Avalon ASIC users thread

[Bogart]

Some of you have already spotted I uploaded a new firmware, 20130819

I upgraded my 4-module Batch 1 unit.  2h 40m later everything looks fine.

[Tigggger]

Batch #3, 4 Modules and 20130819 not working so good for me, HW error rate has been 6.7% if my maths is correct, although cgminer reports 110GH pool has been saying around 105GH.



20130818 was running at 110GH, pool was reporting the same, and error rate was around 1-2% (accepted and HW were usually around the same number) so going to roll back to that and see what happens.

[-ck]

Batch #3, 4 Modules and 20130819 not working so good for me, HW error rate has been 6.7% if my maths is correct, although cgminer reports 110GH pool has been saying around 105GH.



20130818 was running at 110GH, pool was reporting the same, and error rate was around 1-2% (accepted and HW were usually around the same number) so going to roll back to that and see what happens.

Your maths is almost certainly not correct, for there is not enough information on that screen to even determine the hw error percentage.

I wish people would stop being obsessed by hw error count...

[Tigggger]

Your maths is almost certainly not correct, for there is not enough information on that screen to even determine the hw error percentage.

I wish people would stop being obsessed by hw error count...

I did the forumula that had been posted to arrive at the 6.7% (346,194 diff1), I cropped the screenshot just to show accepted/hw as in all the previous versions they were roughly the same number and it worked out at 1-2% (as it's 1/64).

I thought that discrepancy might be the reason for the 5GH drop in this version, was trying to help, appreciate the work you do.

[GenTarkin]

just noticed 0820 has been posted...whats different in it?

[silverston]

just noticed 0820 has been posted...whats different in it?

flashing right now.
orange led still blinking...

[boombastic]

just noticed 0820 has been posted...whats different in it?

flashing right now.
orange led still blinking...

0820 seems to revert a previous commit.

As for the yellow blinking led, found this in Avalon wiki

LEDs
Left: Green --> Power-on, Red --> PSU issue, OFF: --> No power
Right: Yellow --> FPGA Buffer empty(no task send out to fpga), OFF --> FPGA Buffer full(means mining)

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon#V1.61

Maybe related.

[-ck]

LEDs
Left: Green --> Power-on, Red --> PSU issue, OFF: --> No power
Right: Yellow --> FPGA Buffer empty(no task send out to fpga), OFF --> FPGA Buffer full(means mining)

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Avalon#V1.61

Maybe related.

Well that is then corresponding with when the avalon is ready/getting more work then. Why it suddenly started showing that, I don't know. Nor do I know why it doesn't show it on mine.

That's it then. The previous firmware would be checking every 40ms to see if it could send more work whereas the later (faster) firmware times it till just before the work is complete, even if the avalon is ready to take more work since loading more work sooner slows it down. The previous firmware would hammer it with no more than 40ms wait on it getting ready so the LED never really had a chance to light up for any extended period so it looked like it was always off.

[-ck]

just noticed 0820 has been posted...whats different in it?

The rest of the cgminer code was converted to the new timing code, and CPU overhead of the sha256 function was decreased and the binary made smaller so it's simply a sync with the latest cgminer git code. It might have lower CPU usage but to me appears pretty much the same since I'm only hitting 6% CPU max (with it usually lower) for cgminer. Most of the CPU load in an avalon is now all the background services.

[greaterninja]

One of my  Batch #3  Avalon stopped hashing  Solid Red light and flashes an Orange light every few seconds.

I can remote into it, however fans and hashing is at 0.

Turns out my 850w Seasonic Gold  PS burned out  A/C went out for a few hours too :/  Overclocked at 358mhz on 4 modules.  I am going to RMA it and buy a 1000-1300watt gold PS.

Luckily I bought a 750watt bronze and I disconnected the 4th module to get it up.

[jermwerty]

One of my  Batch #3  Avalon stopped hashing  Solid Red light and flashes an Orange light every few seconds.

I can remote into it, however fans and hashing is at 0.

Turns out my 850w Seasonic Gold  PS burned out  A/C went out for a few hours too :/  Overclocked at 358mhz on 4 modules.  I am going to RMA it and buy a 1000-1300watt gold PS.

Luckily I bought a 750watt bronze and I disconnected the 4th module to get it up.

Ouch.  Sorry man.  Pulling 980W+ at the wall on a 850W PSU just isn't good, regardless of "Seasonic or not".  Can't say I didn't warn ya though:

Batch#:  3
Modules:4
PowerSupply: 850w Seasonic Gold Modular
[Firmware Version] => 20130723
Chip Frequency(Default: Advance):  350(insane); 354 is actual read out.

Umm....

850W with 4 modules at 350+mhz?

I hope you have another PS laying around for when this one goes up in smoke.

For comparison, I have a good 910W PS on a B3 @ 325mhz and it pulls ~915W from the wall, a 65W increase from 300mhz which was 850.  My estimates put 350Mhz B3 4 module at 980W give or take from the wall, or basically you need a 1KW+ supply guaranteed!  

Personally I am about to order one of these, as I am in your same boat (950W at the wall on a 910W PC Power & Cooling - hoping it doesn't fry with calculated 840W actual load, but 12V rail is still 12.2 so I think I'm good...) on my 4-module:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171078

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=344

FYI the 1300W Rosewill is too large to go inside a Batch 3 Avalon.  I am hoping the v1000 will fit.

[yantis]

I tried this today with a TP-LINK TL-WR703N  20130703 but it looks like it bricked it. After the flash I couldn't connect to it at all.  Also, unlike the routers in the Avalons or a Raspberry PI it required an external power supply to work but when I used it the Avalon wouldn't power up at all. Am I missing a hardware mod or something?

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.

[bitdude]

So, I am running late Batch 2 with 20130703. Will flashing to the latest version increase hash rate?
Thanks!

[knite]

I recently purchased a batch 2 3-module. I've been running it for a couple of days and have some questions. I've done a bit of searching in this thread, and haven't been able to find definitive answers. I'm sure the answers are somewhere inside these 132 pages, so I apologize for adding to the clutter.

I'm currently using the following settings string: --avalon-options 115200:24:10:d:355 --avalon-auto --avalon-freq 256-375 --avalon-temp 55.

- Do I need to add a cutoff setting as well or make any other changes?
- Is the avalon-auto flag expected to "just work" and produce the best possible result (errors, temperature, etc)?
- How do I calculate my "true" hashrate, so I can compare against my reported hashrate in my mining pool?
- Are there any monitoring tools I can setup for my miner? I'd like to set it and forget it, and receive an email if it goes offline, stops mining, or has a significant drop in hashrate.
- Is there a way to upgrade the miner by adding a fourth module?
- Should I upgrade the stock PSU?

[greaterninja]

One of my  Batch #3  Avalon stopped hashing  Solid Red light and flashes an Orange light every few seconds.

I can remote into it, however fans and hashing is at 0.

Turns out my 850w Seasonic Gold  PS burned out  A/C went out for a few hours too :/  Overclocked at 358mhz on 4 modules.  I am going to RMA it and buy a 1000-1300watt gold PS.

Luckily I bought a 750watt bronze and I disconnected the 4th module to get it up.

Ouch.  Sorry man.  Pulling 980W+ at the wall on a 850W PSU just isn't good, regardless of "Seasonic or not".  Can't say I didn't warn ya though:

Batch#:  3
Modules:4
PowerSupply: 850w Seasonic Gold Modular
[Firmware Version] => 20130723
Chip Frequency(Default: Advance):  350(insane); 354 is actual read out.

Umm....

850W with 4 modules at 350+mhz?

I hope you have another PS laying around for when this one goes up in smoke.

For comparison, I have a good 910W PS on a B3 @ 325mhz and it pulls ~915W from the wall, a 65W increase from 300mhz which was 850.  My estimates put 350Mhz B3 4 module at 980W give or take from the wall, or basically you need a 1KW+ supply guaranteed!  

Personally I am about to order one of these, as I am in your same boat (950W at the wall on a 910W PC Power & Cooling - hoping it doesn't fry with calculated 840W actual load, but 12V rail is still 12.2 so I think I'm good...) on my 4-module:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171078

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=344

FYI the 1300W Rosewill is too large to go inside a Batch 3 Avalon.  I am hoping the v1000 will fit.

Actually turns out the 850watt didn't burn out.  After 2 weeks, I think it overheated and shutoff when my ac was turned off.  I hooked it up to another system and it runs fine.   Funny shit crashes when my gf gets back in town and stays home... I told my gf to keep the ac 73-78f.  Still though, I ordered a corsair hx 1050 gold to serve as primary psu. 

[ProfMac]

I tried this today with a TP-LINK TL-WR703N  20130703 but it looks like it bricked it. After the flash I couldn't connect to it at all.  Also, unlike the routers in the Avalons or a Raspberry PI it required an external power supply to work but when I used it the Avalon wouldn't power up at all. Am I missing a hardware mod or something?

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.

I used the re-flashed retail unit with no hardware modification for an hour or so.  The mini-USB supplied power.  The Avalon USB plugged into the side.  I removed one of the screws from the top of the Avalon and fed the USB cable through the slot, and mounted the TP-Link outside the case.

I later modified this unit, I removed a 0R resistor to disconnect the internal antenna, and added a 0R resistor to backfeed power from the Avalon USB connector, and added the antenna, and replaced the dead internal unit, and closed it all up.

Does the blue light stay on with your TP-Link?  If you push the reset button while it is starting up, does the blue LED flash about twice/second?
Are you trying to connect via the LAN jack?  I think the WiFi has to be configured.

[phoenikx]

I used the re-flashed retail unit with no hardware modification for an hour or so.  The mini-USB supplied power.  The Avalon USB plugged into the side.  I removed one of the screws from the top of the Avalon and fed the USB cable through the slot, and mounted the TP-Link outside the case.

I later modified this unit, I removed a 0R resistor to disconnect the internal antenna, and added a 0R resistor to backfeed power from the Avalon USB connector, and added the antenna, and replaced the dead internal unit, and closed it all up.

Does the blue light stay on with your TP-Link?  If you push the reset button while it is starting up, does the blue LED flash about twice/second?
Are you trying to connect via the LAN jack?  I think the WiFi has to be configured.

Can't the original TP-link be send to TP-link for reflashing? Maybe for a small fee or so?

[loshia]

One of my  Batch #3  Avalon stopped hashing  Solid Red light and flashes an Orange light every few seconds.

I can remote into it, however fans and hashing is at 0.

Turns out my 850w Seasonic Gold  PS burned out  A/C went out for a few hours too :/  Overclocked at 358mhz on 4 modules.  I am going to RMA it and buy a 1000-1300watt gold PS.

Luckily I bought a 750watt bronze and I disconnected the 4th module to get it up.

Be prepared for 750watt bronze blast soon

Now seriously - the idea to drive your PSU at 85% load and higher is not good at all. Just a friendly advise:

for 750W 320-330mhz MAX otherwise make sure you have third PSU around
And no matter what CPU are you buying just make sure that 12V real can drive at least 80A enough for 4 modules at 350+ with a nice safety reserve

[GenTarkin]

Thanks lastbit and GandalfG for the info.   I have access to a nice 12ghz oscilloscope and will take noise and ripple measurements of the output of the VR and see if it gets unstable past 20a.  

Just took some measurements.  At the top of the board closest to the VR im seeing 1.2v at the bottom im seeing 1.15v!  Im surprised to see so much of a drop!  They must have cheeped out on the amount of copper on the board.

I measure my board with my 100MHz oscilloscope with 1.3V mod and did not see noise on power lines. I check it now after over 10 days mining.
About drop:
Standby: 1.298V
395MHz:
1.278 on coil VR and nearest capacitor  
1.268  first two chip
1.228 last chip.

I solder  silver-plated wire 0,8mm across  one board and check how its help.  

Have any amps / watts per board power measurement?
Also, was this a b2 or b3? Did they change anything on the b3 miner boards?

I did not measure amps. It is Avalon clone based on B2 design that I build self. Buy PCB and parts from Strombom.
Actually have only 50 chip and patiently wait for supply from Bitsyncom.

50mv drop is horrible!

adding a couple thick wires from the output of the VR to the last chips should help a lot.     although the problem could be a return path issue.  I dont have my unit in front of me at the moment.  I assume the bottom layer is Ground and the top is VCC?    There may be an issue with the ground vias/pins not being able to handle the current.

Yes that huge drops are very undesirable. As I stated I solder wire and make measure again. I'm a little surprised that the original B1/B2 have a similar problem.
How about B3 machines that have changed design ? I see on one photos hash unit are probably grouped in 4 on one PCB and added thermal sensor on it.

Hey, do you have results of the wire mod improvement on voltage? dont recall seeing them...

[William Reed]

Is there any significant (>1%) performance difference between 20130703 and 20130819 (or 20)? I'm trying to keep the reflashing to a minimum.
Are there changelogs somewhere for ckolivas' firmwares?