Can't login to Antminer S3? (Black Screen Timeout)

[BitJunkie223]

Advanced IP Scanner shows this unit at 192.168.1.107... Well, there's two, but I'm having the same problem with both units...

So I go to that address as normal, and I would see the black LuCI (or whatever) screen, and then boom, unavailable. What the hell is the problem? I tried to reset them like 20 times, but no matter what, I couldn't get the things to reset. I took the top shell off too, just to be sure I was holding the button properly, and I was. No change...

Is there any other way to reset it besides the reset button? I remember someone saying something about an SD card, but this is in regards to the rack units like the S2, S4, etc, correct? I believe they had either a Raspberry Pi, or a Beaglebone, or something in them as a controller...

I'm at my wits end. I can't connect to these miners, and 3 weeks of mining has gone by with no solution... I really hope one of you can help me out here, because I can't imagine what else I could possibly try to get these things going... Thank you!

[1713993967]

1713993967

[1713993967]

1713993967

[VirosaGITS]

Advanced IP Scanner shows this unit at 192.168.1.107... Well, there's two, but I'm having the same problem with both units...

So I go to that address as normal, and I would see the black LuCI (or whatever) screen, and then boom, unavailable. What the hell is the problem? I tried to reset them like 20 times, but no matter what, I couldn't get the things to reset. I took the top shell off too, just to be sure I was holding the button properly, and I was. No change...

Is there any other way to reset it besides the reset button? I remember someone saying something about an SD card, but this is in regards to the rack units like the S2, S4, etc, correct? I believe they had either a Raspberry Pi, or a Beaglebone, or something in them as a controller...

I'm at my wits end. I can't connect to these miners, and 3 weeks of mining has gone by with no solution... I really hope one of you can help me out here, because I can't imagine what else I could possibly try to get these things going... Thank you!

Can you SSH into the miner? You can use Putty to do so;
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

This should help us know what the hell is going on and if you can SSH then you effectively have regained access to your miner.

[sidehack]

Does resetting the S3 take the IP back to factory default?

Also, I'm assuming the IP of the computer you're using to access is also in the same subnet?

[BitJunkie223]

@sidehack, no matter what I do, the miner will not reset back to factory default, which is always 192.168.1.99, to my knowledge. And yeah, I've even had to move miners for a few months temporarily and totally reconfigure them for a 10.0.0.1 network. I actually switched those two back, just three days ago. These are different units, but I definitely know how to get into the miners under normal circumstances is my point, I guess.

I do have Putty on my computer already from a while ago, so I'll give that a shot... I believe I just type in the miner? Well, regardless, I'll try to get this sorted out. Hopefully that helps me.

[VirosaGITS]

@sidehack, no matter what I do, the miner will not reset back to factory default, which is always 192.168.1.99, to my knowledge. And yeah, I've even had to move miners for a few months temporarily and totally reconfigure them for a 10.0.0.1 network. I actually switched those two back, just three days ago. These are different units, but I definitely know how to get into the miners under normal circumstances is my point, I guess.

I do have Putty on my computer already from a while ago, so I'll give that a shot... I believe I just type in the miner? Well, regardless, I'll try to get this sorted out. Hopefully that helps me.

When i factory resetted my S5, it was still on DHCP, maybe its only S3's that revert back to startic ip at .99? Anyways.

You will just enter the IP. The port will be 22 which is already set by default. Then the user is root and the password is either root or admin. Its admin on S4/S5 at least. And you should be able to see a list of all device connected to your router, on your router, to see which IP its tied to at the moment.

[sidehack]

I believe the S5 was the first Bitmain machine which defauted to DHCP. I was really glad to see that change in the stock config.

Very strange that they won't reset to defaults. I remember the S1 required a power-cycle after pushing the reset buttong, but I haven't had to reset near as many S3 so I don't recall their operating specifics and it sounds like you have that well understood. Definitely very strange. SSH is good advice; if nothing else, you can pull up the shell scripts to start cgminer and see if you can get them running without a working webconfig.

[VirosaGITS]

I believe the S5 was the first Bitmain machine which defauted to DHCP. I was really glad to see that change in the stock config.

Very strange that they won't reset to defaults. I remember the S1 required a power-cycle after pushing the reset buttong, but I haven't had to reset near as many S3 so I don't recall their operating specifics and it sounds like you have that well understood. Definitely very strange. SSH is good advice; if nothing else, you can pull up the shell scripts to start cgminer and see if you can get them running without a working webconfig.

Thats what i was thinking to suggest in effect if it comes to that, but i'm always assuming its a simple quirk or wrong IP or something as silly a the web browser having some issue connecting to the miner's webserver page for some whatever reason.

If it comes to that, the miner could be mostly controlled with M's Miner Monitor, which is how i monitor mine anyways.

[aurel57]

I believe the S5 was the first Bitmain machine which defauted to DHCP. I was really glad to see that change in the stock config.

Very strange that they won't reset to defaults. I remember the S1 required a power-cycle after pushing the reset buttong, but I haven't had to reset near as many S3 so I don't recall their operating specifics and it sounds like you have that well understood. Definitely very strange. SSH is good advice; if nothing else, you can pull up the shell scripts to start cgminer and see if you can get them running without a working webconfig.

I can see one having problems but it seems strange that he has two with same problem? I am wondering if its something else? Wondering if he is using a switch to plug multi miners into? I have Fling on my phone so i can check the IP's of all devices on my modem and can check again after resetting things.

[sidehack]

Yeah, browsers can be kinda stupid. Yesterday I had a Firefox instance insisting on connecting to http://xx.xx.xx.xx/minera when all I typed in was the IP, because the last thing there was a Pi running minera but now the IP was owned by a Tube controller. Took clearing the history to convince it not to automatically redirect to the erroneous location without apparent cause. SSH tends to not make assumptions about what the user wants and pretty much does exactly what it's told.

[VirosaGITS]

Yeah, browsers can be kinda stupid. Yesterday I had a Firefox instance insisting on connecting to http://xx.xx.xx.xx/minera when all I typed in was the IP, because the last thing there was a Pi running minera but now the IP was owned by a Tube controller. Took clearing the history to convince it not to automatically redirect to the erroneous location without apparent cause. SSH tends to not make assumptions about what the user wants and pretty much does exactly what it's told.

Chrome give me that when i try to connect to minera with x.x.x.x and doesn't even redirect to http;

Image here

Which is why i'm expecting this is a little derp more likely than units all deciding to be defective in a weird way. Could be something silly like the browser not being able to load the ssl certificate of the miner page or something. I don't know but i really doubt its really the miner.

[sloopy]

Obviously none of this matters if you can login and change settings.
I thought I read you were trying to reset the settings to defaults.
The 10-24-14 firmware had a bug where the reset button wouldn't work.

You may already know, but when you reset it there is an odd process, odd to me anyway. I am used to resets being performed while it is powered off, but of course I am speaking relative to moving a BIOS jumper on PC motherboards.
For one you have to do it at the right point during boot, or right as boot completes, and you have to hold that bugger down a good long while, which is a real pain when it is offset in the hole. I downloaded a bunch of stuff from the zendesk support site. Im pretty sure one of them was an S3 reset doc.
Yeah, it says 2 minutes after boot in their reset prochedure:
https://bitmain.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202648429-Reset-Prochedure
Their instructions leave out how long to hold the button down. It has been a while since I did it, but I remember reading to hold it down until it beeps. Like I said it was a long wait but finally it beeped, and reset.
Also, if upgrading I never keep my settings. That was a bomb scenario with one or more versions of the S3 firmware. IF you selected to retain your settings it would come back up and you would get a messed up screen when you went to the login page for the miner.


If you are running 10-24 fw or close to it, you won't get it to reset, at least no one else could that I ever read about. Many of us opted to send the boards in, and bitmain used the debug port on the control board. It is a USB to serial gizmo you can pick up all over the place, amazon has a ton of different ones. Then you have to use a program which will talk serially, correctly, there is a whole thread dedicated to the Jtag port aka debug port.
I wanted to do that project then, but was in so deep setting up my farm I couldn't take another project at that point.
There is a fantastic thread about this and the last post of instructions lays the entire process out perfectly.



I run 10-24 firmware on all of my S3s, but have been playing with Kano's version and plan to move a couple of my best S3+ performers to it. I am selling the rest so I will update to Bitmain stock so they have reset button functionality and it is factory firmware. I guess depending on the situation I may ask the person purchasing if they want Kano's version installed to keep them from reinventing the wheel if they aren't familiar with how to do so.

If you have an opportunity to use Sidehack's services for work, I would do so. I understand if shipping isn't cost effective, but you can't get much selling an S3 today either. Probably $75 bucks max. So if you can make btc with it, evaluate everything. Even if you can't mine $75.00 you may have a way to get close, and if I can keep the hardware and it only costs me a few bucks, meaning i'm not going to make much more selling it, then yeah I am going to sit on it, because of just in cases.

Just in case I can use a Gekko Science retro kit with it.
Just in case price soars and I can put everything back to work full steam ahead
Just in case I hit the lotto and I can put everything back to work immediately full steam ahead while I build my real mine

[BitJunkie223]

@Aurel57, according to the previous owner, he had it set to DHCP... Erm... Actually, when I asked him what the addresses of the miners were (because I had already been having trouble at that point), he said this...

"They're set to use DHCP. I configured my router to know their MAC address and used that to give them a static IP address. You'll need to fire one up and see what IP it got from whatever router/computer in your network is your DHCP server and then log into that IP address. Login is root/password."

[BitJunkie223]

Oh, and not to spam you guys, but the only reason I haven't bother to do the SSH thing is because I'd have to hook it back up with a different power supply, etc. I realized like two hours ago that I had something due for college tomorrow. Ugh... lol

[VirosaGITS]

@Aurel57, according to the previous owner, he had it set to DHCP... Erm... Actually, when I asked him what the addresses of the miners were (because I had already been having trouble at that point), he said this...

"They're set to use DHCP. I configured my router to know their MAC address and used that to give them a static IP address. You'll need to fire one up and see what IP it got from whatever router/computer in your network is your DHCP server and then log into that IP address. Login is root/password."

Thats how i do it with all my Ants as well and how i did it with the S3 i had for a brief time a few months back. I find static IP protocol Icky but maybe thats just me.

Oh, and not to spam you guys, but the only reason I haven't bother to do the SSH thing is because I'd have to hook it back up with a different power supply, etc. I realized like two hours ago that I had something due for college tomorrow. Ugh... lol

Its fine, just let us know when you get to it. We're all patients and will (probably) survive the wait

[aurel57]

@Aurel57, according to the previous owner, he had it set to DHCP... Erm... Actually, when I asked him what the addresses of the miners were (because I had already been having trouble at that point), he said this...

"They're set to use DHCP. I configured my router to know their MAC address and used that to give them a static IP address. You'll need to fire one up and see what IP it got from whatever router/computer in your network is your DHCP server and then log into that IP address. Login is root/password."

Login should be root and password should also be root?

Also I see you think you may have changed some of the settings? If you need I can take a screen shot of my S3 if you want to check them against yours?

Sloppy had a good point that I also remember some had problems with the reset button not working. Just another reason I never changed the firmware or messed with my batch1.

[notlist3d]

@Aurel57, according to the previous owner, he had it set to DHCP... Erm... Actually, when I asked him what the addresses of the miners were (because I had already been having trouble at that point), he said this...

"They're set to use DHCP. I configured my router to know their MAC address and used that to give them a static IP address. You'll need to fire one up and see what IP it got from whatever router/computer in your network is your DHCP server and then log into that IP address. Login is root/password."

Login should be root and password should also be root?

Also I see you think you may have changed some of the settings? If you need I can take a screen shot of my S3 if you want to check them against yours?

Sloppy had a good point that I also remember some had problems with the reset button not working. Just another reason I never changed the firmware or messed with my batch1.

If it truly reset the credentials are user: root , password: root .  The S3 also can be hard to hit the reset button I suggest using a paperclip to press it.  Some were off were you need to point paperclip one way or other to hit the reset button.

One thing you might ask owner if you have not reset it yet.  Is what was IP address range.  For example was it 192.168.1.X make sure it matches your router or that could cause not seeing it.  Also if the credential is password seller changed it from root.  But I would try root and root if you can get to it.

[BitJunkie223]

Alright, so I tried using Putty to SSH into the miners. I typed the address and let 'er rip. The connection timed out, kind of like in browser. Obviously Advanced IP Scanner (and everything else) is recognizing a device at that address, but they can't access the interface. I did notice that in Advanced IP Scanner, it gives you a little side arrow to go to the link of the device, including my other Ants. Such an option was not available for the address of this unit...

[VirosaGITS]

Alright, so I tried using Putty to SSH into the miners. I typed the address and let 'er rip. The connection timed out, kind of like in browser. Obviously Advanced IP Scanner (and everything else) is recognizing a device at that address, but they can't access the interface. I did notice that in Advanced IP Scanner, it gives you a little side arrow to go to the link of the device, including my other Ants. Such an option was not available for the address of this unit...

Hmm if you're using the right address and port, i'm kind of stumped. I'd try M's Miner Monitor https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=596178.0

And the only other thing i can use is if you're using the right password. But if you had a wrong one but a proper connection it should reply as such. I know the password for SSH for my S4/S5 devices is admin, not root like you use to login to the webserver.

If this doesn't work either then i guess you'll need to do what people used to do for this Batch 1 bug.

[BitJunkie223]

Alright, so I tried using Putty to SSH into the miners. I typed the address and let 'er rip. The connection timed out, kind of like in browser. Obviously Advanced IP Scanner (and everything else) is recognizing a device at that address, but they can't access the interface. I did notice that in Advanced IP Scanner, it gives you a little side arrow to go to the link of the device, including my other Ants. Such an option was not available for the address of this unit...

Hmm if you're using the right address and port, i'm kind of stumped. I'd try M's Miner Monitor https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=596178.0

And the only other thing i can use is if you're using the right password. But if you had a wrong one but a proper connection it should reply as such. I know the password for SSH for my S4/S5 devices is admin, not root like you use to login to the webserver.

If this doesn't work either then i guess you'll need to do what people used to do for this Batch 1 bug.

I hope you aren't suggesting throwing them out the window... I want to, though. Just gave it another go. Still no luck, the SSH times out. I was especially sure this time because I scanned with Advanced IP Scanner both with and without the miner connected, so I know for a fact which is "active". Weirdly enough, Advanced IP Scanner recognizes it as if it's connected to the network, but the interface it what isn't working.

And again, SSH doesn't tell me wrong password. It wont tell me anything at all. It just times out.

[sidehack]

Probably something in firmware's corrupted. It's got a small Linux install that's probably hanging during boot, so it gets to the point where it lights up networking but not SSH or webserver. I had one in hosting doing something similar, ended up sending the controller to Bitmain and I got the same controller back so they probably just reflashed it via serial. I think someone mentioned a serial connection means of hooking up to the controller higher up in the thread; you should probably look into that.