GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[sidehack]

If you don't turn the voltage down from stock, 150MHz will pull about 600mA off the USB port. That may be causing you problems. Adjusting the voltage down about an eighth of a turn will put you more like 520mA, and at that voltage and 125MHz clock you'd be seeing about 440mA, which is well within USB spec.

I don't know your hardware limitations, but my Dell laptop would pull about 1A before throwing fits. Some things drop out just above 500mA, and some ports are good for 1.5A - it depends on the hardware. Using a powered hub is usually recommended because it takes out a lot of questions.

[glitchgod]

well i couldn't get either the Linux Ubuntu's to work so switched back to Windows.... This proves its a user error
 
 
 

Thank you SideHack for all the help.
So far love the Gekko!

[MacEntyre]

well i couldn't get either the Linux Ubuntu's to work so switched back to Windows.... This proves its a user error
 
 
 

Thank you SideHack for all the help.
So far love the Gekko!

Ok. Otherwise I would have offered you a replacement or return.

MacEntyre
bitshopper.de

[Unacceptable]

well i couldn't get either the Linux Ubuntu's to work so switched back to Windows.... This proves its a user error
 
 
 

Thank you SideHack for all the help.
So far love the Gekko!

Don't feel too bad bro,I've been mining since June 2011 & only got CG miner to compile in Unbutu & work ONCE!!!! 

I tried for weeks to do it again & could not duplicate my first time luck 

But in windows,I have little to no issues getting any miner to work...I'm VERY weird & strange I know 

[gt_addict]

Just a little update on my gekkos. The old one I have (#100000031) throws a hissy fit above 250m so shes now partial retired running in the gekkorun. The new one I have (#10000566) is very happy running at 300m so I think the problems I was having trying to get my old one to run higher was purely the fact she was so old 

Anyway still very happy with the gekkos, my thanks and appreciation to novak and sidehack (and anyone else involved) for designing and manufacturing these great little miners 

[-EOS-]

These are great miners for someone wanting to learn about mining or for hobby.

Thank you guys for the work you've put into these!!  Keep it up

[chooka03]

Hi Sidehack,

I recently received a couple of these Gekko's which I'm using with BOINC's project - Bitcoin Utopia.
The are plugged into a new 7 port USB3 Superbpag hub (powered) The one which I think is faulty worked for about 4 hrs, then I noticed the purple light was stuck on and no green light?
I've hotpugged it. Tried different USB ports, and the only V change I made was up to 0.77V using a mutimeter.

The heatsink gets warm but not hot unlike the others whilst it's plugged in.
I tried adjusting the voltage down to .058V, no change.

I notice there's a reset on the miner. Is it possible this needs resetting?

My other 2 units are going great.
Thank you for your help!

Chooka03

[sidehack]

If you bought from someone that wasn't me, you should contact the seller directly when you have problems.

Sounds like probably an ASIC issue, if it's not submitting shares. If it's registering a berjillion errors, it's definitely an ASIC issue. if it's submitting shares but the light is stuck white, it's an issue with the blinker circuit.

[chooka03]

Ok. Sorry and thank you for your reply.
I bought it from HolyBitcoin.

Shame I'm in Australia. Freight is a killer.

Thanks once again.

[rockmoney]

It accepts and just error out after 10 secs

hmmm

any ideas?

I had the same problem with my compacs when I first received them. Your hashrate is MUCH too low and that is causing the error. You need to either adjust the voltage, increase the frequency, or likely both (I would try increasing frequency to about 300Mhz first). Once it starts hashing at a decent rate, that error will go away. Feel free to contact me privately and I will help you get them running efficiently - it took me a few days to figure everything out when I first got mine..

I now have 2 compacs running well and 2 more on the way. As you can see in my screenshot (which is a bit messed up from changing my display and screen resolution), my compacs did error out several times when first starting CGMiner (due to insufficient time for allowing the hasrate to normalize), they run fine once I get them going!

[philipma1957]

Super excited to order one! A bit of a noob question here: How well does this work with Raspberry Pi? Or would it just be easier/better to run on Windows or Linux?

Works really good on linux pc's ,  but I know people get it to run on rasp pi's.

[ZedZedNova]

Super excited to order one! A bit of a noob question here: How well does this work with Raspberry Pi? Or would it just be easier/better to run on Windows or Linux?

The Compac is pretty easy to get running on most platforms. There are a number of people on this thread that are running them on RasPi. I'm running mine on a Mac. Follow the instructions in the OP (and in other posts on the 1st or 2nd page of messages. Lots of good and helpful info.

The one common thread for most folks is that they are using an external powered USB hub. That is critical because as you crank up the core voltage and clock speed these Compacs can draw quite a bit of current. If you search this thread (or maybe check the OP) you will see the various recommendations for which USB hub works with which platform. The caveat with the RasPi that I remember is that it prefers USB 2 versus USB 3.

Cheers,

- zed

[chooka03]

I'm using a Superbpag 7 port USB3.0 Hub as recommended by people on this thread and the sticks go fine. If I plug that hub into a USB3.0 port on my mobo though, the sticks don't work. Plugged into USB 2.0 only.

These also worked plugged into my usb2.0 port on my pc case & mobo.
Just needed to increase the voltage as per the beginning of this thread, to get stability.

Saves you reading all the way back through

Sadly my one which is faulty (it did fire up for about 3 days then stopped) has stopped. I'm praying for it to perform a Lazarus.
Sidehack, is there is a way to reset these? I see the reset pad?

I'd rather try something to fix it before throwing away?
Thank you

[raiding]

Hy@all!

First of all: I'm very new to the mining-scene and I bought some of the gekko miners 2 months ago (from the german distributor). They're all up and running fine ... but I can't get them higher than 150MHz (which are  approximately 8GH/s).

I'm working with the raspberry pi (model b+), and tried different hubs ...

First one was the Orico 3.0 USB-Hub (https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-SuperSpeed-Adapter-Chipset-Windows/dp/B00CBEVTIA).

After that I tried the Anker 3.0 USB-Hub (https://www.amazon.com/Anker-10-Port-Transfer-PowerIQ-Charging/dp/B00VDVCQ84/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1467461481&sr=1-3&keywords=anker+usb+3.0+hub).

Both were recommended by the german seller, but both required the "dwc_otg.speed=0" - kernel-argument in /boot/cmdline.txt, to downgrade the USB 2.0 of the pi to USB 1.1 ... else, the pi won't recognize the miners ... so 150MHz was the maximum here.

At last I bought an USB 2.0 (Orico) and now I don't need the USB-downgrade of the pi ... but 150MHz (4 gekkos) are the max at all ... and it isn't stable, too ...

So ... I think after 2 frustrading months I can say, it depends on the used hub in combination with the VERY picky raspberry pi.

Did someone successful set up mining with pi and this stick and can give me some help, which hub I should use (or other traps which I don't recognized yet)?

In this threat, I was finding this hub (http://www.eyeboot.com/10-port-usb-hub) but it seems out of stock :/

Last but not least: I'm using Minibian (https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/) as raspberry pi image (I've had strange DNS-problems with raspberian .. however) and the official cgminer-version from the gekko-webside.

Greetings

[gt_addict]

I currently run two gekkos (bitshopper ones) on a raspi 3 with raspbian. They are plugged into a d-link 7 port USB 2.0 hub. It has 5 data ports and two charging ports. I use "Y" cables with one end in the data and the other in the charging port for extra power. The two sticks will run at 250 with no problems on the gekko version of cgminer 4.9.2.

I would highly suggest the Y splitter cables as the gekkos do draw more than a single USB port can provide. I do not plug them into the pi as I don't want to damage it.

[sidehack]

raiding - I'm assuming that you've already read the first post of this support thread, and tried increasing the core voltage on the sticks when you attempted higher frequencies?

[raiding]

@sidehack

Of course. That was the first thing I did, when I was receiving the miner

But I was always getting "libusb-error" (something like that), when I screwed higher than 0,6V (USB 2.0/USB 3.0 only slight differences when running 4 miners).

[gt_addict]

@sidehack

Of course. That was the first thing I did, when I was receiving the miner

But I was always getting "libusb-error" (something like that), when I screwed higher than 0,6V (USB 2.0/USB 3.0 only slight differences when running 4 miners).

Ive found that they are like an old car sometimes. They need a few tries at starting sometimes. While cgminer is running unplug them, warm them up a bit in your hand, then plug them back in. It can take a few tries but once they are running they will be fine. Don't forget about active cooling from a usb fan or something similar if youre going to higher freqs 

[sidehack]

And you were using cgminer-gekko, not stock cgminer? And also that your hub's power brick is capable of providing at least 3A of 5V without dropping the voltage?

[raiding]

@sidehack

Of course. That was the first thing I did, when I was receiving the miner

But I was always getting "libusb-error" (something like that), when I screwed higher than 0,6V (USB 2.0/USB 3.0 only slight differences when running 4 miners).

Ive found that they are like an old car sometimes. They need a few tries at starting sometimes. While cgminer is running unplug them, warm them up a bit in your hand, then plug them back in. It can take a few tries but once they are running they will be fine. Don't forget about active cooling from a usb fan or something similar if youre going to higher freqs 

Thanks for advice
Didn't know, hotpluging is working with cgminer. I always got errors, when I tried it. But I'll give it a chance next time!

I'm currently using 2 of these fans: https://www.amazon.de/ARCTIC-Breeze-Mobile-USB-Ventilator/dp/B003XN24GY/ref=pd_sim_147_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=31bg8Sp8sTL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=EHQGEFWVVF0671YVGFG7

I've got some questions: How much amp do you get with the Y-cables? I've heard rumors, that you can't get more than 600mA (500mA "main"-port and 100 mA from the second power-port). Is that true? Are 250MHz the "magic border" for you with these cables, or can u get higher? Are the miners running stable for a long time (1-3 weeks)?


@sidehack

I'm using cgminer-gekko. I've compiled it from source on the raspberry pi.
The power brick says: 12V 3A and I can't remember recognizing any voltage dropping.