GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[Biodom]

I need hubs anyway, so I saw that jake36 used Superbpag (USB3) for sticks AND pi and ordered it in addition to Anker 10port usb3 hub, which i will probably simply return (amazon did not cancel in time).

The main reason is that superbpag is powered up to 14A.
http://www.amazon.com/Superbpag-Portable-Charger-Transfer-Samsung/dp/B013OK10YM
Most of USB2 powered sticks are 2.5-3A, apart from that 49 port "yellow submarine" (Eyeboot):
http://www.amazon.com/Eyeboot-Port-USB-110v-220v/dp/B00JCA4ARS

[Luke-Jr]

All the GekkoScience sticks are also flashed and burned in on a standard USB2 hub, 200MHz via cgminer-gekko on a Debian 7 system.

You should probably consider doing burnin with BFGMiner's --benchmark-intense option which is designed to push miners to their limits (unlike the real Bitcoin network).

[sidehack]

If I wanted to push them to their limits I'd crank them to 800mV and 425MHz and use whatever software I wanted. My job is to make sure it works. Catching it on fire is up to the customer.

[toptek]

...
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
So directly plugged on mobo.

Usb3 to get to 0.8 or really good USB2 ?

Real GOOD USB 2.0, i'm currently using some IBM and Dell mobos, and the one that is a "generic" is an Asus. They're built like tanks and the port runs flawlessly for weeks.

I use this one i bought  a while back off new egg got a nice deal on had no use for it till now . I have it plugged into a 240 line with no issue at all once i figure out how to power it up and what PSU, i needed for a 220/240 line, it works on a 110/120 line in US as well. The reviews on new egg are on the money, which you don't find to often for a product .


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707235

[buckrogers]

Still have nice looking green machines not working at all for me.

Tried cgminer, bfgminer,and more, ---- usb 3.0 Anker 10 port hub.

Used multiminer software and was able to run all 5 in that hub but only at 3.5GH/s each or so. It looked as if it used an older version of bfgminer in that program

I have each "flat" part of the potentiometer set at top right corner on all of them.

Ive tried 50 configs for bat files, and once saw all 5 running at over 8GH/s each for about 10 seconds in bfgminer ...before all the comms errors, or in cgminer the "L" type errors.

People are saying its my hardware, but I have run successfully 9 usb miner sticks in  there plenty of times and most recently the bitmain U2 usb miners....so? i cant figure it out.

Maybe ill try again soon.

[sidehack]

I'm gonna go ahead and advise the same thing I advised last week, which is the quote from the first post which states that if you have trouble the first thing you should try is turning up the voltage. The flat part in the upper right corner still puts it at pretty much dead bottom voltage. If it's one of my sticks, it left here set for about 640mV (flat in the bottom right corner) and was tested to work without error at 200MHz/11GH.

So what you do is, you turn the screw up a bit and fire it up and see if it works better. If not, turn it up a bit more and repeat. Just like the advice in the first post. I specifically sent you to read through this thread for solutions to your problem since a lot of what you need is probably in the first post.

Additionally,

None of my sticks are tested to work on anything USB3, and I don't know anyone else's opinions but I've never recommended their use on a USB3 hub either, reason being they're not USB3 devices and were never tested for compatibility.

[VirosaGITS]

Hmm, i run mine on USB 3.0 hub just fine, its a 10 port teknek, i would guess there's some sort of power limitation if you get less speed when you have several, they probably get less power.

But i run only one, with a Y splitter cable. Does 12.2GH/s at 225hz.

[zOU]

Well I made a few futile attempts to get them to work on a Orico A3H10 hub, not to avail.

Wether directly on a old lenovo laptop or with the hub connected to a usb2 hub: no chance.

I'll do more tests tomorrow or later during the week.

If anyone has them on this Usb3 hub, i'm interested....

Update:

I've connected the Orico A3h10 USB3 10ports Hub to a gibagyte brix which has USB3 ports.

All 6 compac sticks are detected and running fine at stock 150Mhs




According to my calculations yesterday evening (so they may be horribly wrong) I will try to push them a bit

USB2 is 5v and 500mA =2.5W
USB3 is 5V and 900mA = 4.5W

Stick is 0.8V to the BM1384 chip, but still 5V to the stick...
1st post says that 137-150Mhs would use the 2.5W at 0.5V to the BM1384 chip.

Now if I want to run 6@150Mhs, that's 15W, so a 5V/3A I just enough.
But my USB3 hub is 12V/3A so 36W, so 6W per stick, but that's exceeds the port W.

However I could run 36W/4.5W = 8 sticks and reaching the USB3 max W per port.
If I want to populate all 10 slots, then the power supply is the limit:

36W = 3.6W/port = 216Mhs per stick

Assuming (bad habit) a linear ratio Mhs/W, I could reach 360Mhs for 6W. (my hub PS = 36W, I have 6 sticks, so 6W/stick available)
270Mhs is (I think) the Max achievable on stock USB3 for 4.5W.
If I want to push the sticks higher than 270Mhs, I need to use 2 hubs and a Y cable

I'm not even sure the above makes sense anyway ...

[buckrogers]

I'm gonna go ahead and advise the same thing I advised last week, which is the quote from the first post which states that if you have trouble the first thing you should try is turning up the voltage. The flat part in the upper right corner still puts it at pretty much dead bottom voltage. If it's one of my sticks, it left here set for about 640mV (flat in the bottom right corner) and was tested to work without error at 200MHz/11GH.

So what you do is, you turn the screw up a bit and fire it up and see if it works better. If not, turn it up a bit more and repeat. Just like the advice in the first post. I specifically sent you to read through this thread for solutions to your problem since a lot of what you need is probably in the first post.

Additionally,

None of my sticks are tested to work on anything USB3, and I don't know anyone else's opinions but I've never recommended their use on a USB3 hub either, reason being they're not USB3 devices and were never tested for compatibility.

Thanks, I will try to adjust the settings more on the physical USB.

It would be great if someone can post a picture of where the actual voltage settings would range on the USB Miner from low end to max, like "this position is "x" voltage".

I think that would be extremely helpful for some.

thanks!

[zOU]

You mean a picture like the one in the first post ?  

[Jake36]

I'm gonna go ahead and advise the same thing I advised last week, which is the quote from the first post which states that if you have trouble the first thing you should try is turning up the voltage. The flat part in the upper right corner still puts it at pretty much dead bottom voltage. If it's one of my sticks, it left here set for about 640mV (flat in the bottom right corner) and was tested to work without error at 200MHz/11GH.

So what you do is, you turn the screw up a bit and fire it up and see if it works better. If not, turn it up a bit more and repeat. Just like the advice in the first post. I specifically sent you to read through this thread for solutions to your problem since a lot of what you need is probably in the first post.

Additionally,

None of my sticks are tested to work on anything USB3, and I don't know anyone else's opinions but I've never recommended their use on a USB3 hub either, reason being they're not USB3 devices and were never tested for compatibility.

Thanks, I will try to adjust the settings more on the physical USB.

It would be great if someone can post a picture of where the actual voltage settings would range on the USB Miner from low end to max, like "this position is "x" voltage".

I think that would be extremely helpful for some.

thanks!

Easiest way would be to use 1 of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?keywords=drok%20usb&qid=1447593939&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

However you can also just start cgminer with no sticks plugged in hub, plug 1 stick in, then turn the pot (in small increments) till it starts mining. Then adjust it some more to get rid of HW errors. Start on the end that will leave the pot in the open until the next stick is plugged in.

Plug the next stick in and adjust it, repeat, until you get all sticks plugged in and running.

Then again, I just looked at some of the 1 star reviews of the Anker 3.0 hub (that you linked to in a previous post) and I wouldn't buy one. More than a few die after a few months, some will only get 2 or 3 ports working, some will constantly drop connections, some over heat, and some only get 2.0 speed or lower (even if everything is 3.0).

Even seen some review's of another model of Anker 3.0 hub, that some programs would not run, if the hub was plugged in before opening the program (had to open the program and then plug the hub in). So seem's that the Anker 3.0 hub's are not as good as the 2.0 hub's were in the past.

[borisg26]

Novak

  I need a BM1384 ASIC test machine., Do you think adapting a QFN44  IC Test (see the link)   with some with a cooler will make the job.


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/QFN44-MLP44-MLF44-QFN-44-52-BT-0-5-01-Enplas-QFN-7x7-mm-0-5Pitch/2049424570.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.195.ZRERdC&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_1_79_78_77_91_80,searchweb201644_5,searchweb201560_9  

[sidehack]

No. Pretty sure you'd need QFN56 since it's not a 7x7mm package. Also I'm working on one of these. Since a BM1384 test machine development is not pertinent to the technical support of a Compac stick miner, I would appreciate no further discussion of the subject in this thread and maybe use the BM1384 development thread where, a few pages back, I gave a paragraph explaining the thing.

[buckrogers]

You mean a picture like the one in the first post ?  

No that exactly NOT the picture I am looking for. Do you think I might be blind and missed that lol


I am looking for a detailed pic with locations of the potentiometer with each range more or less. Like 90 degrees right is "X" value

90 degrees left is "X" value and so on.

Something like that would be very useful while attempting to narrow in on a specific voltage range.

Thanks!

[Biodom]

Ok, finishing up preparations for running sticks...
i want to try both pi and pc/linux or debian to run those.
Q:
I am thinking about getting a cheap XP laptop, then install Linux and/or Debian.
The specific question would be: is it possible to partition the initial XP drive and install Linux on one half and Debian on another OR is it better to keep XP and simply run linux/debian off the stick or CD without installing on the hard drive, ALL in order to run miners off a hub and nothing else?

If anybody comments, i would appreciate it.
My interest here would be to learn linux/debian a little while "playing" with sticks.
thanks

[buckrogers]

I'm gonna go ahead and advise the same thing I advised last week, which is the quote from the first post which states that if you have trouble the first thing you should try is turning up the voltage. The flat part in the upper right corner still puts it at pretty much dead bottom voltage. If it's one of my sticks, it left here set for about 640mV (flat in the bottom right corner) and was tested to work without error at 200MHz/11GH.

So what you do is, you turn the screw up a bit and fire it up and see if it works better. If not, turn it up a bit more and repeat. Just like the advice in the first post. I specifically sent you to read through this thread for solutions to your problem since a lot of what you need is probably in the first post.

Additionally,

None of my sticks are tested to work on anything USB3, and I don't know anyone else's opinions but I've never recommended their use on a USB3 hub either, reason being they're not USB3 devices and were never tested for compatibility.

Thanks, I will try to adjust the settings more on the physical USB.

It would be great if someone can post a picture of where the actual voltage settings would range on the USB Miner from low end to max, like "this position is "x" voltage".

I think that would be extremely helpful for some.

thanks!

Easiest way would be to use 1 of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6?keywords=drok%20usb&qid=1447593939&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

However you can also just start cgminer with no sticks plugged in hub, plug 1 stick in, then turn the pot (in small increments) till it starts mining. Then adjust it some more to get rid of HW errors. Start on the end that will leave the pot in the open until the next stick is plugged in.

Plug the next stick in and adjust it, repeat, until you get all sticks plugged in and running.

Then again, I just looked at some of the 1 star reviews of the Anker 3.0 hub (that you linked to in a previous post) and I wouldn't buy one. More than a few die after a few months, some will only get 2 or 3 ports working, some will constantly drop connections, some over heat, and some only get 2.0 speed or lower (even if everything is 3.0).

Even seen some review's of another model of Anker 3.0 hub, that some programs would not run, if the hub was plugged in before opening the program (had to open the program and then plug the hub in). So seem's that the Anker 3.0 hub's are not as good as the 2.0 hub's were in the past.

Thanks for looking up all the 1 star reviews they are very helpful in buying any product. Mostly from angry people who have issues.

I have never had an issue with my hub and have used it just fine with 9 USB miners maxed out. But thanks for the suggestion.

[sidehack]

Well, you know one corner is 800mV and one corner is 550mV and one corner is about 640mV because you've been told all this either directly or with pictures. Doing the math, that puts the other corner at about 710mV. Doing more math will give you more approximate setpoints. The best resolution will be had by measuring the test pads with a voltmeter, which is why those test pads exist.

Of course you could always, instead of picking a voltage and then, I don't know, determining a working frequency for that voltage? You could pick a frequency or hashrate you want to achieve and then dial in the voltage by watching how well the stick works. If you want to pick a power use range, you could look at the very detailed graphs TheRealSteve put up for power use in the review thread, pick a frequency and dial in the voltage until it works.

So, three different things you can do that don't require someone else to draw you a picture, and based entirely off finding and using information already given.

[buckrogers]

Well, you know one corner is 800mV and one corner is 550mV and one corner is about 640mV because you've been told all this either directly or with pictures. Doing the math, that puts the other corner at about 710mV. Doing more math will give you more approximate setpoints. The best resolution will be had by measuring the test pads with a voltmeter, which is why those test pads exist.

Of course you could always, instead of picking a voltage and then, I don't know, determining a working frequency for that voltage? You could pick a frequency or hashrate you want to achieve and then dial in the voltage by watching how well the stick works. If you want to pick a power use range, you could look at the very detailed graphs TheRealSteve put up for power use in the review thread, pick a frequency and dial in the voltage until it works.

So, three different things you can do that don't require someone else to draw you a picture, and based entirely off finding and using information already given.

I see so in that original pic, the top is 800mV and direct south is 550mV?

The blue lines mean top and bottom opposites?

and the red line in the top left corner is 710mV?

please confirm.

thanks!

[Jake36]

Ok, finishing up preparations for running sticks...
i want to try both pi and pc/linux or debian to run those.
Q:
I am thinking about getting a cheap XP laptop, then install Linux and/or Debian.
The specific question would be: is it possible to partition the initial XP drive and install Linux on one half and Debian on another OR is it better to keep XP and simply run linux/debian off the stick or CD without installing on the hard drive?

If anybody comments, i would appreciate it.
My interest here would be to learn linux/debian a little while "playing" with sticks.
thanks

I've got the Pi 2-B running my sticks (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), another running U3's (Raspbian), and another is running my TV storage/streaming (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS).

Yes, you can have 2 OS (or 3, 4, ?) boot (Windows and Linux, or even a couple different versions of Linux) on the same computer (I've got Linux Mint 17.2 and Win 7 on this machine now). Learning Linux was why I did the dual boot and now I may start Win 7 maybe twice a week (still got one program I use Windows for).

I would suggest, go for a newer model laptop built for Win 7 (newer CPU's and the like, plus will be a little faster) if you go the laptop route. The laptop's built for Win 7 should be supported for years to come, where as some of the old XP laptops are already getting left behind with the new builds of Linux (search for PAE and you'll see what I mean) and you have to stick with older versions on some laptops already.

[zOU]

You mean a picture like the one in the first post ?  

No that exactly NOT the picture I am looking for. Do you think I might be blind and missed that lol


I am looking for a detailed pic with locations of the potentiometer with each range more or less. Like 90 degrees right is "X" value

90 degrees left is "X" value and so on.

Something like that would be very useful while attempting to narrow in on a specific voltage range.

Thanks!

As you've been told above (and as i've done):
Trial and error.

Blue line is 0.55V
359degres is 0.8V

So that's a range of 0.25V for 360degres
180 = 0.125
90 = 0.0625
45 = 0.03125

Etc etc