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

[Longsnowsm]

So on the A4 Batch 3 (v2.01 firmware)....

Back to solo LTC pool.... the A4s B3/v2.01 are running well there.

Stressed out by these miners struggling to survive in a multi coin pool.

Anyone can recommend a reliable LTC pool?

So why did I pay 1800$ for a single coin miner again???

For a reliable LTC pool I have been using litecoinpool.org.  They are stable, and pay on time. 

[Longsnowsm]

So on the A4 Batch 3 (v2.01 firmware)....

Back to solo LTC pool.... the A4s B3/v2.01 are running well there.

Stressed out by these miners struggling to survive in a multi coin pool.

Anyone can recommend a reliable LTC pool?

So why did I pay 1800$ for a single coin miner again???

I wonder if building a stratum server to act as a proxy would help.  I presume the issue with the coin switch is the changing difficulty?  Could a proxy force a consistent difficulty?  I've never fooled with one before--perhaps someone with that experience could pitch in.

I don't think so, the problem ist not the change of difficulty but rather the work restart the unit gets when the coin (and blocktemplate) changes on a profit switching pool.

May I ask what you guys use as fixed diff when mining with the A4 on profit switching pools?

Makes sense, thank you for clarifying.  Has anyone correlated the drop in boards or hashrate to the timing of the pool switching coins?  If it's working well on a straight LTC pool that a solid assumption, but have we actually compared when it happens?  Also, can you point the A4 to another, non-switching scrypt pool mining something other than LTC?  I know most of the pools have single coin ports.

If these guys won't auto switch, they may never ROI.

Just wanted to clarify, the A4 does not work as it is supposed to on a single coin pool.  It just works "better" than it does on the multicoin pools.  We are still seeing restarts and cards drop on the single coin pools, just not quite as often.

[wheelz1200]

Sad....and with the scrypt diff rise, fishy to me.  I wonder what inno is really doing.  They certainly arent sitting on their hands.  Either they are mining their machines and dropping the crap on everyone or they are just serviceing a farm.  No more good home mi er companys, guess i did expect this to happen, just sad that it actually did.

[dogjunior]

Sad....and with the scrypt diff rise, fishy to me.  I wonder what inno is really doing.  They certainly arent sitting on their hands.  Either they are mining their machines and dropping the crap on everyone or they are just serviceing a farm.  No more good home mi er companys, guess i did expect this to happen, just sad that it actually did.

Innosilicon got the community to over pay for their junk. They have a fix but are not sharing it with the community. Only for their farm. Why would they care about the home miner? They got their money so why do they give a shit about their customers. The rise in difficulty plus the dump in LTC price is a result of them. People keep on hoping they will provide a fix for current problems. Why should they? It doesn't benefit them or their farm.

[bclcjunkie]

Sad....and with the scrypt diff rise, fishy to me.  I wonder what inno is really doing.  They certainly arent sitting on their hands.  Either they are mining their machines and dropping the crap on everyone or they are just serviceing a farm.  No more good home mi er companys, guess i did expect this to happen, just sad that it actually did.

Innosilicon got the community to over pay for their junk. They have a fix but are not sharing it with the community. Only for their farm. Why would they care about the home miner? They got their money so why do they give a shit about their customers. The rise in difficulty plus the dump in LTC price is a result of them. People keep on hoping they will provide a fix for current problems. Why should they? It doesn't benefit them or their farm.

this ^^^

they don't plan to honor RMAs and fix the defective products, at least with KNC i was able to send defective cubes at their cost.

[usao]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

[Longsnowsm]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

That isn't a solution, that is a "screw you" response as we have been discussing here.  Inno is leaving us twisting in the wind.  I think if they hold to this policy I have bought the last Inno products I am ever going to buy.  This is completely unacceptable.  And as we have already heard here, it does not sound like B3 has fixed this, unless I am misunderstanding what has been stated from B3 owners.

[psycodad]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

I really can't be believe that Innosilicon haven't prepared the boards with a JTAG header and they now need to replace the complete STM32 MCU. Eventually it could be possible to program the chip with a special clip, I know these exist for SOIC, like i.e.:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Programmer-Testing-Clip-SOP16-SOP-SOIC-16-SOIC16-DIP16-DIP-16-Pin-IC-Test-Clamp-with/32412927187.html

Haven't found such for the LQFP the STM32 seems to be in, though I think they should exist. But then again, it is unknown if the chip can be reprogrammed while mounted, maybe there is a reason they have no JTAG holes/headers.

[Eyedol-X]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

I wonder how they identify their customers because mine technically came from a US reseller?  

Guess I need to get on the ball and start finding out what the next steps are

...Is Chloe only available via Skype or should I start firing off e-mails?

[Searing]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

That isn't a solution, that is a "screw you" response as we have been discussing here.  Inno is leaving us twisting in the wind.  I think if they hold to this policy I have bought the last Inno products I am ever going to buy.  This is completely unacceptable.  And as we have already heard here, it does not sound like B3 has fixed this, unless I am misunderstanding what has been stated from B3 owners.

As the group buy guy who shot 50 units their way. You should be able to get a jig. Send a letter to crypto press
Coindrsk etc. that would piss in their soup. Slow further sales at least. I've so far in pm's got about 9
to pass on A4's ... one was a plus 10 order.  Dumb as way to try and sell units imho by
not honoring warranty.

[citronick]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

That isn't a solution, that is a "screw you" response as we have been discussing here.  Inno is leaving us twisting in the wind.  I think if they hold to this policy I have bought the last Inno products I am ever going to buy.  This is completely unacceptable.  And as we have already heard here, it does not sound like B3 has fixed this, unless I am misunderstanding what has been stated from B3 owners.

My batch is 3 with firmware v2.01

I confirm - mining on pure LTC or solo LTC is all good...... BUT.....

... the moment this miner goes to a multicoin pool, prohashing, nicehash - the roller coaster starts.

I may not need to power cycle like batch 1 and 2 miners.... but cgminer restarts happens randomly -- I bet when switching coins. So ... is there some diff_XXXX settings for this miner? I tried so many settings to make it stable but no luck. Some promising settings survived only a few hours.

Most of the time when I give up trying.... I just run it on a solo LTC pool for the last 1 week.

I think this investment is really going down to the dogs, so unlucky and pathetic ... that the gods must have seen how upset I am and quickly bestowed me with 2 LTC solo blocks within 48 hours!!! Yes, I was speechless when 25 x LTC rolled into my wallet TWICE in the period of 48 hours.

I should just leave it mining in the solo pool and collect something by lottery rather than nothing...

[Longsnowsm]

Just got an update from Chloe.

Currently batch three has solved the restart and reboot issue by updating both the STM32 MCU firmware and SD card firmware (they have to match each other before the miners can work). We decided to send batch one and batch two customers new STM32 MCU to replace the original ones on boards. You will have to find local expertise to execute the replacement though. And we are thinking of finding some expertise for you.

That isn't a solution, that is a "screw you" response as we have been discussing here.  Inno is leaving us twisting in the wind.  I think if they hold to this policy I have bought the last Inno products I am ever going to buy.  This is completely unacceptable.  And as we have already heard here, it does not sound like B3 has fixed this, unless I am misunderstanding what has been stated from B3 owners.

My batch is 3 with firmware v2.01

I confirm - mining on pure LTC or solo LTC is all good...... BUT.....

... the moment this miner goes to a multicoin pool, prohashing, nicehash - the roller coaster starts.

I may not need to power cycle like batch 1 and 2 miners.... but cgminer restarts happens randomly -- I bet when switching coins. So ... is there some diff_XXXX settings for this miner? I tried so many settings to make it stable but no luck. Some promising settings survived only a few hours.

Most of the time when I give up trying.... I just run it on a solo LTC pool for the last 1 week.

I think this investment is really going down to the dogs, so unlucky and pathetic ... that the gods must have seen how upset I am and quickly bestowed me with 2 LTC solo blocks within 48 hours!!! Yes, I was speechless when 25 x LTC rolled into my wallet TWICE in the period of 48 hours.

I should just leave it mining in the solo pool and collect something by lottery rather than nothing...

Thanks @citronick for the update.  It does not sound like Batch 3 fixes the issue.  At this time I have updated the original post for this thread with a HUGE WARNING to potential buyers of the A4.  The response so far from Inno is completely unacceptable.  B3 has not fixed the issues, B1 and B2 owners have been told to pound sand at this point.  I will try to keep the OP updated as this soap opera unfolds.  Right now it is looking pretty bad.

The mining community is getting the shaft from Innosilicon at this point.  I can only hope they see the error of their ways.  This is absolutely a turn for the worse for them.  They need to fix the A4, and they need to send replacement boards out to customers at their expense.

At this point I feel I should apologize to this community for setting up the group buy.  Innosilicon HAD a good reputation here with past products.  I had no idea that they would not stand up and represent themselves with the new product. 

[citronick]

guys.... i got like 5 PMs from members asking me about where I do the solo LTC mining, what settings to use, how big of hash to get a decent chance to strike a block etc. etc. I am sorry, I cant be replying to everyone so being the good guy that I am ... I will just cut-paste my last reply in PM here :

====
set 4096 on the cgminer GUI

and in the password, set "diff_6144"

adjust accordingly.

I dont like the LTC solo at Nicehash.

I mine at tbdice.org, its solo mines LTC and merge mine DOGE at same time, so you get more rewards. Also the pool built on -ckpool so its lightning fast with cgminer - since he wrote cgminer too.

POOL: stratum+tcp://tbdice.org:13333
USER: <<your LTC address>>
PASSWORD: diff_6144:<<your DOGE address>>

I know the top miner there has a massive 12GH/s but my A4s was able to steal 2 blocks this week with my 1.2GH .... 25 LTC x $3.51 = nice beer money 

..

..

hey, I have a great idea.... why don't we all the A4 owners crash the party at that solo pool and drown our sorrows in lottery.

[Inno_ASIC]

Hi all,

Really sorry for the delay of our reply and the troubles that the bugs have brought to you.

For batch 3, v2.0.1 - > we found that miner will get stopped at some multi-pools.
So we released v2.0.2. And from our customers' feedback it fixed the bugs when dealing with multi-pools.

Here is the link of v2.0.2. If you have batch 3 miners please update.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9umhsbtky6t1c6j/2.0.2beta.rar?dl=0

For batch 1 and 2 users, we are preparing sending the MCU/jigs for updating the MCU firmware to you recently. Just some patience please. We will fix everything for you.

It's a hard time for us to deal with the bugs and update software versions in such a short time. We know there is some bugs with the software and we tried our best to fix them for you.

We really appreciate your understanding and support as always.

The thing is not every batch 3 user know this forum. We will invite them to come here and share their experiences of using batch 3 miners.

For dealing with some multi-pools, we found that some pools cannot deal with our miners very well for the large hash rate - > hash rate always drops to around 240Msh rather than 275 or more.

Here is a mining pool that we recommend to you: hashtocoins

Also we've contacted with some pools, below is the reply from Chris at prohashing with his agreement to share the info:
“We think the cause is that since we switch coins more frequently than Litecoin only pools, the miners are stressed harder and they are more prone to overheat.  Our users have found that slightly lowering the clock speed of the miners resolves the issue.

Yesterday, we paid 30% more per MH/s than a Litecoin-only pool, so even if the miner is only getting 245 MH/s here instead of the 280 MH/s, you will still be earning 14% more on Prohashing.

I will be glad to help if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Chris Sokolowski
Manager, Prohashing.com“

[DebitMe]

Hi all,

Really sorry for the delay of our reply and the troubles that the bugs have brought to you.

For batch 3, v2.0.1 - > we found that miner will get stopped at some multi-pools.
So we released v2.0.2. And from our customers' feedback it fixed the bugs when dealing with multi-pools.

Here is the link of v2.0.2. If you have batch 3 miners please update.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9umhsbtky6t1c6j/2.0.2beta.rar?dl=0

For batch 1 and 2 users, we are preparing sending the MCU/jigs for updating the MCU firmware to you recently. Just some patience please. We will fix everything for you.

It's a hard time for us to deal with the bugs and update software versions in such a short time. We know there is some bugs with the software and we tried our best to fix them for you.

We really appreciate your understanding and support as always.

The thing is not every batch 3 user know this forum. We will invite them to come here and share their experiences of using batch 3 miners.

For dealing with some multi-pools, we found that some pools cannot deal with our miners very well for the large hash rate - > hash rate always drops to around 240Msh rather than 275 or more.

Here is a mining pool that we recommend to you: hashtocoins

Also we've contacted with some pools, below is the reply from Chris at prohashing with his agreement to share the info:
“We think the cause is that since we switch coins more frequently than Litecoin only pools, the miners are stressed harder and they are more prone to overheat.  Our users have found that slightly lowering the clock speed of the miners resolves the issue.

Yesterday, we paid 30% more per MH/s than a Litecoin-only pool, so even if the miner is only getting 245 MH/s here instead of the 280 MH/s, you will still be earning 14% more on Prohashing.

I will be glad to help if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Chris Sokolowski
Manager, Prohashing.com“

So ordering a brand new unit from you, it will have no issues with multipool switching and will run fine on Nicehash?

[Eyedol-X]

Hi all,

Really sorry for the delay of our reply and the troubles that the bugs have brought to you.

For batch 3, v2.0.1 - > we found that miner will get stopped at some multi-pools.
So we released v2.0.2. And from our customers' feedback it fixed the bugs when dealing with multi-pools.

Here is the link of v2.0.2. If you have batch 3 miners please update.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9umhsbtky6t1c6j/2.0.2beta.rar?dl=0

For batch 1 and 2 users, we are preparing sending the MCU/jigs for updating the MCU firmware to you recently. Just some patience please. We will fix everything for you.

It's a hard time for us to deal with the bugs and update software versions in such a short time. We know there is some bugs with the software and we tried our best to fix them for you.

We really appreciate your understanding and support as always.

The thing is not every batch 3 user know this forum. We will invite them to come here and share their experiences of using batch 3 miners.

For dealing with some multi-pools, we found that some pools cannot deal with our miners very well for the large hash rate - > hash rate always drops to around 240Msh rather than 275 or more.

Here is a mining pool that we recommend to you: hashtocoins

Also we've contacted with some pools, below is the reply from Chris at prohashing with his agreement to share the info:
“We think the cause is that since we switch coins more frequently than Litecoin only pools, the miners are stressed harder and they are more prone to overheat.  Our users have found that slightly lowering the clock speed of the miners resolves the issue.

Yesterday, we paid 30% more per MH/s than a Litecoin-only pool, so even if the miner is only getting 245 MH/s here instead of the 280 MH/s, you will still be earning 14% more on Prohashing.

I will be glad to help if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Chris Sokolowski
Manager, Prohashing.com“

Thanks for this update.

How do I get my name on the list for a batch 2 miner fix?

I like Prohash and if temps are an issue, I don't see it from reporting on the miner because mine never see above 52C

...and FYI for those reading, I suggest you look at PH Forum for the history in the thread that Chris made that post to -- It's the A4 Owner thread

[Longsnowsm]

I want to see Inno offering to actually fix B1 and B2 miners.  Anything less is unacceptable.  This does not mean sending parts for us to fix your broken miners.  This means Inno is either replacing the miners, or replacing the boards.  NOT us finding an electronics shop to do repairs on our dime... 

For B3 miners please keep us updated if you try out the v2.0.2 build and let us know if it is actually working for you. 

[Eyedol-X]

I want to see Inno offering to actually fix B1 and B2 miners.  Anything less is unacceptable.  This does not mean sending parts for us to fix your broken miners.  This means Inno is either replacing the miners, or replacing the boards.  NOT us finding an electronics shop to do repairs on our dime... 

For B3 miners please keep us updated if you try out the v2.0.2 build and let us know if it is actually working for you. 

I personally would like to see a compromise with someone doing warranty work on behalf of Inno in the US. I'm sure there are people here that could do the work for Inno if they were compensated in some way.

The issue for me is not the ability to do the work but the time it takes to do it all. When I made this purchase I didn't for a second think I would have to be taking apart the miner and re-soldering components on it. That's a lot of hours out of my day to do all that then set it back up for testing and what if there is an issue? Now I have to send the board back to China? -- oh wait, 45 day warranty.... now it looks like I'll be buying a new board.

which brings the question... How much are replacement boards that are already fixed? Maybe Inno can do some sort of exchange program?

This can easily go really really bad for owners but I see opportunity here for Inno to make it right. It is my belief that Inno will make things right at this time but I definitely wish they were more timely in resolving this but I understand I was an early adopter of this product. I don't mind waiting for fixes but I will mind if I'm stuck with something that should be repaired under warranty if it was shipped with a now known design flaw.

[Longsnowsm]

Very true, Inno could contract with someone to do the repairs.  Inno needs to step up and get these miners fixed.  Not lay it on the customer to fix it. 

[FlensGold]

What kind of PSU do you use? I just wanted to test my newly arrived B3 but unfortunately my Enermax 1200W PSU stopped after around 1 minute of hashing and does not start now.