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

[Eyedol-X]

Just sent off an e-mail myself to Chloe asking if I can get a Jig here in the USA

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[lightfoot]

It was mentioned further back in the thread that they would pay lightfoot to perform upgrades in the US.  But it didn't pertain to me so I haven't followed how that developed.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1523298.msg17131771#msg17131771

Yup. At this point they seem to be thinking along the lines of sending some jigs to the US and having customers pass them around instead of swapping the MCUs. That could be one way to do it.

If I was doing reflow work, I'd charge .2 to .25 btc or so per board to swap the mcu's. Reason being:

Takes about 10 minutes to unpack, place, flux, and pre heat a board.
10 minutes to pull the MCU and cool the board down
10 minutes to place the new chip, heat up, and reflow the new component
30 minutes to hook it up and test it to make sure it works then re-box it.

So, hour a board. At .3btc per hour (my hourly billing rate for reflow work) that's a bit of a bargain but I can probably do two boards in parallel on the IR preheater.

For that I would also need a few 1.0 boards from Inno plus a bag of chips to get the process documented and down to a science.

What might make sense is to have the big mining shops get the jigs and reflash their dozens of boards, but the one-two offs send it over here to be swapped. Or they can send me a jig and I'll do it for .1btc per board to cover the time for overhead.

[vinylwasp]

Please take some pix and instructions of how to use the jig.

Here's some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinylwasp/sets/72157677783247635/

1. Unplug and Remove Fan
2. Remove the 2 screws that hold the cards into the chassis.
3. Slide out cards, and remove stickers covering contacts on each board (Batch 2 cards)
4. Move the mode selector switch on the Jig towards the Mini Downloader into the Up/Download position (see photos)
5. Plug both USB cables into the jig (they're powered from any standard USB socket). Both lights (red and blue) on the Mini Downloader should be flashing.
6. Place card (with heatsink on) onto the jig.
7. Lower the contacts onto the card using the handle
8. Push the button on the Mini Downloader. The Red light will flash a few times and then the Blue light locks on. This indicates that the firmware download was successful.
9. Flip the mode selector switch into the Down/Decode position away from the Mini-Downloader. Watch the card's LED. It should come on in a second and will stay lit for 5-7 seconds while the jig performs some diagnostics (my assumption, not documented).
10. Once the LED goes off, raise the pin assembly, remove the card, flip the mode selector back into the Up/Download position, and remove the USB cables.
11. Start process again.

That's it. The reflash process takes about 30 seconds per card. I struck a couple of mine where the LED began flashing like crazy at step 7, or step 9, but resetting the card in the jig and/or performing the process again from the start sorted it.

If you can get a Jig, anyone who can handle a screwdriver can do this job if you follow the documentation and keep your cool if LEDs start flashing.

[Searing]

It was mentioned further back in the thread that they would pay lightfoot to perform upgrades in the US.  But it didn't pertain to me so I haven't followed how that developed.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1523298.msg17131771#msg17131771

Yup. At this point they seem to be thinking along the lines of sending some jigs to the US and having customers pass them around instead of swapping the MCUs. That could be one way to do it.

If I was doing reflow work, I'd charge .2 to .25 btc or so per board to swap the mcu's. Reason being:

Takes about 10 minutes to unpack, place, flux, and pre heat a board.
10 minutes to pull the MCU and cool the board down
10 minutes to place the new chip, heat up, and reflow the new component
30 minutes to hook it up and test it to make sure it works then re-box it.

So, hour a board. At .3btc per hour (my hourly billing rate for reflow work) that's a bit of a bargain but I can probably do two boards in parallel on the IR preheater.

For that I would also need a few 1.0 boards from Inno plus a bag of chips to get the process documented and down to a science.

What might make sense is to have the big mining shops get the jigs and reflash their dozens of boards, but the one-two offs send it over here to be swapped. Or they can send me a jig and I'll do it for .1btc per board to cover the time for overhead.

Heh. Under warranty they should be giving customers vouchers you would get paid from at
Your rates. They could then monitor each fix at set price. So much for their warranty on plus minus
Within 10% hash rate and a working unit.

Moot now not worth getting at 1900 usd with shipping as with ltc it is at 3.86 usd at 280mh if you could get
Such it is 141.80 a month at 11c kWh elec lol

Edit: above price mistyped. I meant ltc was at $3.68 usd above.   

[Longsnowsm]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

[Eyedol-X]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

[Longsnowsm]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

Sadly they need to drop the price down in line with what Bitmain is charging for the S9 if they want to see sales continue.

[TracerX]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

Inno makes many more products aside from our miners.  They should be willing to support these devices even if sales go south.  Whether or not they will remains to be seen.

[Searing]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

Sadly they need to drop the price down in line with what Bitmain is charging for the S9 if they want to see sales continue.

On the other hand you all may be now in the equivalent KNC Titan twilight zone. 😄

ASSUMING that this last big difficulty hump was the data hall first in line IPO Money
Do you really want any more (assuming you get your fixes) going out in mass
Like toasters?

Heh. You should be wishing for another couple years of flat difficulty like I had.

Uncomfortable an't it? You want more toys. But they are your difficulty doom. 😳

[Longsnowsm]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

Sadly they need to drop the price down in line with what Bitmain is charging for the S9 if they want to see sales continue.

On the other hand you all may be now in the equivalent KNC Titan twilight zone. 😄

ASSUMING that this last big difficulty hump was the data hall first in line IPO Money
Do you really want any more (assuming you get your fixes) going out in mass
Like toasters?

Heh. You should be wishing for another couple years of flat difficulty like I had.

Uncomfortable an't it? You want more toys. But they are your difficulty doom. 😳

I think what is making this situation worse is that the A4 didn't deliver the big leap in hashing power per watt that they originally announced.  Had they made a significant jump in efficiency over that of the Titan then the Titan's would be dropping off the network with this generation of hardware and there would be mass adoption to replace that Titan gear.  Since we didn't get the efficiency improvements to make that necessary we have instead just grown the entire base of scrypt miners, not pushed the retirement of the previous generation. 

All that is making this formula for big diff increases, and lower LTC prices.  Not a good situation.  If the A4 gets a revision/update that suddenly has these same units pushing 400-500mhs for the same power consumption then this dynamic may change.  For now it isn't making a very pretty picture.

[firehawk71]

Please take some pix and instructions of how to use the jig.

Here's some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinylwasp/sets/72157677783247635/

1. Unplug and Remove Fan
2. Remove the 2 screws that hold the cards into the chassis.
3. Slide out cards, and remove stickers covering contacts on each board (Batch 2 cards)
4. Move the mode selector switch on the Jig towards the Mini Downloader into the Up/Download position (see photos)
5. Plug both USB cables into the jig (they're powered from any standard USB socket). Both lights (red and blue) on the Mini Downloader should be flashing.
6. Place card (with heatsink on) onto the jig.
7. Lower the contacts onto the card using the handle
8. Push the button on the Mini Downloader. The Red light will flash a few times and then the Blue light locks on. This indicates that the firmware download was successful.
9. Flip the mode selector switch into the Down/Decode position away from the Mini-Downloader. Watch the card's LED. It should come on in a second and will stay lit for 5-7 seconds while the jig performs some diagnostics (my assumption, not documented).
10. Once the LED goes off, raise the pin assembly, remove the card, flip the mode selector back into the Up/Download position, and remove the USB cables.
11. Start process again.

That's it. The reflash process takes about 30 seconds per card. I struck a couple of mine where the LED began flashing like crazy at step 7, or step 9, but resetting the card in the jig and/or performing the process again from the start sorted it.

If you can get a Jig, anyone who can handle a screwdriver can do this job if you follow the documentation and keep your cool if LEDs start flashing.

That sounds very straightforward... Why then am I hearing stuff like heating boards and removing parts? Sorry I am just trying to figure out if this is something I can do or not.. If its like you say it sounds very easy.. I got a response from Inno and they said they are working on getting a jig to the USA but have a very limited amount they sound to me like they would send one but they dont know who to send it to.

[Eyedol-X]

Please take some pix and instructions of how to use the jig.

Here's some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinylwasp/sets/72157677783247635/

1. Unplug and Remove Fan
2. Remove the 2 screws that hold the cards into the chassis.
3. Slide out cards, and remove stickers covering contacts on each board (Batch 2 cards)
4. Move the mode selector switch on the Jig towards the Mini Downloader into the Up/Download position (see photos)
5. Plug both USB cables into the jig (they're powered from any standard USB socket). Both lights (red and blue) on the Mini Downloader should be flashing.
6. Place card (with heatsink on) onto the jig.
7. Lower the contacts onto the card using the handle
8. Push the button on the Mini Downloader. The Red light will flash a few times and then the Blue light locks on. This indicates that the firmware download was successful.
9. Flip the mode selector switch into the Down/Decode position away from the Mini-Downloader. Watch the card's LED. It should come on in a second and will stay lit for 5-7 seconds while the jig performs some diagnostics (my assumption, not documented).
10. Once the LED goes off, raise the pin assembly, remove the card, flip the mode selector back into the Up/Download position, and remove the USB cables.
11. Start process again.

That's it. The reflash process takes about 30 seconds per card. I struck a couple of mine where the LED began flashing like crazy at step 7, or step 9, but resetting the card in the jig and/or performing the process again from the start sorted it.

If you can get a Jig, anyone who can handle a screwdriver can do this job if you follow the documentation and keep your cool if LEDs start flashing.

That sounds very straightforward... Why then am I hearing stuff like heating boards and removing parts? Sorry I am just trying to figure out if this is something I can do or not.. If its like you say it sounds very easy.. I got a response from Inno and they said they are working on getting a jig to the USA but have a very limited amount they sound to me like they would send one but they dont know who to send it to.

Lightfoot was outlining how he could do it with just a bag of chips and without a jig.

[usao]

So, the update process seems straight forward.
Any news on who in the US has a Jig? Preferably in the Arizona area?
I can pull the cards and ship them to someone. Doesn't look like a lot of work, what would be the cost?

[vinylwasp]

So, the update process seems straight forward.
Any news on who in the US has a Jig? Preferably in the Arizona area?
I can pull the cards and ship them to someone. Doesn't look like a lot of work, what would be the cost?

Guys give me an address and I'll see if I can persuade Chloe to pay the freight to send the jig I have here in NZ to you. It looks like it's purpose built so now that I have flashed all mine I'm happy to loan it out to you. I'd kinda like it back though just in case there's a future firmware update that unlocks 400Mhs so I'd like to send it to someone core to the group-buy who can give assurances that it won't go missing ;-)

[firehawk71]

Please take some pix and instructions of how to use the jig.

Here's some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinylwasp/sets/72157677783247635/

1. Unplug and Remove Fan
2. Remove the 2 screws that hold the cards into the chassis.
3. Slide out cards, and remove stickers covering contacts on each board (Batch 2 cards)
4. Move the mode selector switch on the Jig towards the Mini Downloader into the Up/Download position (see photos)
5. Plug both USB cables into the jig (they're powered from any standard USB socket). Both lights (red and blue) on the Mini Downloader should be flashing.
6. Place card (with heatsink on) onto the jig.
7. Lower the contacts onto the card using the handle
8. Push the button on the Mini Downloader. The Red light will flash a few times and then the Blue light locks on. This indicates that the firmware download was successful.
9. Flip the mode selector switch into the Down/Decode position away from the Mini-Downloader. Watch the card's LED. It should come on in a second and will stay lit for 5-7 seconds while the jig performs some diagnostics (my assumption, not documented).
10. Once the LED goes off, raise the pin assembly, remove the card, flip the mode selector back into the Up/Download position, and remove the USB cables.
11. Start process again.

That's it. The reflash process takes about 30 seconds per card. I struck a couple of mine where the LED began flashing like crazy at step 7, or step 9, but resetting the card in the jig and/or performing the process again from the start sorted it.

If you can get a Jig, anyone who can handle a screwdriver can do this job if you follow the documentation and keep your cool if LEDs start flashing.

That sounds very straightforward... Why then am I hearing stuff like heating boards and removing parts? Sorry I am just trying to figure out if this is something I can do or not.. If its like you say it sounds very easy.. I got a response from Inno and they said they are working on getting a jig to the USA but have a very limited amount they sound to me like they would send one but they dont know who to send it to.

Lightfoot was outlining how he could do it with just a bag of chips and without a jig.

I read that post from lightfoot but that sounds more difficult and expensive...Why not just flash it if its as easy as it sounds?

[vinylwasp]

That sounds very straightforward... Why then am I hearing stuff like heating boards and removing parts? Sorry I am just trying to figure out if this is something I can do or not.. If its like you say it sounds very easy.. I got a response from Inno and they said they are working on getting a jig to the USA but have a very limited amount they sound to me like they would send one but they dont know who to send it to.
[/quote]

Because the jigs are expensive and Inno initially intended to send small buyers new STM32 MCU chips to have replaced on the boards following the process outlined elsewhere (heat board, remove solder, remove chip, replace chip, etc, etc). Given the risks and cost of this vs. the freight of sending the cards to a central location where they can be re-flashed with a jig, I think the later is the most sensible proposition.

[vinylwasp]

Yes, LTC now at 3.63 and falling I won't be buying any more A4's at this price.  The price needs to come down.  Diff increase and lower LTC price is just too much for me to justify this price point and it does not appear to be improving any time soon.

Kinda what I said a few days ago -- However, this is a double edge sword. Part of me is now worried that if LTC doesn't recover and people stop buying the A4 that Inno might be in danger of not having the funding needed to provide us the support and things we need to fix our B1/B2 miners.

Inno makes many more products aside from our miners.  They should be willing to support these devices even if sales go south.  Whether or not they will remains to be seen.

Inno would have recovered 99% of their costs with the 5 big investors they sought at the start. Everything else is pure gravy.
They're also locking out re-sellers and protecting their revenue stream that way so I think they'll be around to provide support for a very long time.

[Longsnowsm]

I am getting a lot of questions via PM's from a lot of people here regarding this mess with the A4's.  I can tell you that I know what everyone else knows, which isn't much.  I know people are frustrated and angry.  I know, I am one of the frustrated and angry customers myself.  It has been a week now since Inno said they were going to set something up to take care of this situation with the miners.  But now I am hearing rumors that it isn't going to happen.  I don't have any confirmation yet from Inno. 

So I have a feeling we are going to have to work to resolve this as a community the best we can if we can get our hands on the jigs to do the flashing.  I just sent Inno and email suggesting that they can send me a jig and I will try to help coordinate getting this done.  I have no idea if they will take me up on the suggestion.

In the mean time I would like to see if we can get a show of hands here who has a jig or has one coming to them?  If you have a jig, or have one coming would you be willing to loan it to the community here so that we can try to come up with a way for members to get their units flashed?  I honestly don't think it is a good idea to try and ship jigs from member to member all over the country, but I am certainly open to input on the best way to try and coordinate this activity so that we get everyone flashed who needs it.

The next question I have is how many units are we talking about here in the US that need to be flashed?  I know this isn't a small number, but I don't know how many people have bought A4's directly with Inno that are in this boat with a B1 or B2 miner.  So I would also like to get an idea how many units we are talking about.

This could turn into a huge undertaking trying to coordinate miners coming in, miners being flashed, tested, and then shipped back out.  So there is a significant amount of work and effort to do this depending on how many units we are talking about.   

So lets sound off.  Let me hear if you have a jig or one is coming.  And I would like to get an idea how many A4's need flashing.  I would like to get a game plan together and start working the plan.  Thoughts?

I have 2 B2's that need to be flashed.

[DebitMe]

Got my unit this evening and have been working to get it setup.  I am using a LEPA 1600 watt PSU, but the 2 units won't start up with it.  I can get the red lights blinking, but when I start the units up, everything just shuts off.  I can start each unit individually, but not sure whats going on when trying to run both.  Any ideas?

[AleScamHole]

Got my unit this evening and have been working to get it setup.  I am using a LEPA 1600 watt PSU, but the 2 units won't start up with it.  I can get the red lights blinking, but when I start the units up, everything just shuts off.  I can start each unit individually, but not sure whats going on when trying to run both.  Any ideas?

tbh i'm just surprised you bought one. they are obviously garbage in their CURRENT state...