BFL ASIC STATUS with pics(UPDATED)

[marra]

Little bit worried: With so many chips on the same board, it is quite difficult to have one single heat sink matching all of them perfectly, some kind of soft heat pad has to be used, and it need to be extremely soft to tolerate the pressure difference

It's gonna be hot that's for sure, lets say 90°C... Why still no confirmation of a working device?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Cropped and oriented. Now compare.

Are those C451 and 2R2 components bidirectional?




(click for larger size)

(apologies for quoting myself, but done so purposely to have the above images on this new page, coupled with coinciding with the below follow-up)

I just figured it out. Somebody, correct me if I'm wrong. The bottom photo looks definitely shopped, with the markings placed on some components.

The eight chips in the bottom image are just shopped coloring. I'm going to put on my worn out tin foil hat now. Either the "smudged" chip was put there on purpose to start a conversation leading to it being blown because... Or it was an 'honest' error during the shopping process, and when it was pointed out, it was transformed into another opportunity to further the delay.

There seems to be a myriad of minor differences between these two boards. Bear in mind that the top board was photographed at an angle, whereas the bottom board was photographed straight down. Yet the markings in the top photo are clearer than the ones in bottom image, but for only some of the components--not all. In fact, in the bottom image, I'm able to read the fine print next to the resistors better than I can read the number 470 on those components, and I have bad eye site. Now, compare the 470 components between both boards.

[rudrigorc2]

could asic chips be made easy replaceable like a regular CPU?

[greyhawk]

could asic chips be made easy replaceable like a regular CPU?

You can't make BGA packages replaceable, no.

[mezzomix]

Wrong. There are sockets for BGA packages. But they are expensive and heat is a problem with those sockets. The socket we used in our last ASIC project was about 1000-2000 USD.

[greyhawk]

Wrong. There are sockets for BGA packages. But they are expensive and heat is a problem with those sockets. The socket we used in our last ASIC project was about 1000-2000 USD.

Ok, let me rephrase that: You can't make BGA packages replaceable without incurring unreasonable cost and heat/connection problems.








....See Bitcoiners clamoring for BFL to add 16000 Dollars worth of sockets to each PCB in 3...2....1

[BFL-Engineer]

Cropped and oriented. Now compare.

Are those C451 and 2R2 components bidirectional?




(click for larger size)

Yes as they are both inductors.


Regards,
Nasser

[RoadStress]

Where are the numbers BFL?

[Beta-coiner1]

I am serial here mang.... I still think BFL is a scam... I mean they have almost 10k of my cash

You gotta be f***** kidding?

I think Josh mentioned something about looking into the idea of offering something between a Single and Mini Rig....Micro Rig for 10,000 would be good here.

[kev7112001]

I cant wait to see them running

[SLok]

Luke-jr at his bfl blog:
So first the bad news: BFL didn't ship today. The "test rig" (which is not related to a "mini rig" at all) has a bad socket for the chip. The good news is, Nasser seems to have got it working anyway, and is well on the way to having the MCU working completely. Unfortunately, he didn't finish it today, but everything is looking good for completion Saturday evening. As soon as that's done, Josh is going to give me a call and I can begin on the BFGMiner end (which has been mostly complete for a few weeks now). So the good news is, BFL will probably be shipping next week (as opposed to another 3 week delay if anything besides the "test rig" was at fault for the testing problems).

In the meantime, Josh moved the BFL products page to DDoS-tolerant hosting, and they have a fancy new entrance at their new office. We celebrated Jody's 1 year anniversary working at BFL with pizza and cherry pies.

[kev7112001]

15 March 2013 Update

It's been a long couple days here at the labs! Trying to test the chip in the test rig has been exceptionally trying and it turns out it's due to a bad socket on the tester. Initially we were concerned there might be a problem with the bumping or substrate, but fortunately we had tested the chips prior with the wire bonding technique, so we knew they worked. Getting the test boards made proved to be fortuitous as well, since we were able to bypass the test rig completely and bring the chips up on the board. By doing so, we were able to finally identify that the problem was related directly to the test rig and not any intermediate process or step.

Bringing a chip to life in situ on a board is not the easiest thing, so it has been slow going. The chip was responding properly on the board late this afternoon and we will be picking up the process in the morning. We hope to have a more complete test by Saturday night or Sunday sometime. Meanwhile, we will also be hard soldering a chip into place for use in the test rig and replacing the socket to allow the bulk testing to finish. In some other positive news, we've not found a single bad chip yet, which could mean our yield rate will be exceptionally high... maybe we just got lucky out of the 50 chips we have available on boards so far, but it seems unlikely. So that may mean the vast majority of our chips will be usable.

So the good news is the boards work, the chips work, the bumping works, the substrate works. We just need to nail down a bit more with the firmware and we should be able to conduct a full test and start shipping.

I will be posting another update as soon as I have more information. Needless to say it's been a pretty busy and stressful last few days here, and some script kiddie deciding to DDoS our sites this morning didn't help matters. All connectivity problems should be resolved now and we will keep people updated as time allows.

[Logik]

Blind Faith Laboratories