Avalon 6 - Firmware Upgrade Help Avalon6

[atinoco]

Hello all, the raspberry pi interface has a link to the firmware update page at http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/

but there I see many firmware update files listed so i am very confused:

MM-6.0 Firmware |  MCU Firmware
Fan Utility Firmware |  MCU Firmware
Hash Unit Utility Firmware |  MCU Firmware
Error code
AUC Firmware |  AUC2 Firmware

there's NO documentation available to Avalon 6, anybody have a clue on how to proceed?

the pi interface has links to "MM Upgrade" under the "Status" tab and "Backup / Flash firmware" under the "System" tab

I guess the flash firmware is the Raspberry pi firmware since its under the System tab, but anybody know what the MM is?, the "MM upgrade" link its under the status page?

thank in advance for any information.

[1715561871]

1715561871

[philipma1957]

Never do firmware updates.

Simple rule has exceptions.

First does your gear work with current firmware?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

So are you mining  with the rigs?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

Mine with the rigs as they are.

Show us your mining stats.

Then discuss firmware upgrades.


I have two avalon6s I have stock firmware. My gear works fine.

No newer firmware has results better then what I am doing.
If you reall want to upgrade don't do it for now.

[notlist3d]

Never do firmware updates.

Simple rule has exceptions.

First does your gear work with current firmware?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

So are you mining  with the rigs?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

Mine with the rigs as they are.

Show us your mining stats.

Then discuss firmware upgrades.


I have two avalon6s I have stock firmware. My gear works fine.

No newer firmware has results better then what I am doing.
If you reall want to upgrade don't do it for now.

I would agree I have 2 using stock firmware aswell.  If it is not broke don't fix it.   It needs to be a big feature or flaw for me to update, I don't think Avalon 6's have this.  It is very stable with stock firmware.

With reading your post's I would be a little worried if you try to do a firmware update.  I suggest leaving it at stock for now.

[VirosaGITS]

Never do firmware updates.

Simple rule has exceptions.

First does your gear work with current firmware?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

So are you mining  with the rigs?

If yes don't do a firmware upgrade.

Mine with the rigs as they are.

Show us your mining stats.

Then discuss firmware upgrades.


I have two avalon6s I have stock firmware. My gear works fine.

No newer firmware has results better then what I am doing.
If you reall want to upgrade don't do it for now.

I would agree I have 2 using stock firmware aswell.  If it is not broke don't fix it.   It needs to be a big feature or flaw for me to update, I don't think Avalon 6's have this.  It is very stable with stock firmware.

With reading your post's I would be a little worried if you try to do a firmware update.  I suggest leaving it at stock for now.

Should be okay if he clone his SD card and mess around with firmwares on the copy, so if it fucks up he just need to restart the Pi with the good SD. Its not as bad as the Antminers that dont read from SD card somehow.

[Rabinovitch]

the raspberry pi interface has a link to the firmware update page at http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/

but there I see many firmware update files listed so i am very confused:

MM-6.0 Firmware |  MCU Firmware

there's NO documentation available to Avalon 6, anybody have a clue on how to proceed?

the pi interface has links to "MM Upgrade" under the "Status" tab and "Backup / Flash firmware" under the "System" tab

First of all, send them an e-mail containing "WTF? Where is the manual?" 

I have updated a firmware of hashing boards (that link to MM upgrade). New FW brings some ipmrovements, Avalon6 should work at voltage up to 12.8V with it (it's a factoid though).

Follow the link:



Then click on mm.mcs and you'll see this:



Right-click at that page and choose "Save as..." Be sure that the filename is "mm.mcs", not "mm.mcs.txt" or whatever.

Then you know what to do - in RasPi web-interface go to "MM Upgrade" and choose this mm.mcs you have just saved.

It looks that RasPi will update this FW on any newly connected Avalon6 units.

BTW, I have updated a Raspberry FW too. Looks like it started to run more smoothly. 

[kilo17]

the raspberry pi interface has a link to the firmware update page at http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/

but there I see many firmware update files listed so i am very confused:

MM-6.0 Firmware |  MCU Firmware

there's NO documentation available to Avalon 6, anybody have a clue on how to proceed?

the pi interface has links to "MM Upgrade" under the "Status" tab and "Backup / Flash firmware" under the "System" tab

First of all, send them an e-mail containing "WTF? Where is the manual?" 

I have updated a firmware of hashing boards (that link to MM upgrade). New FW brings some ipmrovements, Avalon6 should work at voltage up to 12.8V with it (it's a factoid though).

Follow the link:



Then click on mm.mcs and you'll see this:



Right-click at that page and choose "Save as..." Be sure that the filename is "mm.mcs", not "mm.mcs.txt" or whatever.

Then you know what to do - in RasPi web-interface go to "MM Upgrade" and choose this mm.mcs you have just saved.

It looks that RasPi will update this FW on any newly connected Avalon6 units.

BTW, I have updated a Raspberry FW too. Looks like it started to run more smoothly. 

I would like to know how you got the Ras Pi update to work, I have had zero success with it.

[Rabinovitch]

I took this file: openwrt-brcm2708-bcm2709-sdcard-vfat-ext4.img from http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/software/avalon6/openwrt/latest/brcm2708/bcm2709/ (an image for deployment on Raspberry Pi 2. Then I flashed it on SD card with Win32DiskImager. That's all (check the MD5 sum before flashing). Plug an SD card in and turn Raspberry on.

[MarkAz]

about the MM update, does it update the MM firmware on all the Avalon units at once? is there an specific procedure for this? I got 12 Avalon6 units connected to 1 raspberry pi via 3 IC cards using an USB hub.

I'm mostly concerned about the MM update since it looks like the MM is the software on the actual miner boards, I don't want to brick any of them.

Yes, when you run it, it upgrades all the Avalon's connected to that Pi.  It takes probably 1-2 minutes, then it reboots and everything is good to go.  I was having some issues (machines going offline) with the latest (12/25) firmware, and went back to the 11/24 firmware, and everything was resolved - but the latest RPi image works fine with either version.  I've upgraded a ton of systems, and never bricked any of them yet.

[kilo17]

I took this file: openwrt-brcm2708-bcm2709-sdcard-vfat-ext4.img from http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/software/avalon6/openwrt/latest/brcm2708/bcm2709/ (an image for deployment on Raspberry Pi 2. Then I flashed it on SD card with Win32DiskImager. That's all (check the MD5 sum before flashing). Plug an SD card in and turn Raspberry on.

Thanks, I did all of that except Checking the MD5 sum.  I will give that a go.

[fanatic26]

I would like to add this to help some people out.

If you have an unresponsive Avalon unit (E.G. it will not boot up to the flashing amber light) you can run the MM update and it will actually update the unit still as long as it is on the chain. This is not documented anywhere but I know from personal experience that it will 'save' a seemingly 'dead' controller board.


Also as far as updating MM goes....they wouldnt put an update out if it didnt actually fix something.



New MM firmware released for AvalonMiner 6.0, Hardware model: MM-60, Version: 601512-57532250

Firmware Details:
    http://downloads.canaan-creative.com/software/avalon6/mm/2015-12-28/

ChangeLog:
* Fix:Don't touch fan by miner when mm is too hot
* Fix:Update idle process with toohot detect, stratum detect, and invalid mcu protect
* Fix:Fix coretest failed cause by incorrect pll setting
* Update:Update API_TIMEOUT_CONST
* Add:Support adjust freq by CGMiner when mm is working

[HerbPean]

Thanks for the feedback !

[Rabinovitch]

If you have an unresponsive Avalon unit (E.G. it will not boot up to the flashing amber light) you can run the MM update and it will actually update the unit still as long as it is on the chain. This is not documented anywhere but I know from personal experience that it will 'save' a seemingly 'dead' controller board.

Nice tip, I'll keep this in mind...