Hacking KNC Titan / Jupiter / Neptune miners back to life. Why not?

[lightfoot]

What should i Do?

I'll PM you shipping information.

C

[Xeon_Xeon]

I just received a KNC Jupiter today and its was supposed to be in working condition, I got it real cheap mainly for the case for a project but this thing is pretty cool and you know how it goes once you start to tinker with something.......

Anyway I plug the power to it and the lan activity lights work and the Beagleboard seems to work ok, displays a Beagleboard web page, but the Jupiter controller board does not light up either the red or green lights.

So I removed the controller card/Beagleboard from the case with only the molex power plug and Ethernet cable plugged in I can access the Beagleboard on my lan and it displays the Beagleboard web interface not a KNC miner web interface.

One of the things it shows is this:

"Your board is connected!
BeagleBone Black rev 00C0 S/N 3615BBBK01FF running BoneScript 0.2.4 at 192.168.1.168"


So... is it just a matter of finding a KNC recovery image and copying it to a microsd card and then reinstalling that or is it more than likely a hardware issue?
 

[lightfoot]

I just received a KNC Jupiter today and its was supposed to be in working condition, I got it real cheap mainly for the case for a project but this thing is pretty cool and you know how it goes once you start to tinker with something.......

Anyway I plug the power to it and the lan activity lights work and the Beagleboard seems to work ok, displays a Beagleboard web page, but the Jupiter controller board does not light up either the red or green lights.

So I removed the controller card/Beagleboard from the case with only the molex power plug and Ethernet cable plugged in I can access the Beagleboard on my lan and it displays the Beagleboard web interface not a KNC miner web interface.

One of the things it shows is this:

"Your board is connected!
BeagleBone Black rev 00C0 S/N 3615BBBK01FF running BoneScript 0.2.4 at 192.168.1.168"


So... is it just a matter of finding a KNC recovery image and copying it to a microsd card and then reinstalling that or is it more than likely a hardware issue?
 

Probably. Give a Titan miner code release a shot first. They should be able to run Jupiter boards.

[Searing]

I just received a KNC Jupiter today and its was supposed to be in working condition, I got it real cheap mainly for the case for a project but this thing is pretty cool and you know how it goes once you start to tinker with something.......

Anyway I plug the power to it and the lan activity lights work and the Beagleboard seems to work ok, displays a Beagleboard web page, but the Jupiter controller board does not light up either the red or green lights.

So I removed the controller card/Beagleboard from the case with only the molex power plug and Ethernet cable plugged in I can access the Beagleboard on my lan and it displays the Beagleboard web interface not a KNC miner web interface.

One of the things it shows is this:

"Your board is connected!
BeagleBone Black rev 00C0 S/N 3615BBBK01FF running BoneScript 0.2.4 at 192.168.1.168"


So... is it just a matter of finding a KNC recovery image and copying it to a microsd card and then reinstalling that or is it more than likely a hardware issue?
 

yeah the jupiter image on an SD card and it  should be good to go.....I have a couple sitting about not used (1st made me 53 btc ..my baby) Anyway
for tinkering that is what you need to do

others can chime on here, but from what I can guess at this time

later

[Xeon_Xeon]

I just received a KNC Jupiter today and its was supposed to be in working condition, I got it real cheap mainly for the case for a project but this thing is pretty cool and you know how it goes once you start to tinker with something.......

Anyway I plug the power to it and the lan activity lights work and the Beagleboard seems to work ok, displays a Beagleboard web page, but the Jupiter controller board does not light up either the red or green lights.

So I removed the controller card/Beagleboard from the case with only the molex power plug and Ethernet cable plugged in I can access the Beagleboard on my lan and it displays the Beagleboard web interface not a KNC miner web interface.

One of the things it shows is this:

"Your board is connected!
BeagleBone Black rev 00C0 S/N 3615BBBK01FF running BoneScript 0.2.4 at 192.168.1.168"


So... is it just a matter of finding a KNC recovery image and copying it to a microsd card and then reinstalling that or is it more than likely a hardware issue?
 

Probably. Give a Titan miner code release a shot first. They should be able to run Jupiter boards.

Thanks will give that a try once I dig up a microsd card, but since I removed the Beagleboard and have it connected to my Ubuntu 16.04 pc via a usb cable can I install that way?

I just started playing with it and its a very cool little device!!  

Damn another toy to play with LOL.

Here is whats on the Beagleboard:

[Xeon_Xeon]

I dissembled it completely to clean it out and have a look at the bottom of all four boards.

Its pretty clean with just a light amount of dust.

Three of the four boards have zero discoloration from heat and the one that does its just discolored slightly.

The thermal paste on all the boards is hard and flaky.

But compared to some of the picks in this thread the boards look really great so hopefully it will work once I re-flash the BBB.

But I still have not gone to town to get a micro-sd card yet, I live in the middle of nowhere, its an hour round trip to go to the closest Walmart.
  

[Searing]

I dissembled it completely to clean it out and have a look at the bottom of all four boards.

Its pretty clean with lust a light amount of dust.

Three of the four boards have zero discoloration from heat and the one that does its just discolored slightly.

The thermal paste on all the boards is hard and flaky.

But compared to some of the picks in this thread the boards look really great so hopefully it will work once I re-flash the BBB.

But I still have not gone to town to get a micro-sd card yet, I live in the middle of nowhere, its an hour round trip to go to the closest Walmart.
  

Amazon Prime 2 day shipping...pays for itself..if you buy enough techie stuff

order thermal paste while you are at it ..i'd use gelin extreme gomes in 10oz I think is the large size....re do all the neppie cubes (hobby or not its what i'd do)

[Xeon_Xeon]

I flashed with kncminer-101 to my new micro-sd card.

I wanted to flash with then kncminer image just to make sure everything works.

Success!!

It boots!!

I started to reassemble but I ran out of thermal grease. LOL

Only have the BBB connected to the controller board with power from the molex from the power supply and either-net plugged in but it works.

I need to finish mounting everything back into the case and then see if the asic boards work.

[kncler]

Hello, maybe somebody got a hint what I will expect if I open up my titan cube?

Today I looked at my mining pool and one of my 3 titans were hashing significantly lower, so I checked all 3 miners -> 1 cube was dead out of 4. So I went to the attic and found black cables from the power supply (I was lucky that my PSU did not give up, rather used the cables as fuses) and burned molex. I did not reconnect, because I need a more stable environment.
The molex was completly melted from the upper 2 connections.

1234
5678

The cables from 1 and 2 were completely broken (fused), black, melted and done. on the back I have seen some black dust, because the fan did not work anymore. I have it sitting in my workshop now waiting for surgery.

Thanks for any responses

[Searing]

Hello, maybe somebody got a hint what I will expect if I open up my titan cube?

Today I looked at my mining pool and one of my 3 titans were hashing significantly lower, so I checked all 3 miners -> 1 cube was dead out of 4. So I went to the attic and found black cables from the power supply (I was lucky that my PSU did not give up, rather used the cables as fuses) and burned molex. I did not reconnect, because I need a more stable environment.
The molex was completly melted from the upper 2 connections.

1234
5678

The cables from 1 and 2 were completely broken (fused), black, melted and done. on the back I have seen some black dust, because the fan did not work anymore. I have it sitting in my workshop now waiting for surgery.

Thanks for any responses

If you have burnt connectors..this trick works with KNC y adapter..I've been running 2 this way for months.....

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170332.msg13872248#msg13872248

I think this is the fix you are looking for bracket wise with the repaste

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1423042.0

As to repaste (i use gelin extreme thermal paste 10oz I think it is) and I'd get the maxumark replacement bracket (in the above thread I think)

Also the dc/dc small heatsink replacement is very helpful on heat. I saved 10c temp per die with the above and a Noctura 3000 rpm replacement fan

anyway contact folk on here for more details or pm

IF the cube has been run for one year ....and is probably really dirty inside..you need to do some of this ..probably a repaste for sure and clean the cube
of dirt with alcohol and qtips

anyway other tips folks here can chime in on ..this should get you started


also depending on the PSU's you have Corsair and Seasonic allow you to buy replacement (or spares) less then 10 bucks.....probably other mnfg do as well

good luck

[lightfoot]

Hello, maybe somebody got a hint what I will expect if I open up my titan cube?

Today I looked at my mining pool and one of my 3 titans were hashing significantly lower, so I checked all 3 miners -> 1 cube was dead out of 4. So I went to the attic and found black cables from the power supply (I was lucky that my PSU did not give up, rather used the cables as fuses) and burned molex. I did not reconnect, because I need a more stable environment.
The molex was completly melted from the upper 2 connections.

1234
5678

The cables from 1 and 2 were completely broken (fused), black, melted and done. on the back I have seen some black dust, because the fan did not work anymore. I have it sitting in my workshop now waiting for surgery.

Thanks for any responses

That's bad. But be incredibly happy it didn't take out every cube on the controller. When the power PCIe Molex pin heats up, the resistance increases which causes it to draw more current. Which heats it up more. Eventually a pin opens and the other 2 pins have to take all the power and they heat more. When you run out of pins, it will try to pull power from the 10 pin ribbon cable. This will destroy the cube, the controller, and potentially every other cube on the controller (as the current draw will try go go through their 10 pin ribbon cables to their PCIe plugs.

Solution: Run your cubes at about 60mh, not 80mh each.

In the meantime if you would like me to take a look at this burned board send me a PM. If the controller and other cubes were still hashing while the 10 pin ribbon cable was plugged in it might be possible that it can be fixed. But slow down the other cubes (250mhz seems to be a good selection); it would be sad to burn the house down.

[Searing]

Hello, maybe somebody got a hint what I will expect if I open up my titan cube?

Today I looked at my mining pool and one of my 3 titans were hashing significantly lower, so I checked all 3 miners -> 1 cube was dead out of 4. So I went to the attic and found black cables from the power supply (I was lucky that my PSU did not give up, rather used the cables as fuses) and burned molex. I did not reconnect, because I need a more stable environment.
The molex was completly melted from the upper 2 connections.

1234
5678

The cables from 1 and 2 were completely broken (fused), black, melted and done. on the back I have seen some black dust, because the fan did not work anymore. I have it sitting in my workshop now waiting for surgery.

Thanks for any responses

Er you are using y adapters on your cubes right?

[Xeon_Xeon]

It works.....well at least three of the four of the boards work. LOL

[Xeon_Xeon]

Reseated two of the data cables now all four are working . 

[Xeon_Xeon]

Old radimax 1200 w power supply's cables are getting pretty warm.



Mining Status
Miner Status   Running CGMiner (pid=1699)
Last Checked   Fri Mar 31 04:36:05 UTC 2017
Avg. Hash Rate   636 Gh/s
WU   8897
Difficulty Accepted   84204
HW Status
ASIC slot #1   42.0 ℃
ASIC slot #2   -
ASIC slot #3   53.0 ℃
ASIC slot #4   52.5 ℃
ASIC slot #5   44.5 ℃
ASIC slot #6   -

[lightfoot]

Wow. A bitcoin miner that has 2w/gh efficiency. I remember when that was a massive step up from the 4w/gh of the Bfl Jalapeno which was light years ahead of the 10w/gh or so of the old stick miners.

Fun stuff....

[Searing]

Reseated two of the data cables now all four are working . 

I have like 6 or so Jupiters (5 for the cases etc) I am more then ready for an bitcoin BU fork with a massive difficulty drop ..to jump in on any such scammer bitcoin clone alt!

(prepared I am)

er anyway I used 2 of the cases on these for server PSU mods

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1283859.msg15534011#msg15534011

anyway 2580 watts of platinum 94% eff with 15 awg leads for $300 bucks  vs corsair 1200 watts PSU on newegg (on sale 1x a month) for 300 bucks and 16 awg wire

worked well for me on the knc titans.. at having 7 of these server psu rigs...that was 2100 bucks in savings for the same psu platinums at 2x the power and NO need
for knc y adapters anymore with 15 awg wire.(yech...they suck) thus NO burnouts

anyway cases are fun hacks...as long as we are revisting KNC jupiter's on this thread

brad

[lightfoot]

Meantime I have been working on the bbb titan code. I've got everything patched so I can distribute this as a .img file and let people extract it to sd cards except I can't figure out how to get i2c-loop.sh to auto start. It's annoying as hell because aside from that everything works now.

Will keep pounding this weekend. What's a good free-file site to post a couple of gig file?

C

[LongAndShort]

Meantime I have been working on the bbb titan code. I've got everything patched so I can distribute this as a .img file and let people extract it to sd cards except I can't figure out how to get i2c-loop.sh to auto start. It's annoying as hell because aside from that everything works now.

Will keep pounding this weekend. What's a good free-file site to post a couple of gig file?

C

Sounds awesome, may i suggest asking Henrik about the i2c-loop.sh.

https://mega.nz
dropbox and some others if you need them.

If you managed to document your steps on a fresh linux install, please hand them to me and ill make a guide for you to post somewhere.

[lightfoot]

Meantime I have been working on the bbb titan code. I've got everything patched so I can distribute this as a .img file and let people extract it to sd cards except I can't figure out how to get i2c-loop.sh to auto start. It's annoying as hell because aside from that everything works now.

Will keep pounding this weekend. What's a good free-file site to post a couple of gig file?

C

Sounds awesome, may i suggest asking Henrik about the i2c-loop.sh.

https://mega.nz
dropbox and some others if you need them.

If you managed to document your steps on a fresh linux install, please hand them to me and ill make a guide for you to post somewhere.

Well, I figured it out. Putting i2c-loop in rc.local gets it up and running, but too late for bfgminer which has started and needs to be bounced. So I put a 30second delay in the bfgminer.sh file, that stalls it long enough for the loop to enable the i2c lines properly.

Documenting this takes a lot of time, I'm focused now on getting code out there for people to use (ie: you....). Will work on that eventually.