A4 Dominator - Pre-Order Group Buy - 280mh, roughly 1000w, $1800 + shipping

[Longsnowsm]

Which is going to be easier for the end user?  Replacing the STM or reflashing it?  If it is easier to replace than to reflash then let them send the replacement STM to all of the B1 and B2 buyers.  That saves people shipping stuff all over to get flashed, and yet more risk in something going sideways in the process.  But I am certainly open to suggestions and willing to help anyway I can.

[lightfoot]

Ah, hm. I wonder if the "jig" is something like an AVR Dragon, like we used to reprogram the Atmel MCU's on the Jalapeno and Singles using a JTAG interface....

Is there a 10 pin diagnostic port on these things?

[Searing]

Which is going to be easier for the end user?  Replacing the STM or reflashing it?  If it is easier to replace than to reflash then let them send the replacement STM to all of the B1 and B2 buyers.  That saves people shipping stuff all over to get flashed, and yet more risk in something going sideways in the process.  But I am certainly open to suggestions and willing to help anyway I can.

Not sure about electronics, but did they not say in above msg on such ( 5 msgs up) that this is your problem small order chumps?....or begone minions with your lame first adopter problems!

[Longsnowsm]

Well they said for us small batch purchasers that they would send a replacement STM and we would have to replace ourselves. 

It would be nice to know what is involved in either case, the replacement or the reflash.  I am all about the path of least resistance for the end user.  So if replacing the STM is easier then lets do that. 

Looking forward to what others think about this.  I would also like to see more data on the B3's to ensure this actually fixes the issue before we start jumping through hoops.  I would hate to see everyone rushing to do this and it doesn't correct the problems with dropped boards and the endless stream of restarts that these miners do on multipools with B1 and B2 miners.

[Longsnowsm]

Hello Vinylwasp,

We have solved the restart and reboot problem in batch 3. No update in hardware but the firmware in STM32 MCU and SD card both have updates.
SD card firmware has been upgraded to v2.0.1. For ST MCU firmware, we will send you a testing jig (which is expensive) and user manual to update.
For smaller batch one and batch two buyers who bought less than 50 units, we will send them new STM32 MCU for local replacement, but will need them to find local expertise to execute that.
.

Anyone have any idea what is involved to swap out the STM32 MCU they are talking about?

[Eyedol-X]

Hello Vinylwasp,

We have solved the restart and reboot problem in batch 3. No update in hardware but the firmware in STM32 MCU and SD card both have updates.
SD card firmware has been upgraded to v2.0.1. For ST MCU firmware, we will send you a testing jig (which is expensive) and user manual to update.
For smaller batch one and batch two buyers who bought less than 50 units, we will send them new STM32 MCU for local replacement, but will need them to find local expertise to execute that.
.

Anyone have any idea what is involved to swap out the STM32 MCU they are talking about?

x2 on this question -- I hope some information is put out there on what this thing even looks like.

In regards to allowing me to replace it myself vs sending it in for replacement; I'm glad they are going to give us a field replacement option, with my professional experience it shouldn't be an issue for me to do.

What I'm concerned about is if they are going to charge us for this ability.

I'd like to know where/how to get on the list for one of these.

[bclcjunkie]

based on inno's response it's a custom jig. probably some kind of tool to "trick" MCU into debug mode and then do firmware update? lightfoot you know this stuff better than most of us.. i think for you replacing that stm must be child's play. my suggestion to those who stay closer geographically to lightfoot its better if you engage his services or else once the board is messed up you'll have a hard time getting that warranty honoured by inno and end up paying more.

Ah, hm. I wonder if the "jig" is something like an AVR Dragon, like we used to reprogram the Atmel MCU's on the Jalapeno and Singles using a JTAG interface....

Is there a 10 pin diagnostic port on these things?

[Nowayz]

My best guess is that its the top left chip in the pic posted earlier.
That would be the only chip that isnt easy to reprogram imo.

So if you want to replace a chip like that you'll need some soldering skills.

[Longsnowsm]

If they are talking about removing chips from the board then Inno is out of their minds.  They can send replacement boards, but I am certainly not pulling out the old soldering gun on these things...  Not GONNA HAPPEN.  They need to own this and replace the boards if that is the case that the chip needs to be removed and replaced.  That is their warranty issue, not my issue.

I hope that is not what they are expecting.  We need some clarification fast.

I would strongly suggest that Inno contract with Lightfoot for the warranty repairs.  They should be reaching out to him now to see if they can enlist his services.  This is a HUGE BLACK EYE for Inno if they are going to push this problem off on the consumer.

[usao]

Ideally, they should trade in defective B1/B2 gear for B3 (assuming it's reallyl "fixed").

[Longsnowsm]

Ideally, they should trade in defective B1/B2 gear for B3 (assuming it's reallyl "fixed").

EXACTLY!  Dumping their problems on the consumer does not fly!

B3 being fixed is still a question mark also.

I would also like to see these miners actually hash at the advertised rate.  On the pool side!  Not just what the miner reports.

[tradewiz]

I had a fan fail. Anyone know the CFM? Im looking for a replacement. Best guess, > 200 CFM.
Google search on the part number didnt locate any specs. Also seems difficult to find 2-pin fan connectors.

You can use a 3 pin fan, take the old 2 pin plug, cut the third cable (which is for controlling the fan speed) and just mould the cables together.

[usao]

I had a fan fail. Anyone know the CFM? Im looking for a replacement. Best guess, > 200 CFM.
Google search on the part number didnt locate any specs. Also seems difficult to find 2-pin fan connectors.

You can use a 3 pin fan, take the old 2 pin plug, cut the third cable (which is for controlling the fan speed) and just mould the cables together.

Resolved last week. Got replacement specs from Inno, ordered from ebay and it's back and running.

[vinylwasp]

My best guess is that its the top left chip in the pic posted earlier.
That would be the only chip that isnt easy to reprogram imo.

So if you want to replace a chip like that you'll need some soldering skills.

Yes, that's the MCU, and yes replacement would require an expert electronics technician removing and re-soldering, not something you'd take on yourself without experience I think.

[vinylwasp]

Ideally, they should trade in defective B1/B2 gear for B3 (assuming it's reallyl "fixed").

EXACTLY!  Dumping their problems on the consumer does not fly!

B3 being fixed is still a question mark also.

I would also like to see these miners actually hash at the advertised rate.  On the pool side!  Not just what the miner reports.

Like this? "h=off d=65536"

100-B1
00:27
Megacoin
269.62 MH/s Megacoin
Difficulty: 65,536
Target difficulty: 65,536 (static)
Work restart delay: 2.446s
Current restart penalty: 1.000
Minimum network difficulty: 50
2hr share count: 454
2hr avg hashrate: 269.62 MH/s
Since first share: 18:41:49
Mode: Pay-per-share
Merge mining restarts: dynamic

107-B2
00:21
Guldencoin
271.41 MH/s Guldencoin
Difficulty: 65,536
Target difficulty: 65,536 (static)
Work restart delay: 2.553s
Current restart penalty: 1.000
Minimum network difficulty: 50
2hr share count: 468
2hr avg hashrate: 271.41 MH/s
Since first share: 03:37:16
Mode: Pay-per-share
Merge mining restarts: dynamic

[vinylwasp]

Edit:
So I gather they waited on this till your 45 day warranty expired?

No, I'm still inside my warranty and TBH I expect this kind of support (firmware/software) to be available for the lifetime of the miner.

[Longsnowsm]

Some of us tried those exact settings on Prohashing, and got more restarts than you can shake a stick at, more dropped cards than you can count, and nowhere near that hash rate.  I see some on the Prohashing forum saying that works for them.  It does not work for the 2 miners I am running.  They become so unstable as to be practically useless for me.  Jumped over to Nicehash because others said that worked for them.  Still did not work for me, lots of restarts and dropped cards.  Just tried zpool last night and this morning... Same story.  Low hash rates, restarts, and dropped cards.

And when I say hash at the advertised rate that is at 280mhs.  So far I am lucky to average 250mhs on Litecoinpool which is about the only place I have tested so far that the miners are halfway stable.

And if that is the STM on the boards then Inno needs to replace boards, or entire miners.  Or they can contract with someone to do the warranty work to fix the B1 and B2 miners with the firmware.  This is completely UNACCEPTABLE!  

[vinylwasp]

Ah, hm. I wonder if the "jig" is something like an AVR Dragon, like we used to reprogram the Atmel MCU's on the Jalapeno and Singles using a JTAG interface....

Is there a 10 pin diagnostic port on these things?

Look on the underside of the card through the grill and you can see there's a group of exposed contacts. I assume the jig locates the card so some spring loaded pins can make contact with these and interface directly with the MCU.

[vinylwasp]

Some of us tried those exact settings on Prohashing, and got more restarts than you can shake a stick at, more dropped cards than you can count, and nowhere near that hash rate.  I see some on the Prohashing forum saying that works for them.  It does not work for the 2 miners I am running.  They become so unstable as to be practically useless for me.  Jumped over to Nicehash because others said that worked for them.  Still did not work for me, lots of restarts and dropped cards.  Just tried zpool last night and this morning... Same story.  Low hash rates, restarts, and dropped cards.

And when I say hash at the advertised rate that is at 280mhs.  So far I am lucky to average 250mhs on Litecoinpool which is about the only place I have tested so far that the miners are halfway stable.

And if that is the STM on the boards then Inno needs to replace boards, or entire miners.  Or they can contract with someone to do the warranty work to fix the B1 and B2 miners with the firmware.  This is completely UNACCEPTABLE!  

I had the same experience initially. Note that my diff is 2-4x the recommended setting.

The other thing to do is try a little more voltage Longsnowsm. I'm running my B1's with 822-824@1200 Mhz and my B2's at 826-828@1224.
The other thing I've encountered (and it's mostly my own fault) is that dust/grime can collect on the back of the card and cause the USB interface to drop.

When you say you have a dropped card, is the LED still lit and the card visible in the /miner.php page? If it's off it's probably (based on my experience) because the back of the card is dirty. This is especially true if you orient the miners so the cards are horizontal. I stacked mine initially using the male/female rails and the top card kept failing. Took me a while to work out what the problem was and after cleaning them with PCB cleaner I've oriented them so the cards are vertical now and they've been running for over a week with no hard reboots and all 4 cards bouncing back after each soft restart most of the time. It's not perfect yet, I think I may need to play around with voltage a little more, but they are 100x better than they were.

Also, I keep them fairly cool. I directly vent the fans into a different room and push a lot of cold air through them. Most of the time they're in the 45-52 degree range.

HTH.

[usao]

Heck, mine are in a datacenter with full AC, and can't keep them under 50c, even with the room temp at 72f.
Air is pretty clean here, no buildup of any kind. I think they filter the AC air before bringing it in.
Are you trying to run these in a household setting? That's gotta be pretty hard, since air will definitely be dirty in comparison.