Avalon ASIC users thread

[ste0024]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

[1714301105]

1714301105

[smoothrunnings]

Back this summer when I bought my 4th module for my Avy B1 I noticed that there was a lot of silicon on one of the boards, it looks like someones fingers were covered in silicon paste and got it all over the chips. Could this stop the board from operating?

Yifu said it wouldn't affect the board...

Thanks,

I think they used non conductive thermal paste so I don't think that would be the problem.
Do you have an entire module that is not working or just one of the 10 chip PCB's not working?

I believe it's just one of the 10 chips, when I look at my logs it says miner 29 = 0 all the rest show as working.

[fasmax]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

Yes,
I am looking for 1 or 2 modules hopefully from the US to save on shipping costs.
My plan is to use pairs of 10 chips boards and connect them to a Klondike controller.

[h@shKraker]

Hola brethren and Ladies,

A buddy of mine received his series 2, 55nm Avalon unit and noticed that no matter what he tried under no circumstances could the "Great Wall of China" PSU that shipped with the unit reach 200Ghash stably ( in a room cooled to 20F by ambient air .... it's winter).  I mentioned to him that LOTS of folks regularly upgrade the PSU to an OCZ1250 and that even though these are REALLY hard to find these days due to OCZ's bankruptcy any 1250watt to 1300watt PSU from a reputable supplier should do the trick.  I've had GREAT luck powering cubes with Rosewill 1300w units so I recommended he get himself one of those I can get 4 cubes on a single 1300w at high clock).  He did just that and it arrived yesterday.  We dutifully removed the top cover and disconnected the GreatWall PSU and plugged in the Rosewill.  However, when we tried to power up the Rosewill nothing happened.  My buddy unplugged the ATX plug and shorted the green wire to the black wire and everything sprang to life.  We were then able to access the web interface BUT cgminer was not hashing AT ALL.  This is when the real fun began.  We started to smell that all too uncomfortable “burnt chip” smell.  We unplugged everything VERY QUICKLY and took a coffee break to let things rest.  When we came back we reattached the GreatWall PSU to see if everything would power up again.  Again, here comes that burnt chip smell AND when I touched the Avalon controller board it was HELLA Hot.  In particular the voltage regulator on the controller board has WAY TOO HOT tom comfortably touch.  My experience in electronics tells me that means bad things are happening so … here are my questions ->

1)    Is there any reason plugging upgraded PSU into the Avalon PDU board would kill the controller board
2)   Is it possible that Avalon controller board is fried-N-dead?

Many thanks for your reply.

H@shKraker

[ste0024]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

Yes,
I am looking for 1 or 2 modules hopefully from the US to save on shipping costs.
My plan is to use pairs of 10 chips boards and connect them to a Klondike controller.

this is a full module with 80 chips

[fasmax]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

Yes,
I am looking for 1 or 2 modules hopefully from the US to save on shipping costs.
My plan is to use pairs of 10 chips boards and connect them to a Klondike controller.

this is a full module with 80 chips

Yes this is 8 individual sub units with 10 chips on each. Hopefully only 1 or 2 of the sub units is defective.
The good sub units would be connected to a modified Klondike controller in pairs.

[smoothrunnings]

Hola brethren and Ladies,

A buddy of mine received his series 2, 55nm Avalon unit and noticed that no matter what he tried under no circumstances could the "Great Wall of China" PSU that shipped with the unit reach 200Ghash stably ( in a room cooled to 20F by ambient air .... it's winter).  I mentioned to him that LOTS of folks regularly upgrade the PSU to an OCZ1250 and that even though these are REALLY hard to find these days due to OCZ's bankruptcy any 1250watt to 1300watt PSU from a reputable supplier should do the trick.  I've had GREAT luck powering cubes with Rosewill 1300w units so I recommended he get himself one of those I can get 4 cubes on a single 1300w at high clock).  He did just that and it arrived yesterday.  We dutifully removed the top cover and disconnected the GreatWall PSU and plugged in the Rosewill.  However, when we tried to power up the Rosewill nothing happened.  My buddy unplugged the ATX plug and shorted the green wire to the black wire and everything sprang to life.  We were then able to access the web interface BUT cgminer was not hashing AT ALL.  This is when the real fun began.  We started to smell that all too uncomfortable “burnt chip” smell.  We unplugged everything VERY QUICKLY and took a coffee break to let things rest.  When we came back we reattached the GreatWall PSU to see if everything would power up again.  Again, here comes that burnt chip smell AND when I touched the Avalon controller board it was HELLA Hot.  In particular the voltage regulator on the controller board has WAY TOO HOT tom comfortably touch.  My experience in electronics tells me that means bad things are happening so … here are my questions ->

1)    Is there any reason plugging upgraded PSU into the Avalon PDU board would kill the controller board
2)   Is it possible that Avalon controller board is fried-N-dead?

Many thanks for your reply.

H@shKraker

Not sure what you are talking about, I don't recall there being an Avalon serious 2 rig being built by our friend Yifu. As for not reaching 200GH/s with the PSU in it, it would have been a good idea to check what PSU shipped with the unit. You can find 1300W PSU from Antec which are platinum standard. Corsair makes a 1250w PSU.

If you need a board you need to order it from Avalon-Asic or from whoever manufactured it. Also the Avalon's I have seen B1, B2, and B3's all have a place for the power plug that normally plugs into the motherboard on a PC.

[h@shKraker]

Smoothrunnings,

What I am talking about is that after new PSU plugin, it no worky.  The Series2, 55nm units are shipping and they have 2 blades in them.  You can see what they look like by taking  a look around Ebay.  The problem was that the GreatWall PSU is a POS and, as you might expect, could not supply enough wattage to hit the 200 – 220 Ghash mark without the machine continually restarting (I’e not enough electrons to do the job at hand).  This, in turn, predicated the PSU replacement and VIOLA, burnt silicon smell (ie.. the magic smoke might have been released ...... I hope note).  I've verified that both PSUs are operationally fine by bridging the green wire to a black ground wire and BOTH PSUs kicked on just fine.  Thus, not a PSU problem.  I’m trying to diagnose, and better yet learn from those who came before me, if that burnt silicone smell is as bad as I imagine it and *IF* I need to order myself a shiny new controller board.  So, what you think?

H@shKraker

[fasmax]

Does the gen2 unit use the same controller and power distribution as gen1 with only difference being the firmware on the controller?

[candoo]

Smoothrunnings,

What I am talking about is that after new PSU plugin, it no worky.  The Series2, 55nm units are shipping and they have 2 blades in them.  You can see what they look like by taking  a look around Ebay.  The problem was that the GreatWall PSU is a POS and, as you might expect, could not supply enough wattage to hit the 200 – 220 Ghash mark without the machine continually restarting (I’e not enough electrons to do the job at hand).  This, in turn, predicated the PSU replacement and VIOLA, burnt silicon smell (ie.. the magic smoke might have been released ...... I hope note).  I've verified that both PSUs are operationally fine by bridging the green wire to a black ground wire and BOTH PSUs kicked on just fine.  Thus, not a PSU problem.  I’m trying to diagnose, and better yet learn from those who came before me, if that burnt silicone smell is as bad as I imagine it and *IF* I need to order myself a shiny new controller board.  So, what you think?

H@shKraker

The Avalon Power Board is different connectors. Some of them are for pcie and some for EPS12. You probably took a EPS12 in a pcie slot or vice versa. That would explain the burn smell and both connectors look like the same.


BTC the unit you bought is not made by avalon. Someone bought their chips and made some  fake avalons. They are not built by avalon

[h@shKraker]

Candoo,

Ahhhh .... now we're getting somewhere.  My buddy said he populated every plug where a PCIE connector would fit.  I asked if he did that in the EPS-12 slots and he said yes.  I told him to IMMEDIATELY unplug that connector.  Do you think he fried his controller?

H@shKraker

[smoothrunnings]

Smoothrunnings,

What I am talking about is that after new PSU plugin, it no worky.  The Series2, 55nm units are shipping and they have 2 blades in them.  You can see what they look like by taking  a look around Ebay.  The problem was that the GreatWall PSU is a POS and, as you might expect, could not supply enough wattage to hit the 200 – 220 Ghash mark without the machine continually restarting (I’e not enough electrons to do the job at hand).  This, in turn, predicated the PSU replacement and VIOLA, burnt silicon smell (ie.. the magic smoke might have been released ...... I hope note).  I've verified that both PSUs are operationally fine by bridging the green wire to a black ground wire and BOTH PSUs kicked on just fine.  Thus, not a PSU problem.  I’m trying to diagnose, and better yet learn from those who came before me, if that burnt silicone smell is as bad as I imagine it and *IF* I need to order myself a shiny new controller board.  So, what you think?

H@shKraker

Avalon doesn't make them. It's some 3rd party manufacture that is making them and saying they use the Avalon chipset. You have to understand that the Chinese like to compare other products to the original one. At this point in time Avalon-asic.com doesn't make a version 2 Avalon with the 55nm chips, so what your friend bought was a knock off with the 55nm chips. I looked on ebay, nothing says "made by Avalon-Asic" in the auctions. They do say they use the 2nd gen Avalon chips. I hope your friend didn't pay $5,000 for a 150 ~ 200GH/s machine, Neptune machines which are on pre-order are selling for $10k and promise a minimum of 3TH/s. (the chips will supposedly be 20nm ones too.) 

If the unit doesn't power on with the PSU and it's burnt inside likely you have likely toasted one of the controller boards it.

[h@shKraker]

Smoothrunnings,

If the unit doesn't power on with the PSU and it's burnt inside likely you have likely toasted one of the controller boards it.

Yup ... that's what I was afraid he did.  He didn't pay near 5K for it (as he paid in BTC) BUT for his first Avalon-esque experience he's giving me the hairy eyeball for recommend the technology.  When  I went by his place last night I didn't see any burnt marks inside the box BUT since he connected that PCIE connector to that EPS12 slot my bet is he fried the controller board voltage regulator (since that's the part that's getting HELLA hot).  So I'll tell him to order a new controller board from the folks that sold it to him and call it a day.  Many thanks for your help.

H@shKraker

[candoo]

Candoo,

Ahhhh .... now we're getting somewhere.  My buddy said he populated every plug where a PCIE connector would fit.  I asked if he did that in the EPS-12 slots and he said yes.  I told him to IMMEDIATELY unplug that connector.  Do you think he fried his controller?

H@shKraker

Yes and this is also the reason why it wouldn turn on. But you killed if after turning on the psu by hand

[h@shKraker]

Candoo,

Yea ... I kinda think by offering up my assistance I borked myself .... and got an opportunity to buy my buddy a brand new Avalon-esque controller board.  YIPPIE 

H@shKraker

[fasmax]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

If your located in the USA I would offer .2 BTC for the broken module.

[ste0024]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

If your located in the USA I would offer .2 BTC for the broken module.

i m in eu but i can ship to usa

[fasmax]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

If your located in the USA I would offer .2 BTC for the broken module.

i m in eu but i can ship to usa

I worry about international shipping costs.
Edit Sorry for thread spam. PM sent.
 

[ProfMac]

if someone want a defective module i can sell one.

If your located in the USA I would offer .2 BTC for the broken module.

i m in eu but i can ship to usa

I worry about international shipping costs.
Edit Sorry for thread spam. PM sent.
 

Friedcat sent a module in a plywood box from Beijing to Minnesota for, I think, 180 Yuan.  The number 180 is handwritten on the mostly Chinese language EMS form in a box named "charge."

[h@shKraker]

All,

Ok, now that we've determined my buddy fried his controller (due to the magic smoke release) does anyone have a Avalon Controller board V1.5 they'd like to sell me (since it was me who recommended my buddy upgrade his PSU)?  Please note, to participate in said transaction via BTC you must be a full member with lots of recent posts, have a non-negative trust rating *AND* you must be verified as trustworthy by my buddy Uncle Scrooge OR by Zipiju OR by QualitySeeds.  If these standards are not met we'll do the transaction via PayPal so both sides are protected.  Please note that even though escrow happens regularly, for a transaction this small It'd just be a real PIMA so we won't go that route.

H@shKraker