S17Pro PIC replacement on hashboard

[danieleither]

I have an S17Pro hashboard which I believe is in good working order, other than the PIC has failed:

Code:

2021-08-09 19:11:49 driver-btm-api.c:320:init_pic: Chain[0] PIC init failed!
2021-08-09 19:11:49 driver-btm-api.c:197:set_miner_status: ERROR_PIC_LOST
2021-08-09 19:11:49 board.c:36:jump_and_app_check_restore_pic: chain[0] PIC jump to app
2021-08-09 19:12:05 board.c:40:jump_and_app_check_restore_pic: Check chain[0] PIC fw version=0xff
2021-08-09 19:12:05 driver-btm-api.c:197:set_miner_status: ERROR_SOC_INIT
2021-08-09 19:12:05 driver-btm-api.c:138:stop_mining: stop mining: soc init failed!
2021-08-09 19:12:05 thread.c:744:cancel_read_nonce_reg_thread: cancel thread
2021-08-09 19:12:05 driver-btm-api.c:124:killall_hashboard: ****power off hashboard****

Does the above confirm a failed PIC?

I do not have the means to reprogram, but I have stacks of dead S17Pro hashboards (with potentially good PICS). So my question: is it feasible to replace the PIC itself? I have an SMD rework station and a steady hand. Also - how to identify which IC is the PIC?

[mikeywith]

Does the above confirm a failed PIC?

Not at all, it doesn't.

Did you buy this new or was it owned by someone else? the reason why I ask is that because some custom firmware will f the PIC and cause it to show 0xff, if you are lucky, a different firmware might fix this, it's highly unlikely that this is a hardware issue.

how to identify which IC is the PIC?

It will be something very close to this


My advice is, don't take the hardware path before trying the software, if different firmware doesn't fix it, order pickit3 for $18 and extract the hex from another hash board, if that does not fix it, then replace the actual PIC IC.

[danieleither]

Not at all, it doesn't.

Did you buy this new or was it owned by someone else? the reason why I ask is that because some custom firmware will f the PIC and cause it to show 0xff, if you are lucky, a different firmware might fix this, it's highly unlikely that this is a hardware issue.

This board is from a miner I purchased second hand several months back. It has been running ok on standard Bitmain firmware for several months, but more recently the board has been dropping in and out. I have been consolidating hashboards in my S17Pros as they gradually die, and moved this board into a different miner (with two other working hashboards) but I found that the miner just ignores this board but runs on the other two fine. I noticed the unusual firmware version and the fact that all the rest of my S17Pro have different firmware versions and wondered if it was some kind of failure of the PIC.