest to R4 or two pins cclosest to JP4

[paid2]

moved position of jumper ** , this time life however red/green lights permanently on , no blinking

waited at least 3-5  mins each time

You have to wait at least 15 mins and if still doesn't work nothing changes on your miner's firmware try the exact firmware from Bitmain below

- https://shop.bitmain.com/support/download

Click the drop-down arrow and look for the exact model because the link provided above is for t9 so try the s9i under the tf card service pack

As per https://support.bitmain.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019493654-S9-series-S9-S9i-S9j-S9-Hydro-Control-Board-Program-Recovery

It is the t9+-SD Tools.zip which should be used

heys thanks , Ok I can go try that in due course

but before i go further I really need to establish 101% which position for
jumper is flashing position

two pins closest to R4 or two pins cclosest to JP4

Should be closest to JP4

[koinkab]

Ah HA !

I seem to have moved forward a little .....
having moved the jumper to JP4 ( not R4)  and downloaded the S9 software
( as per https://shop.bitmain.com/support/download )

It was dark for about 15 secs then the red and green lights have started flashing
every second of so , seems promising , so i shall give it 20 mins half hour before
doing anything else

If its currently "writing " what should i expect , the lights go solid when its finished ?

[koinkab]

Ok i gave up waiting on the lights going solid etc as they continued blinking simultaneously

I then MOVED the jumper back to R4 and i manged to log in

I have done the flash upgrade and it said success ! so does this look ok , dont want to
rebuild it until im sure all is OK


System
Miner Type   Antminer S9i
Hostname   antMiner
Model   GNU/Linux
Hardware Version   
Kernel Version   Linux 3.14.0-xilinx-g16220c3 #83 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 12 11:42:53 CST 2018
File System Version   Wed Jul 31 16:18:26 CST 2019
Logic Version   V2.87
BMminer Version   
Uptime   3
Load Average   0.05, 0.04, 0.02

[philipma1957]

Ok i gave up waiting on the lights going solid etc as they continued blinking simultaneously

I then MOVED the jumper back to R4 and i manged to log in

I have done the flash upgrade and it said success ! so does this look ok , dont want to
rebuild it until im sure all is OK


System
Miner Type   Antminer S9i
Hostname   antMiner
Model   GNU/Linux
Hardware Version   
Kernel Version   Linux 3.14.0-xilinx-g16220c3 #83 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 12 11:42:53 CST 2018
File System Version   Wed Jul 31 16:18:26 CST 2019
Logic Version   V2.87
BMminer Version   
Uptime   3
Load Average   0.05, 0.04, 0.02

looks good. load the correct s9i firmware and give it a shot.

[koinkab]

Hurrah ! Hurrah !
Im up n running

still have fan probs though

Done check_asic_reg
Chain[6] Chip[244] pcb temperature=62
Chain[6] Chip[62] junction temperature=46
Special fix Chain[6] Chip[62] middle Temp = 77
Done read temp on Chain[6]
Chain[7] Chip[244] pcb temperature=56
Chain[7] Chip[62] junction temperature=35
Special fix Chain[7] Chip[62] middle Temp = 71
Done read temp on Chain[7]
Max pcb temp : 62
set FAN speed according to: temp_highest=62 temp_top1[PWM_T]=62 temp_top1[TEMP_POS_LOCAL]=62 temp_change=1 fix_fan_steps=0
FAN PWM: 72
read_temp_func Done!
CRC error counter=1002

[philipma1957]

Hurrah ! Hurrah !
Im up n running

still have fan probs though

Code:

Done check_asic_reg
Chain[6] Chip[244] pcb temperature=62
Chain[6] Chip[62] junction temperature=46
Special fix Chain[6] Chip[62] middle Temp = 77
Done read temp on Chain[6]
Chain[7] Chip[244] pcb temperature=56
Chain[7] Chip[62] junction temperature=35
Special fix Chain[7] Chip[62] middle Temp = 71
Done read temp on Chain[7]
Max pcb temp : 62
set FAN speed according to: temp_highest=62 temp_top1[PWM_T]=62 temp_top1[TEMP_POS_LOCAL]=62 temp_change=1 fix_fan_steps=0
FAN PWM: 72
read_temp_func Done!
CRC error counter=1002

those fans look okay. what speed are they 3500 rpm?


https://vmssecuritycloud.com/product/nidec-ultraflo-120mm-fans/

 he has them

[BitMaxz]

still have fan probs though

I don't see any fan issue on that logs it only shows the fan speed according to the temp of the unit.

Since you flash the unit just recently I suggest do a hard reset first to refresh the whole unit before you try to run and test again.

[koinkab]

Many thanks to everyone who helped

This unit is successfully hashing for 12 hours following firmware upgrade.

Two issues remain

1)
Overnight the "old" issue reappeared , the fans go on FULL PELT , full power
this is the issue that caused me to mess up the firmware in first place:-)
hashes fine continues working but fans seem to go full power mode ! and does
not stop until unit disconnected from power and restarted

i cant imagine this is a fan issue , can it be ? is this not a software/control board issue ?


2)
one of the hash  boards has been gubbed for months , is their a Uk repairer ?or
sales place for S9i hash boards ?
are the boards in S9 and s9i the same ?

[paid2]

Many thanks to everyone who helped

This unit is successfully hashing for 12 hours following firmware upgrade.

Two issues remain

1)
Overnight the "old" issue reappeared , the fans go on FULL PELT , full power
this is the issue that caused me to mess up the firmware in first place:-)
hashes fine continues working but fans seem to go full power mode ! and does
not stop until unit disconnected from power and restarted

i cant imagine this is a fan issue , can it be ? is this not a software/control board issue ?


2)
one of the hash  boards has been gubbed for months , is their a Uk repairer ?or
sales place for S9i hash boards ?
are the boards in S9 and s9i the same ?

It's cool to know that it's working again and that you've succeeded with the firmware.

1). Yeah it could be a fan issue, but I'm not sure. Are you running your S9i in good conditions? Is the room big enough?

2). Here's a list of ASIC repair centers: https://www.zeusbtc.com/RepairCenter/

I don't think there are any in the UK, but you could send it to France or Germany perhaps.

However, I don't know if the profitability of an S9i would justify such costs, I don't know if the repair would be justified.

You can always find hashboards on the internet, on ebay for example, but choose your seller extremely carefully if you don't want to receive a dubious hashboard.

No, S9 and S9i boards are not the same, and are not interchangeable.

[koinkab]

is this a clue ?

2023-07-10T08:57:53.796686Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: read failed: I2C error: general error I2C controller keeps reading wrong address/register
2023-07-10T08:57:53.796753Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: Too many sensor errors, disabling sensor

[BitMaxz]

is this a clue ?

2023-07-10T08:57:53.796686Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: read failed: I2C error: general error I2C controller keeps reading wrong address/register
2023-07-10T08:57:53.796753Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: Too many sensor errors, disabling sensor

It seems you switch to Braiins OS, according to that logs TMP451 fail to read the temp which might be the reason why the fans is forced to run at full speed.

You need to find which hashboard that causes this issue and fix the issue by resoldering the chip temp sensor or replace it.

There is no clue which hashboard that caused this error you can run them one by one to find the hashboard with a faulty temp chip.

[koinkab]

is this a clue ?

2023-07-10T08:57:53.796686Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: read failed: I2C error: general error I2C controller keeps reading wrong address/register
2023-07-10T08:57:53.796753Z ERROR bosminer_hal::sensor: Sensor hb7[ii_hwmon::tmp451::TMP451]: Too many sensor errors, disabling sensor

It seems you switch to Braiins OS, according to that logs TMP451 fail to read the temp which might be the reason why the fans is forced to run at full speed.

You need to find which hashboard that causes this issue and fix the issue by resoldering the chip temp sensor or replace it.

There is no clue which hashboard that caused this error you can run them one by one to find the hashboard with a faulty temp chip.

Thankyou for the SIMPLE but very useful heads up

I seem to have now identified the board causing issue , not sure if i will have ability to repair however
the unit is now running 3 hours without a " FULL ON FAN " issue

( and yes i installed braiins as i need ability to reduce power ( on dark rainy days ) , but increase power on really sunny bright
days as im running these units off of solar

[BitMaxz]

Thankyou for the SIMPLE but very useful heads up

I seem to have now identified the board causing issue , not sure if i will have ability to repair however
the unit is now running 3 hours without a " FULL ON FAN " issue

( and yes i installed braiins as i need ability to reduce power ( on dark rainy days ) , but increase power on really sunny bright
days as im running these units off of solar

Since the miner is running on solar power what I think is there is a possibility that your power source is not stable or low this can lead to many issues like overheating or like your current issue related to temp error.

I suggest better monitor the power source if the voltage sometimes drops below 220v you can read more here "Read Temp Sensor Failed"