Avalon ASIC users thread

[koob]

REWARD: 1 BTC if you can help me fix this today.

I have a used batch 2 avalon and I don't have the password. What is the easiest way to get it going? It's all set up with my info too, but it's not automatically connecting to my wireless and I can't login to change anything because I don't have the password. I've heard about resetting it by reflashing OpenWrt, but I don't see a reset button on the avalon and I don't want to mess it up. I also don't want to lose the system settings that have it overclocked, but I will if necessary.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3559/tlwr703ntop.jpg

At top right u have reset button. Push it for 10 seconds and your Tplink should reset to default settings with ip 192.168.0.100.

[1714217469]

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[thejestre]

I only ask as I was testing a unit on a different network and it hashed for a bit, but it felt like my ping died completely, severe packet loss that didn't exist prior. Strangely the Avalon lost and refused connection suddenly. Afteer disconnecting the Avalon the net problems absolved, my other network however is having no problems.

Must be something in this network. Thanks for all the responses.

I will say that I was having some strange problems after I first put my Avalon on my network.  My iPhones and some laptops were using the Avalon as DNS and router lol.  After I turned off DHCP on the Avalon, things seemed to go back to normal.  Since the Avalon has a router's firmware, that might be a good place to look for strange local network and routing problems.

_theJestre

[cypherdoc]

REWARD: 1 BTC if you can help me fix this today.

I have a used batch 2 avalon and I don't have the password. What is the easiest way to get it going? It's all set up with my info too, but it's not automatically connecting to my wireless and I can't login to change anything because I don't have the password. I've heard about resetting it by reflashing OpenWrt, but I don't see a reset button on the avalon and I don't want to mess it up. I also don't want to lose the system settings that have it overclocked, but I will if necessary.

if you find yourself in Failsafe Mode you may need to use telnet:

1. Reboot (Power Down and then UP) the router
2. When the blue LED starts flashing, press the RESET (inside the tiny
hole next to the mini-usb)
3. Stop pressing the RESET when the blue LED starts flashing quickly

At this time the router is in failsafe mode.

4. Telnet 192.168.0.100. It will take you to the root prompt.
5. Enter "firstboot" at the prompt to reset the router to default
6. Restart

[cypherdoc]

once you've reset open wrt, cgminer may or may not be in there.  if not, or even if it is, you should upgrade it to this:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/avalon/20130703/

[Ytterbium]

Also, any guesses on the bandwidth requirements for these machines, the Avalons?

Pretty negligible, if I understand your question.  My Avalon [batch 2, black case] barely effects my network's access to the Internet.  Also, the reverse seems true as well.  I am able to stream Netflix, browse the web, FTP large files, without effecting the Avalon's performance from what I can tell.  I'd bet any DSL-equivalent Internet access speeds are sufficient.  I have cable access at about 6 Mbps up and down, but would trust a 1 Mbps up/down link to be more than sufficient for mining.

_theJestre

It depends on the share difficulty. If you're mining with diff 1 shares it will send several requests every second.  As you go up in share difficulty - you need fewer requests.

Really though, the requests should be tiny in size, even with diff 1 you're looking at barely anything at all, really. It looks like for me I'm getting about 2 getworks per minute (not second) - and a getwork is just a single line of JSON

here's an example of a stratium getwork signal (I think)

Code:

{"params": ["bf", "4d16b6f85af6e2198f44ae2a6de67f78487ae5611b77c6c0440b921e00000000",
"01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff20020862062f503253482f04b8864e5008",
"072f736c7573682f000000000100f2052a010000001976a914d23fcdf86f7e756a64a7a9688ef9903327048ed988ac00000000", [],
"00000002", "1c2ac4af", "504e86b9", false], "id": null, "method": "mining.notify"}

Which about 385 bytes. So (385*2)/60 = 12 bytes per second

[force66]

Thanks for the help cypherdoc! I got it working! I've got to split the reward with someone else, but send me a pm or reply with your address if you would like the reward. Thanks again!

[ProfMac]

Thanks for the help cypherdoc! I got it working, though I'm still having trouble getting the internet connected. It can't seem to connect wirelessly, I've got no signal. I put in my ESSID and BSSID and tried changing the transmit power and channel, but still nothing. I've got to split the reward with someone else, but send me a pm or reply with your address if you would like the reward. Thanks again!

The jumper on the TP-Link 703n between the antenna and transmitter has been removed, and the antenna pigtail attached.  You must have an external antenna to use wireless.  However, a straightened paper clip can be a temporary workaround.  But it is not protected from accidental shorting by touch, so get a real antenna, perhaps from an obsolete eBay router.

[force66]

Thanks ProfMac, turns out I just needed to press the scan button

[cypherdoc]

Thanks ProfMac, turns out I just needed to press the scan button

So did the reset work as instructed and did you have to reinstall cgminer?

Btw, I'd highly suggest using ethernet in the long run for more stability.

[ProfMac]

Thanks ProfMac, turns out I just needed to press the scan button

So did the reset work as instructed and did you have to reinstall cgminer?

Btw, I'd highly suggest using ethernet in the long run for more stability.

This is my experience with wireless.  My avalon is in the basement to take advantage of cooler temperatures, so it is not feasible to use ethernet.

[pikeadz]

Thanks ProfMac, turns out I just needed to press the scan button

So did the reset work as instructed and did you have to reinstall cgminer?

Btw, I'd highly suggest using ethernet in the long run for more stability.

This is my experience with wireless.  My avalon is in the basement to take advantage of cooler temperatures, so it is not feasible to use ethernet.

Pretty standard hash rate.  And for the skeptics, the outage towards the end was eligius pool going down for a short time due to a hardware malfunction in their data center (rare for them).

[pikeadz]

I am in the market for new pools for BTC, any suggestions? Also, are there any reputable pools for alt coins that aren't Coinotron? Seems like the only other one I remember closed down.

Also, I used to really like, and still do love, PPLNS when mining. But I haven't used PPLNS for BTC in months, and when looking at BTCGuild and considering their market share, it seems like a great situation. Why would you choose PPS with a higher fee when they have ~25% of the hash rate..? Or am I missing something?

I have been happy with eligius. 0% fee PPS.  The catch is you only get paid when a block is found, so some of your coins get "shelved" until that happens.  Been there over a month though with my other miners and have had no issues getting paid.

So say I hash 5 BTC a day on average, they pay my PPS, but withhold until that block is found? What if it isn't found for a week? All the shares for the past week back paid or... ?

Trying some hash on BTCGuild PPS and PPLNS. I've always been a HUGE fan of PPLNS (Esp P2Pool), but the sheer hash amount + PPLNS attracts me majorly to BTCGuild. Running equal hash on PPS and PPLNS until I decide which I like...

Question - I can't find ANY info on Namecoin on BTCGuild.. just seems like I make one sometimes. It's automatically merge mining NMC? That's both for PPS and PPLNS?

Thanks !

I don't know what formula wizkid/lukejr use to calculate what gets shelved and what remains as "unpaid", however, from what I can tell, during tough times, the site automatically proportions out some of your shares into unpaid and some into "shelved" shares.  It is constantly changing.  Then when more blocks get found, it moves shelved shares into "unpaid" status.  Newer mined shares get paid out first, so if you mine for a bit and then stop, and a block is not found for a while, it will take you some time before you get paid out.  It will probably happen eventually when a long string of good luck occurs, but it could be a while (as in weeks or months).  This is why I just set it and forget it.  All my shares are new(er) and get paid out quickly.  I usually have 1 or 2 bitcoins shelved there but during the lucky periods, the balance goes down.  It all works out.

[kano]

Thanks ProfMac, turns out I just needed to press the scan button

So did the reset work as instructed and did you have to reinstall cgminer?

Btw, I'd highly suggest using ethernet in the long run for more stability.

This is my experience with wireless.  My avalon is in the basement to take advantage of cooler temperatures, so it is not feasible to use ethernet.

Get a PowerLine - that's what I've use to get to a colder basement garage for 2 years ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication

The newer ones are also faster than what I bought back then.
Mine is an old Netgear
Aus link: http://www.netgear.com.au/home/products/powerline/

[tarui]

I am in the market for new pools for BTC, any suggestions? Also, are there any reputable pools for alt coins that aren't Coinotron? Seems like the only other one I remember closed down.

Also, I used to really like, and still do love, PPLNS when mining. But I haven't used PPLNS for BTC in months, and when looking at BTCGuild and considering their market share, it seems like a great situation. Why would you choose PPS with a higher fee when they have ~25% of the hash rate..? Or am I missing something?

Im using btcguild and pps scheme. It seems to say the fees are 7.5% ??

This is what's flooring me, a nearly 8% fee... Pretty sure I'll be directing all hash power to PPLNS shortly. That fee is unreal..

ok
i did some "tests" on my own while the miner was still at the seller's place awaiting shipment.

PPS fee is 7.5%
PPLNS is 3%  (btcguild)

i was on the PPS system over a 24hr period (roughly) since I cant be sure over the exact time but given the small error margin it shouldn't be significant. then i changed to pplns over 12hrs because i wanted to see if there was any significant changes.

PPS gave me 1.637 coins
PPLNS (over a 12hr period and adjusted for 24hr period) is 1.405coins

of course, the "testing" environment assumes no downtime in between, the fluctuation of hashing rate between both periods are similar  (same total hashrate) and difficulty didnt change between them (i saw from http://bitcoindifficulty.com/ that it didnt change over the last 2 days).

i know PPLNS' system works quite differently frm PPS so this might not be a fair comparison.

i will continue to monitor the PPLNS over a 24hr period and hope i can get conclusive results in 12hrs time.

[el_rlee]

Is somebody selling clones of this control boards?

I would also be interested in this.. I think my control board have a problem or where does it come from when the avalon section of cgminer screen went sometimes empty after some time of hashing ?

Any ideas? I don't think it is the router because I can access it normaly but the router seems to loose contact to the controller ?
Where to look for bugs ? It is an avalon batch 2 with controller V 1.5
Tried already different firmware and another PSU

Flash your router newly, un-check the keep-settings box. Helped me with the same problem.

[Syke]

i will continue to monitor the PPLNS over a 24hr period and hope i can get conclusive results in 12hrs time.

PPLNS is susceptible to variance. 24 hrs won't give you a good picture. You could end up with either a run of good luck or a run of bad luck.

[Ytterbium]

Btw, I'd highly suggest using ethernet in the long run for more stability.

This is my experience with wireless.  My avalon is in the basement to take advantage of cooler temperatures, so it is not feasible to use ethernet.

Seriously, what is up with this wifi phobia some people seem to have? It works perfectly fine, at least if you have an antenna, and probably without the antenna as well.

It makes sense to store the Avalon in the coolest area you have and/or somewhere were it won't heat up the whole house. Not everyone wants to run a long-ass Ethernet cable through their hallways, and why would you spend money on power-line networking when wifi works just fine for free?

[Ytterbium]

https://50btc.com/ does PPS for a 3% fee.

You can check out the btcguild's 'luck' with PPLNS here: https://www.btcguild.com/index.php?page=pplns

Note: when a block is found, it's credited to the "Last N" shift. So a shift will show 10, 15, whatever blocks, that's how many blocks were found during the ten-shift sliding window for that shift.

During the last difficulty BTCGuild had 100%+ luck for most ten-shift blocks, and the overall luck was like 102% or something.  The current luck for this difficulty so far is 104.59%.

[tarui]

i will continue to monitor the PPLNS over a 24hr period and hope i can get conclusive results in 12hrs time.

PPLNS is susceptible to variance. 24 hrs won't give you a good picture. You could end up with either a run of good luck or a run of bad luck.

it seems i've got alot of stale rejects. not sure if it was after i switched to pplns

[BitCoiner2012]

Thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate all.

I have some interesting goings on with one of my units. I was tinkering with some settings (nothing special), I tampered with fan command, then removed it.. and suddenly it is hashing at 88ghash, with no discernable reason for me. As opposed to 80 or 82. Any thoughts?


Further, why do the modules differ substantially in temperature? What is the maximum temperature one might want a particular module for long periods of time on the Avalons in particular?

And while the interface is super smooth, I can't figure out how to discern amount of HW errors. I see a "HW" category, but that can't be the error column. What is the equation to calculate hardware errors on the Avalons?