Antminer S5 loses connection - Burns itself to death

[aurel57]

Not sure if I see just dust or cobwebs? Wonder if this contributed to the problem?

[adaseb]

So when it loses the internet connection the mining stops and the fans stop also? Is that how it works? On the S3+ when the internet is out the fans just slow down they don't turn off.

[jstefanop]

I can confirm this issue on my units as well...I have the fans connected directly to power though, but heat still insane. I think the chips are still powered but not hashing, so they are essentially 100% heaters.

This is a huge firmware/design flaw...not sure why bitmain has not fixed it yet...

[eretron]

One thing is on my mind atm.

Since BTCGuild will shut down on 1st of July, and of this is regular issue for the S5 Miners, since there are still 6500 TH/s on BtcGuild 1 day from shutting down, what will happen if some or majority of those miners are S5s? Are we about to see many of similar topics in the next few days, since technically all of them will loose connection to the pool? Hope not...

[MaximeAD]

I'll cut the blue wire on my S5s fan first thing tomorrow morning...

It's a little annoying if I have to sell them in the future, but I prefer that than the risk of frying them! I'll make an adapter for my next S5s (Material's coming in 3 weeks... !)

[shacky]

Today I was installing a few S5. In the process I connect one by one... but the power supply is ON. I note that the miners who are ON but without ethernet wire was getting hot.

This is a big firmware flaw!!

My S5 have 4 weeks old.

Take care, and add 2 or 3 pools.

[Prelude]

I have the same problem with S4+ units. If they lose network connectivity, they lower fan speeds to about ~1500RPM and start boiling. There was some incredible heat coming out of those boxes when I power cycled them. Thankfully they didn't die, but they certainly shortened their lifespans and burned a lot of electricity for nothing.

Come on, BITMAIN. Stupid stuff like this shouldn't be an issue after 10 hardware releases. 

[sidehack]

I'll cut the blue wire on my S5s fan first thing tomorrow morning...

It's a little annoying if I have to sell them in the future, but I prefer that than the risk of frying them! I'll make an adapter for my next S5s (Material's coming in 3 weeks... !)

Don't cut it. If you have a small straight screwdriver or a good knife, it's really easy to lift the retainer clip on the plastic connector and just slide the whole pin out. Fold the wire back and tape it down to the cable or something so you don't risk grounding it on anything and turning the fan off, but then to put it back to stock all you have to do is slide the end back in the plastic housing. Completely non-destructive and completely effective.

[MaximeAD]

I'll cut the blue wire on my S5s fan first thing tomorrow morning...

It's a little annoying if I have to sell them in the future, but I prefer that than the risk of frying them! I'll make an adapter for my next S5s (Material's coming in 3 weeks... !)

Don't cut it. If you have a small straight screwdriver or a good knife, it's really easy to lift the retainer clip on the plastic connector and just slide the whole pin out. Fold the wire back and tape it down to the cable or something so you don't risk grounding it on anything and turning the fan off, but then to put it back to stock all you have to do is slide the end back in the plastic housing. Completely non-destructive and completely effective.

Awesome! Works like charm. Thanks for the hint.

[Minerkev]

Bitmain....fix that! 

[areinike]

how is everyone making money; with a difficulty of 2% 475 startup costs with a s4 and 2000 hash rate I'm showing break even after 176 days at current price.  the business electricity is 0.03/kwh where I am now

What?  We have an epidemic on our hands!  Our S5's are burning up!  We're going to be making 0 if we lose internet and we'll never break even with bugged hardware! 

[funtakus]

After missing interenet I broke 4 piece S5 of the ordered 11 pieces.

[eretron]

UPDATE:

I got quick response from BITMAIN, unit is on the way to the service, so they will take a look, but the thing is that they know about this issue, so i guess that i will get replacement unit in no time.

So far their customer service is really good... Will update as soon as I get some new info.

[MaximeAD]

how is everyone making money; with a difficulty of 2% 475 startup costs with a s4 and 2000 hash rate I'm showing break even after 176 days at current price.  the business electricity is 0.03/kwh where I am now

You have a 200% ROA and you're not making money??

[SEGMining]

So the issue is that when they lose their internet connection (ie, switch or dns fails or it runs out of backup pools) the chips stay on for some reason?  Eventually burning up the hardware?

Are there other symptoms?  Like, the unit is on and not responsive to pings or the WebUI is not accessible? 

If so, this is troubling because we host a large number of S5s that are super finicky, they randomly just stop working even with stable networking and power and require a hard reset and costs me a lot of man hours resetting these things.  Also, this behavior does not seem to be heat related.

Lets start a list of firmware versions that this is happening with.

[Xian01]

Bitmain support emailed me with a link for a firmware they are currently putting through internal testing, that should resolve the overheating issue when the internet connection goes down.

I'm not brave enough to try out the firmware (My current S5's have been running fine and have added pull fans), but just a heads up for everyone looking for answers on this issue, it appears something should be officially released in short order.

I would rather not share the link for privacy reasons or feel responsible for inadvertently bricking someones unit.

"Soon".

[dogie]

Bitmain support emailed me with a link for a firmware they are currently putting through internal testing

Same on S4+ firmware, I have a copy but its not been tested extensively yet.

[SEGMining]

So the issue is that when they lose their internet connection (ie, switch or dns fails or it runs out of backup pools) the chips stay on for some reason?  Eventually burning up the hardware?

Are there other symptoms?  Like, the unit is on and not responsive to pings or the WebUI is not accessible? 

If so, this is troubling because we host a large number of S5s that are super finicky, they randomly just stop working even with stable networking and power and require a hard reset and costs me a lot of man hours resetting these things.  Also, this behavior does not seem to be heat related.

Lets start a list of firmware versions that this is happening with.

I haven't heard anything from Bitmain or doggie so I would say it safer to assume all firmwares are currently affected and the only safe method is the fan mod someone described.

Dogie - do you have any insight on affected firmware versions?

[Pt0x]

Bitmain support emailed me with a link for a firmware they are currently putting through internal testing, that should resolve the overheating issue when the internet connection goes down.

I'm not brave enough to try out the firmware (My current S5's have been running fine and have added pull fans), but just a heads up for everyone looking for answers on this issue, it appears something should be officially released in short order.

I would rather not share the link for privacy reasons or feel responsible for inadvertently bricking someones unit.

"Soon".

Bitmain support emailed me with a link for a firmware they are currently putting through internal testing

Same on S4+ firmware, I have a copy but its not been tested extensively yet.

My units are doing this same thing. Lets hope to see the new firmware out soon.

[Rabinovitch]

Bitmain....fix that! 

Bitmain... Please also fix (if it is possible at all) the issue when chips stay loaded with some usleless calculations while cgminer can't get any work from pool due to Internet connection absence.