Avalon ASIC users thread

[Bicknellski]

Paging Jgarzik.  Party of one.  Jgarzik, party of 1!  Your seat at the ASIC table is ready.  JGarzik, party of 1!

I think this is one dinner you'll be happy to eat alone.

Remember back when he thought he was being cute?

[gamefixer]

thanks ckolivas.
Will try it after i hear some feedback from early adopters. my units are running quite well now.. but on automatic restart of cgminer and entire unit in cron..

I'll probably try flashing the unit that wont connect at all and see if it helps. Cant make it any worse (or can it?). 

[MrTeal]

I have a couple Minis that hang once or twice a day, and I'm trying to track down the culprit. They're connected through the wired LAN and other computers on the same switch don't have issues. When they go down, I also can't access the LuCI web interface. To me that would seem to indicate that the problem is the TPLink router as opposed to the mining hardware itself, but I'm not sure if a module hang might cause cgminer to crash and lock the router until reset.
I've been using the 08/21 FW.
Interestingly enough, these two are on a wired lan in a cool (0C - 10C ambient) environment, while the one that works fine is wireless and in ~22C ambient.

[integrity42]

My avalon batch 2 control unit died. I tried to reflow the FT232 Chip, but it didn't work.

Does anyone know where I can buy a new control unit, or would sell me one? 

I need one right away, and am willing to pay reasonable price plus overnight shipping from anywhere in the world.

Thanks!

[driksson]

I wanted to get out one last good new avalon firmware before these devices become irrelevant due to rising difficulty:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/avalon/20131118/

I finally tracked down the regression that was preventing the avalon from being reliable with the newer versions of cgminer and have built new firmware based on the latest cgminer 3.8.2 git checkout 390ac7062663c688b656cf0dc893163cd7a852b3

EDIT: I should say you will probably need to disable the keep settings box meaning you will have to set it up again from its defaults (i.e. with an ethernet cable to 192.168.0.100)

I took the risk and flashed my wifi units that are somehow freezing and needs hardware reboot (after manually restarting cgminer every 3 hours, and schedule reboot every 20 hours).
i could flash it over wifi, and keep settings as is.
currently hashing just fine.
Will try over night, keeping only cgminer restart every three hours to see stability.
THANKS!

one question though, it says overheat cutoff 70, is that really sane for the avalon mini? isnt it like overheating after 50?

update: avalon minis, target 50 and cutoff 70 was put in cgminer config when keeping settings. On avalon b2, it came with empty boxes and thus did not connect to mine. put in 50+70 and voila.
Also scheduled tasks gets removed if you have it on restarting cgminer automatically.

Avalon b2: DH % 1.3229 , in a cool space, 340mhz and --avalon-auto
avalon mini: DH % 0.4 in a warmer space, 340mhz and --avalon-auto

Somethings "up".

[Distribution]

I've started using --avalon-auto, but lately it's been giving me some pretty big DH% numbers. Earlier, I was over 7%, so I just set the frequency to 375 and turned auto off.At what DH% should I really be worried? My problem is that I live in Florida, and while it's been reasonably cool at night to open the window, I shut the windows when I sleep or am not at the house. Then the room starts heating up. I assumed auto would lower the frequency when it starts seeing large DH% numbers or when the temperatures hit 50, but it just seems to go from 405 to 404.

[aneutronic]

I wouldn't get too concerned about occasional high numbers,  I have also observed intermittent spikes in DH% even on earlier versions.

I think it's best to leave it set on --avalon-auto and let cgminer do it's thing, after all the programmers have put an immense amount of work into this and I'm pretty sure they know what works best.

@ckolivas, are communication errors used in the DH% calc? Considering the issues with the avalon controller this would explain the intermittent peaks.

I have also noticed that it takes a fairly long time for the DH% to return to it's previous average, would it be possible to reset it quicker?

[Distribution]

I wouldn't get too concerned about occasional high numbers,  I have also observed intermittent spikes in DH% even on earlier versions.

I think it's best to leave it set on --avalon-auto and let cgminer do it's thing, after all the programmers have put an immense amount of work into this and I'm pretty sure they know what works best.

@ckolivas, are communication errors used in the DH% calc? Considering the issues with the avalon controller this would explain the intermittent peaks.

I have also noticed that it takes a fairly long time for the DH% to return to it's previous average, would it be possible to reset it quicker?

That would make sense.  I had just changes my firewall settings, and I don't think it was communicating.

[jermwerty]

I wanted to get out one last good new avalon firmware before these devices become irrelevant due to rising difficulty:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/avalon/20131118/

I finally tracked down the regression that was preventing the avalon from being reliable with the newer versions of cgminer and have built new firmware based on the latest cgminer 3.8.2 git checkout 390ac7062663c688b656cf0dc893163cd7a852b3

EDIT: I should say you will probably need to disable the keep settings box meaning you will have to set it up again from its defaults (i.e. with an ethernet cable to 192.168.0.100)

Thanks ck you rock as always!

I have to admit, I have been awestruck with your 20130821 and ran it on two 4-modules @ 335Mhz (avg 1 week uptime between cg restarts, only needed to hard powercyle one time!) and loaded it on 10 of 11 minis which fixed their "decrease hashrate to <5GH after 1-3 days issue" and have had great uptimes there also.

From your opinion, I know you say don't fix what ain't broken, but do you think there are any efficiency fixes in this latest release?

[-ck]

I wouldn't get too concerned about occasional high numbers,  I have also observed intermittent spikes in DH% even on earlier versions.

I think it's best to leave it set on --avalon-auto and let cgminer do it's thing, after all the programmers have put an immense amount of work into this and I'm pretty sure they know what works best.

@ckolivas, are communication errors used in the DH% calc? Considering the issues with the avalon controller this would explain the intermittent peaks.

I have also noticed that it takes a fairly long time for the DH% to return to it's previous average, would it be possible to reset it quicker?

Sometimes hardware errors come in runs. Then cgminer resets the avalon. The hardware error% you can see is the all time average, but internally cgminer uses a rolling average to determine what to do with --avalon-auto. If you want to reset the values, change the remote api settings to listen to another pc in your lan and use the zero stats function from the api.

[-ck]

I wanted to get out one last good new avalon firmware before these devices become irrelevant due to rising difficulty:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/avalon/20131118/

I finally tracked down the regression that was preventing the avalon from being reliable with the newer versions of cgminer and have built new firmware based on the latest cgminer 3.8.2 git checkout 390ac7062663c688b656cf0dc893163cd7a852b3

EDIT: I should say you will probably need to disable the keep settings box meaning you will have to set it up again from its defaults (i.e. with an ethernet cable to 192.168.0.100)

Thanks ck you rock as always!

I have to admit, I have been awestruck with your 20130821 and ran it on two 4-modules @ 335Mhz (avg 1 week uptime between cg restarts, only needed to hard powercyle one time!) and loaded it on 10 of 11 minis which fixed their "decrease hashrate to <5GH after 1-3 days issue" and have had great uptimes there also.

From your opinion, I know you say don't fix what ain't broken, but do you think there are any efficiency fixes in this latest release?

Yes of course, I don't write newer versions for nothing.

[Polyatomic]

(after manually restarting cgminer every 3 hours, and schedule reboot every 20 hours).

Why do you have to restart cgminer so much ?.  Try disabling wifi , and just use a lan configuration.

[driksson]

(after manually restarting cgminer every 3 hours, and schedule reboot every 20 hours).

Why do you have to restart cgminer so much ?.  Try disabling wifi , and just use a lan configuration.

on some of my units, lan is impossible unfortunately.
even on my lan units, i get best possible highest hashrate with lowest hardware error if i restart it around 3-4hrs..

[gamefixer]

(after manually restarting cgminer every 3 hours, and schedule reboot every 20 hours).

Why do you have to restart cgminer so much ?.  Try disabling wifi , and just use a lan configuration.

I can tell you why, cuz these things are trash. I've got cgminer restarting every 2 hours otherwise mining slows to a crawl. 120ghs unit will slow to 4ghs and sit there.

I came back from a week long road trip to find one of the miners hot enough to cook on (seriously, I burnt my hand when I touched it). I took a look at the fan and its NOT MOVING! This stupid thing is maybe three weeks old, no excuse for this. I powered it down and back up and the fan came on at full blast (as expected) and the status led blinked green then red. It cooled down after a while and is now running at 47-48c as usual.

I've got to come up with a better cooling solution. Obviously the factory solution SUCKS.

[HerbJones]

Hello all,

I have been mining with a BFL 30Gh/S system and just bought an Avalon 4 Module. Tried setting it up at the office and could not get it to work with the Wifi.

I accidentally deleted the LAN config and brought it home to try and connect to my home network.

I set my Mac up to the 192.168.0.101 ip and tried using my browser to connect.... nothing - it times out.

I tried ssh from laptop - still nothing.

Is there a hard reset to restore to factory settings?

Did I brick the WR703N? If so, is my only hope to take the unit apart, solder the wire to the connection and reset?


Help!

[Carlton Banks]

Hello all,

I have been mining with a BFL 30Gh/S system and just bought an Avalon 4 Module. Tried setting it up at the office and could not get it to work with the Wifi.

I accidentally deleted the LAN config and brought it home to try and connect to my home network.

I set my Mac up to the 192.168.0.101 ip and tried using my browser to connect.... nothing - it times out.

I tried ssh from laptop - still nothing.

Is there a hard reset to restore to factory settings?

Did I brick the WR703N? If so, is my only hope to take the unit apart, solder the wire to the connection and reset?


Help!

There is a hard reset procedure, the user ckolivas describes it earlier in this thread. The instructions are also available from OpenWRT and TP-LINK on their respective websites. Note that this does not restore the Avalon factory configuration, but the base installation for the WR703N to function as a router. You will need to donwload and flash Avalon config (erroneously referred to as "firmware") from either ckolivas web repository or the Avalon wiki.

[gamefixer]

Hello all,

I have been mining with a BFL 30Gh/S system and just bought an Avalon 4 Module. Tried setting it up at the office and could not get it to work with the Wifi.

I accidentally deleted the LAN config and brought it home to try and connect to my home network.

I set my Mac up to the 192.168.0.101 ip and tried using my browser to connect.... nothing - it times out.

I tried ssh from laptop - still nothing.

Is there a hard reset to restore to factory settings?

Did I brick the WR703N? If so, is my only hope to take the unit apart, solder the wire to the connection and reset?


Help!

You might also try looking for the Avalon on your home router too. I had to set one of mine to DHCP and it would never keep the same IP. I knew it was going to be a PITA so I wrote down the mac address of the avalon ahead of time.

[Distribution]

I woke up this morning to find my miner doing nothing , and showing a red LED. I restarted and it mines , but it's getting fewer Gh. I looked at the cgminer config page and it looks like one of the units is out (match_work_count14 ). What could cause the red light and sudden stopping of one of the units?

[ProfMac]

for clarification - can whoever it was who has 4 modules running in b2 with 850w PsU link back to their post/s wrt max frequency and watts used at the wall, please?

I am 1 of those people.  But I don't have a link to those posts.

I ran for several weeks with 4 modules and a stock 850 W power supply.  A kill-a-watt said it pulled 1,000 to 1,030 W from the wall, depending on how hard the fans were spinning.  I did not have trouble with the unit under those conditions.  I had --avalon-auto and it stayed about 350-355 MHz.

I have now installed a OCZ 1250 W power supply into the same unit.  Now it runs from about 980 to about 1,010 W from the wall.  It runs slightly faster, at about 357 MHz.

[edgar]

thankyou profmac

what are you getting GH/s wise now?