Avalon ASIC users thread

[thejestre]

Maybe I misunderstood something I read earlier, I'm a bit confused with the different batches wanting different temperatures.

I thought with the new firmware that "70 was the new 50" for Batch 2 Avalons.  Did I get that totally wrong?

For batch 3 Avalons, so yes you got it wrong. Remove those lines ASAP.

Thank you so much for your advice, support, and software!
I've removed the temp settings, now only have this:
--avalon-auto --avalon-freq 325-375

I'll throw some BTC your way later today or tomorrow, need to eat now.

Thanks again!

_theJestre

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[yantis]

Was happily running 20130703 since release with no issues at all. Highly recommended (on 20 or so units - batch 1 and 2, on my batch 3's I just run stock because of the temp sensor change etc). I saw the new firmware and decided to give it a shot on a batch 1 and it bricked it. No reset or nothing could get it back.

I figured no problem. I picked up some extra TL-MR3020 to replace the TP-LINK TL-WR703N router but those didn't flash and in the end I gave up on messing with that (from what I can tell you need a custom one or something).

In the end I found a very simple solution that works awesome:
1) Unplug the USB extender from your TL-WR703N and Ethernet cord
2) Remove the USB extender you won't need it anymore
3) Connect a Raspberry PI to the USB (no power cord needed) and Ethernet
4) Download the latest minepeon from http://sourceforge.net/projects/minepeon/
5) Write this to an SD card for your Raspberry PI
6) Its plug and play so just configure your pools with the web interface

Overclocking (Optional): Warning if you do : Batch 1 upgrading your PSU is mandatory, Batch 2 I didn't upgrade and had no issues. But I definately burned out some batch 1 PSUs.
7) If you want to overclock it which you probably do then just SSH into your PI user: minepeon and pass: peon
- to find PIs easy on your network just install arp-scan (pacman -S arp-scan or yum install arp-scan or apt-get arp-scan)
   and run "sudo arp-scan --interface=eth0 --localnet | grep b8:27:eb" this will show you all your PIs on your network
Once you have SSHed into your PI edit /opt/minepeon/etc/ and change the config file to look something like:
{"algo":"c","avalon-options":"115200:24:10:50:350","api-listen":true,"api-port":"4028","avalon-freq":"350","avalon-temp":"20","avalon-auto":true,"expiry":"120","hotplug":"5","log":"5","no-pool-disable":true,"queue":"1","scan-time":"60","shares":"0","kernel-path":"\/opt\/minepeon\/bin","api-allow":"W:0\/0","pools":[{"url":"stratum.btcguild.com:3333","user":"your_user","pass":"x"},{"url":"stratum.btcguild.com:3333","user":"your_user","pass":"x"},{"url":"stratum.btcguild.com:3333","user":"your_user","pass":"x"}]}

Hopefully this helps someone else out there who has burned out a router or maybe someone wants to try overclocking without messing with their firmware. If you need any help or have any questions just shoot me a PM.

[pikeadz]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

[ProfMac]

Was happily running 20130703 since release with no issues at all. Highly recommended (on 20 or so units - batch 1 and 2, on my batch 3's I just run stock because of the temp sensor change etc). I saw the new firmware and decided to give it a shot on a batch 1 and it bricked it. No reset or nothing could get it back.

I figured no problem. I picked up some extra TL-MR3020 to replace the TP-LINK TL-WR703N router but those didn't flash and in the end I gave up on messing with that (from what I can tell you need a custom one or something).

A retail TP-Link 703n can be found on eBay or Amazon for about $20.  It can be flashed with the 20130703 firmware, and then plugged into the USB cable inside the Avalon.  The LAN cable or WiFi can be used to access it.  It has a mini-USB power cable.  I ran a for-repair Avalon a few hours this way before I got the soldering iron and made a permanent repair.

[-ck]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

[lastbit]

Some power measurements for Avalon.

Unit is batch#3 w/4 modules, fw 20130723.
Temperature target 65C. Keep in mind this is equiv with 45 for batch#1&2.
Temp1 (input temperature) is 21C .
Temp3 (output temperature) is roughly 15C lower then Temp2.
Wall is wall power in watts.
Errors is percentage of HW errors versus diff1 shares.

freq	wall	fan1	fan3	temp2	errors
256	685	2280	2040	60
270	722	2280	2160	60
282	755	2400	2160	61
300	803	2400	2160	63	0.94%
325	873	2520	2280	66	1.08%
350	943	3480	3240	63	1.35%

Produces arround 109-110Gh/s @350MHz, confirmed by btcguild (more or less).
At 375MHz unit cannot maintain 65C temperature target. Hash is less, around 105Gh/s, due to large percentage of HW errors.  

[ProfMac]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

I let 20130810-1 run overnight.  The frequency dropped until it was about 304 MHz, and was steadily dropping when I stopped it.  The stable frequency under 20130703 is 345-347.  I am mining under eligius, and the recent behavior is online.  I returned to 20130703 an hour or so ago.

My temperature ran at 49°C and I had the idea that there was a "<" vs "<=" problem somewhere, or it's evil twin ! > vs if "<" then .  However, I tried to raise the temperature set-point to 51, and this did not help.

[ProfMac]

Some power measurements for Avalon.

Unit is batch#3 w/4 modules, fw 20130723.
Temperature target 65C. Keep in mind this is equiv with 45 for batch#1&2.
Temp1 (input temperature) is 21C .
Temp3 (output temperature) is roughly 15C lower then Temp2.
Wall is wall power in watts.
Errors is percentage of HW errors versus diff1 shares.

freq	wall	fan1	fan3	temp2	errors
256	685	2280	2040	60
270	722	2280	2160	60
282	755	2400	2160	61
300	803	2400	2160	63	0.94%
325	873	2520	2280	66	1.08%
350	943	3480	3240	63	1.35%

Produces arround 109-110Gh/s @350MHz, confirmed by btcguild (more or less).
At 375MHz unit cannot maintain 65C temperature target. Hash is less, around 105Gh/s, due to large percentage of HW errors.  

Very nice data.  Where is your tip jar?

[lastbit]

Very nice data.  Where is your tip jar?

Thanks and thanks. No tip jar for so little

I consider my Avalon batch#3 unit a nice done product. It came with a 850 W PS. It's an Enermax Gold able to put 840W on 12V. Out the box Avalon unit can run much higher then specifications.
But I'm not so sure that it will be able to pay itself, even overclocked like this
So I'm willing to try to push it more. I believe there are two problems which need to be solved:

• Cooling is less then optimal. The modules (heatsinks) are much hotter at the end. But the exhausted air it's only warm. I have some ideas of how cooling can be improved.
• Voltage on the chips must be raised a little. It's now around 1150mV (both from schematics and measurements). Specification of the chip is 1200mV. I believe it will be no problem to push it around 1240mV, which I hope it will allow it to run at 375MHz. But this will mean ~25% more power, so cooling has to be solved first. And this would be a hardware mod, 40 resistors to solder.

And during the time the unit is upgraded, it does not produce, or at least not at full capacity

[-ck]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

I let 20130810-1 run overnight.  The frequency dropped until it was about 304 MHz, and was steadily dropping when I stopped it.  The stable frequency under 20130703 is 345-347.  I am mining under eligius, and the recent behavior is online.  I returned to 20130703 an hour or so ago.

My temperature ran at 49°C and I had the idea that there was a "<" vs "<=" problem somewhere, or it's evil twin ! > vs if "<" then .  However, I tried to raise the temperature set-point to 51, and this did not help.

Wrong one. 10-1 is known to be slow. He is asking about 20130814.

[yantis]

Thanks =). I will pick up an extra one. Though I really love having everything running on Arch Linux. Makes it easier to make tools for.

On a side note: I have upgraded every machine with multiple firmwares multiple times (at least 5 each as I was benchmarking different versions etc). (so that is at least 100 firmware upgrades).This latest one was the only one that ever bricked anything bad enough that I couldn't recover the router. Probably just bad luck if anything. So for people that haven't tried a firmware upgrade and are still using stock on their batch 1s and batch 2s. Its highly recommended (Just make sure to upgrade your PSU).

Was happily running 20130703 since release with no issues at all. Highly recommended (on 20 or so units - batch 1 and 2, on my batch 3's I just run stock because of the temp sensor change etc). I saw the new firmware and decided to give it a shot on a batch 1 and it bricked it. No reset or nothing could get it back.

I figured no problem. I picked up some extra TL-MR3020 to replace the TP-LINK TL-WR703N router but those didn't flash and in the end I gave up on messing with that (from what I can tell you need a custom one or something).

A retail TP-Link 703n can be found on eBay or Amazon for about $20.  It can be flashed with the 20130703 firmware, and then plugged into the USB cable inside the Avalon.  The LAN cable or WiFi can be used to access it.  It has a mini-USB power cable.  I ran a for-repair Avalon a few hours this way before I got the soldering iron and made a permanent repair.

[kano]

Thanks =). I will pick up an extra one. Though I really love having everything running on Arch Linux. Makes it easier to make tools for.
...

I build Arch RPi binaries also
(that of course include avalon - I have a BTB - but include all cgminer USB)
https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer-binaries

... and ...
http://www.kano-kun.net/?p=87

[jermwerty]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

Just upgraded a Batch2 with stock firmware to 0814.  No problems so far! 

How long does the auto option take to increase the frequency?

[yantis]

Kano - Awesome! Will check them out. Thanks for doing this.

Thanks =). I will pick up an extra one. Though I really love having everything running on Arch Linux. Makes it easier to make tools for.
...

I build Arch RPi binaries also
(that of course include avalon - I have a BTB - but include all cgminer USB)
https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer-binaries

... and ...
http://www.kano-kun.net/?p=87

[whizter]

Some power measurements for Avalon.

Unit is batch#3 w/4 modules, fw 20130723.
Temperature target 65C. Keep in mind this is equiv with 45 for batch#1&2.
Temp1 (input temperature) is 21C .
Temp3 (output temperature) is roughly 15C lower then Temp2.
Wall is wall power in watts.
Errors is percentage of HW errors versus diff1 shares.

freq	wall	fan1	fan3	temp2	errors
256	685	2280	2040	60
270	722	2280	2160	60
282	755	2400	2160	61
300	803	2400	2160	63	0.94%
325	873	2520	2280	66	1.08%
350	943	3480	3240	63	1.35%

Produces arround 109-110Gh/s @350MHz, confirmed by btcguild (more or less).
At 375MHz unit cannot maintain 65C temperature target. Hash is less, around 105Gh/s, due to large percentage of HW errors.  

I upgraded the PSU on my 3 Module Batch3, from 850W XFX to 1000W Fractal (80+ Platinum), it went from ~680W @ 325MHz to ~640W. 40W less is quite nice, the XFX was an emergency solution so that I can start mining immediately, it also missed a second 8 Pin EPS plug.

[tarui]

need some help here.

recently i had some problems with avalon batch 1 where i burnt the PDB so the seller sent me a spare PDU and it looks fine under close examination
so i put it in and tested it and checked the connections multiple times.


I left it running without the panel just for a few minutes so that i can check if anything goes wrong
initially everything worked fine, then suddenly i couldnt reach the miner's page so check on the status. but it was mining when i checked the last share time on btcguild.

i decided to reboot it but it couldn't power up again. the led fan remained red, the avalon control board, usb hub and ethernet port all had their leds on.

[-ck]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

Just upgraded a Batch2 with stock firmware to 0814.  No problems so far! 

How long does the auto option take to increase the frequency?

It reassesses every minute but only goes up or down a small amount each time.

[GenTarkin]

Ive lost about 1GH on the latest firmware(20130814)... After 9h, my avg hashrate reports only 82000, previously it was about 83000.
Avy previously seemed to stay between 350-360, now it looks like it hardly gets above 350 =(

This is at nighttime too, when temps are 25, 36, 38C - Batch2

Do like the % changes to miner.php tho =)

Any reason for hashrate loss conman? Was there a change in autoclock algo?

[pikeadz]

I am running 0703 and kind of scared to update to 0813/0814.  One person got bricked, several others report decreased hash rates.  Anyone got positive results yet?

Me?

I upgraded one of my avalons and BTCGuild is reporting a decrease of about 5GH/s over the course of 2 hours.  I will continue to monitor but so far my experience is consistent with everyone else that has posted (but yours).  I accept that it could be variance so I will wait 24 hours...

[-ck]

Ive lost about 1GH on the latest firmware(20130814)... After 9h, my avg hashrate reports only 82000, previously it was about 83000.
Avy previously seemed to stay between 350-360, now it looks like it hardly gets above 350 =(

This is at nighttime too, when temps are 25, 36, 38C - Batch2

Do like the % changes to miner.php tho =)

Any reason for hashrate loss conman? Was there a change in autoclock algo?

No, I fixed a major latency issue, along with potential for duplicate shares (which would only show up as rejects). It's always hard to sell something that looks slower on the surface...