GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[vapourminer]

@ sidehack and anyone: status light are highly useful to me as I glance at the setup and I know its working at least somewhat. I dont nend to check my webpage (I have a local web server for the house)

just saying to people to sneer at them

[bmoscato]

I only have 3 Compaq stick miners.  I have 1 stick that throws a lot more errors than the other 2. It doesn't matter if I run them direct from the PC in a hub or if I run the one unit solo, it still throws a lot of errors.  I've tried different computers and 2 different hubs and I'm running BFGMIner with:

bfgminer.exe -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u 1JiWuyX94wrCr7JhkAn7x5qNMCEef1KhqX.bmoscatosticks -p x -S rockminer:all --set rockminer:clock=280 --set compac:clock=x0b83 --api-listen --api-allow W:10.0.0/24

The compac's look pretty good look at the percentage it is not big.   If you compare to the U3 it appears is on with it the U3 is most of your errors.

But .04 percent should not considered "a lot more".  You should be good.

I guess I should've added that the stick in question has actually crashed once after running for 2 days straight.

[philipma1957]

I only have 3 Compaq stick miners.  I have 1 stick that throws a lot more errors than the other 2. It doesn't matter if I run them direct from the PC in a hub or if I run the one unit solo, it still throws a lot of errors.  I've tried different computers and 2 different hubs and I'm running BFGMIner with:

bfgminer.exe -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u 1JiWuyX94wrCr7JhkAn7x5qNMCEef1KhqX.bmoscatosticks -p x -S rockminer:all --set rockminer:clock=280 --set compac:clock=x0b83 --api-listen --api-allow W:10.0.0/24

The compac's look pretty good look at the percentage it is not big.   If you compare to the U3 it appears is on with it the U3 is most of your errors.

But .04 percent should not considered "a lot more".  You should be good.

I guess I should've added that the stick in question has actually crashed once after running for 2 days straight.

did you turn pot from +  12 oclock   to 1 oclock   some sticks (I have 20)  want a touch more power.
if the + is at 1 oclock move to 2 oclock
if the + is at 2 oclock move to 3 oclock

the turn is clockwise

[sidehack]

I was going to ask, is the voltage set high enough? They come from my bench at about 610mV, which according to Bitmain charts they'll run 150MHz at 600mV but you might have gotten a slightly slow chip. Another question is temperature.

Regarding status lights, to be quite frank I don't care much about any sneering. I rarely consider form when designing something (for the most part I don't care what it looks like so long as it works) but the Compac's lights and colors were very specific and deliberate. Someone doesn't like it, all the circuitry is right there and can be modified pretty easily.

[DaveF]

So there's a miss-type in my OP and I do, in fact, have the leading 0 in my batch file.  I tried omitting the leading 0 and still no effect, just to be sure.  It's as if bfgminer is ignorning the --set compac command on this computer.  Could it be related to my comms error I wonder?

Same here, no matter what speed I put in they hash at the same rate.

-Dave

[Meech]

Any peticular flavor of Debian being used?
My sticks arrived promptly.

[notlist3d]

Any peticular flavor of Debian being used?
My sticks arrived promptly.

I think most are using just new stable releases.  I have used regular debian and raspberian (built on debian).    Both work fine for me.

Linux really is much easier then microsoft on these miners.  Only part that was hard for me was RPI and my hub, but that was a RPI problem not compac problem.

[Mikestang]

Have you tried adding the:     -S compac:all      to the bat?

I've seen that for U3's you add -S antminer:all for bfg to see the U3 sometimes, so wondering if it might have carried over to the compac (Novak stripped icarus down for compac and rebuilt it for cgminer, so did Luke jr do the same??).

EDIT: Just a thought to, is the "compac" maybe supposed to be "Compac"?  Don't know if it would make a difference or not, but?.....

The "-S compac:all" was only necessary for the engineering sticks, the production sticks don't need it.  But yes, I did try just in case, and it made no difference.

I'm fairly certain Compac or compac makes no difference.  The readme has compac, I tried capitalizing it just for giggles and nothing changed.

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

[notlist3d]

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

You will love it and not go back to windows on one machine.  Always could do RPI like I did aswell.

But it's so much nicer then messing with Windows drivers.   It just works great in linux.

[Mikestang]

Only thing is, if you use an older computer around the pentium cpu time that does not have PAE, you have to use an older version of linux (some where around Ubuntu 10.04 or similar) with a NON PAE kernel (or is it PEA? one of the 2).

Sorry, I missed this post earlier.  Thank you for the info, how would I go about determining if my cpu has PAE?

A quick google search (since I didn't know what PAE is) shows me PAE "...allowing these CPUs to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes)."  Both my computers are old XP machines, I know XP couldn't see more than 4 gigs of ram, is this the same thing?

[Meech]

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

You will love it and not go back to windows on one machine.  Always could do RPI like I did aswell.

But it's so much nicer then messing with Windows drivers.   It just works great in linux.

I'm running my Pi with Raspbian but it's not seeing my usb 3.0 powered hub.  Bfgminer starts fine but then asks to "add" devices.
Here's my initial config....   sudo ./bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -O 1Hovwsge5CAeVeQfXrF7iMZ1KyoqyjCagK --set compac:clock=x0b83

Is there a better more compatible linux os for Pi?

[notlist3d]

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

You will love it and not go back to windows on one machine.  Always could do RPI like I did aswell.

But it's so much nicer then messing with Windows drivers.   It just works great in linux.

I'm running my Pi with Raspbian but it's not seeing my usb 3.0 powered hub.  Bfgminer starts fine but then asks to "add" devices.
Here's my initial config....   sudo ./bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -O 1Hovwsge5CAeVeQfXrF7iMZ1KyoqyjCagK --set compac:clock=x0b83

Is there a better more compatible linux os for Pi?

The problem is the hub.  RPI i learned is a PAIN on compatable hubs. Usb 3 are not liked by most RPI. 

I would try one with a undpowered usb hub and I think you will see it (or connect directly to pi).  But I would order a hub that has been confirmed to work with RPI.  It should be all usb 2.0 but that is not the case.  I did kinda a cluster to get my usb hub working.

[philipma1957]

Only thing is, if you use an older computer around the pentium cpu time that does not have PAE, you have to use an older version of linux (some where around Ubuntu 10.04 or similar) with a NON PAE kernel (or is it PEA? one of the 2).

Sorry, I missed this post earlier.  Thank you for the info, how would I go about determining if my cpu has PAE?

A quick google search (since I didn't know what PAE is) shows me PAE "...allowing these CPUs to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes)."  Both my computers are old XP machines, I know XP couldn't see more than 4 gigs of ram, is this the same thing?

2006 intel cpus' or newer. should be good.

[powrslave]

running bfg 5.3.0 win64 and getting a lot of
CBM 0: Comms error (werr=1)

Did not install anything else just running bfgminer.
ran at 150Mhz and now at 125 *seems worse.

bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.antpool.com:3333 -O miner.1 --set compac:clock=x0983

edit: seems to be evening out after running for a while.
any pointers would be helpful so I'll leave this reply/

[Jake36]

Only thing is, if you use an older computer around the pentium cpu time that does not have PAE, you have to use an older version of linux (some where around Ubuntu 10.04 or similar) with a NON PAE kernel (or is it PEA? one of the 2).

Sorry, I missed this post earlier.  Thank you for the info, how would I go about determining if my cpu has PAE?

A quick google search (since I didn't know what PAE is) shows me PAE "...allowing these CPUs to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes)."  Both my computers are old XP machines, I know XP couldn't see more than 4 gigs of ram, is this the same thing?

I found this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

And checking when the "Dothan" Pentium came out, it was around June/July 2004 (dam my laptop is that old ), so unless it's a dinosaur like mine, any of the newer linux should work with the trick on the above page.

[notlist3d]

running bfg 5.3.0 win64 and getting a lot of
CBM 0: Comms error (werr=1)

Did not install anything else just running bfgminer.
ran at 150Mhz and now at 125 *seems worse.

bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.antpool.com:3333 -O miner.1 --set compac:clock=x0983

edit: seems to be evening out after running for a while.
any pointers would be helpful so I'll leave this reply/

Best advice is give debian a try.  It so far is working for everyone that went debian from windows I believe.   Also CGminer seems to be more popular among compac users so might give it a shot also.

[Meech]

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

You will love it and not go back to windows on one machine.  Always could do RPI like I did aswell.

But it's so much nicer then messing with Windows drivers.   It just works great in linux.

I'm running my Pi with Raspbian but it's not seeing my usb 3.0 powered hub.  Bfgminer starts fine but then asks to "add" devices.
Here's my initial config....   sudo ./bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -O 1Hovwsge5CAeVeQfXrF7iMZ1KyoqyjCagK --set compac:clock=x0b83

Is there a better more compatible linux os for Pi?

The problem is the hub.  RPI i learned is a PAIN on compatable hubs. Usb 3 are not liked by most RPI. 

I would try one with a undpowered usb hub and I think you will see it (or connect directly to pi).  But I would order a hub that has been confirmed to work with RPI.  It should be all usb 2.0 but that is not the case.  I did kinda a cluster to get my usb hub working.

It didn't work connected directly to the Pi either.  Looks like I will start from scratch.

[notlist3d]

you have to try the linux 7 build .

night and day over windows.

Looking forward to it, it's on the to do list.  Going to try Debian on usb and Ubuntu on an old laptop.

You will love it and not go back to windows on one machine.  Always could do RPI like I did aswell.

But it's so much nicer then messing with Windows drivers.   It just works great in linux.

I'm running my Pi with Raspbian but it's not seeing my usb 3.0 powered hub.  Bfgminer starts fine but then asks to "add" devices.
Here's my initial config....   sudo ./bfgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -O 1Hovwsge5CAeVeQfXrF7iMZ1KyoqyjCagK --set compac:clock=x0b83

Is there a better more compatible linux os for Pi?

The problem is the hub.  RPI i learned is a PAIN on compatable hubs. Usb 3 are not liked by most RPI. 

I would try one with a undpowered usb hub and I think you will see it (or connect directly to pi).  But I would order a hub that has been confirmed to work with RPI.  It should be all usb 2.0 but that is not the case.  I did kinda a cluster to get my usb hub working.

It didn't work connected directly to the Pi either.  Looks like I will start from scratch.

Are you using cgminer?   If not i suggest giving it a try as well.

You might look at the voltage adjustment before starting from scratch.  I had one I had to adjust slightly and it came online.   

[Mikestang]

Only thing is, if you use an older computer around the pentium cpu time that does not have PAE, you have to use an older version of linux (some where around Ubuntu 10.04 or similar) with a NON PAE kernel (or is it PEA? one of the 2).

Sorry, I missed this post earlier.  Thank you for the info, how would I go about determining if my cpu has PAE?

A quick google search (since I didn't know what PAE is) shows me PAE "...allowing these CPUs to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes)."  Both my computers are old XP machines, I know XP couldn't see more than 4 gigs of ram, is this the same thing?

2006 intel cpus' or newer. should be good.

I found this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PAE

And checking when the "Dothan" Pentium came out, it was around June/July 2004 (dam my laptop is that old ), so unless it's a dinosaur like mine, any of the newer linux should work with the trick on the above page.

Well geeze, you guys actually expect me to remember what year I built this computer?  It could date back to 2006, maybe earlier, but most certainly not later.

[sidehack]

You kidding? I remember the specs and what month and year I built every computer I've owned, going back to the AMD system (Impression IM-21B case, MSI K7 motherboard, Athlon XP 2000+ CPU, ATI All-In-Wonder GPU, Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM IDE hard drive, 2xKingston 256MB DDR266, DVD-ROM and CDRW) assembled during the last weekend in April 2003. Just assumed everyone was like that.