Bitmain Announces the Antminer R4 and APW5 Power Supply, Designed for Silence

[HagssFIN]

@VRobb,

as always, our hosting option, you do not have to worry about dead units or broken units as it be repaired or replaced at site if it is damaged or broken while in our hosting!  Fully protected option is $60/kw, string attached is shipout is only after unit is not profitable to hash.  (hash to the ash option, and probably in those senario, hosting fee at that time may be even lower to hash a bit longer by migrating to lower grade hosting option we have to keep the unit working longer)

talk to me I am getting upset at 2 months of time of my r4 being away from me.

That's bad, sorry to hear  
Have you been kicking their butts via e-mail or phone to do the repair ready already?

[1713558556]

1713558556

[Evan]

@VRobb,

as always, our hosting option, you do not have to worry about dead units or broken units as it be repaired or replaced at site if it is damaged or broken while in our hosting!  Fully protected option is $60/kw, string attached is shipout is only after unit is not profitable to hash.  (hash to the ash option, and probably in those senario, hosting fee at that time may be even lower to hash a bit longer by migrating to lower grade hosting option we have to keep the unit working longer)

talk to me I am getting upset at 2 months of time of my r4 being away from me.

That's bad, sorry to hear  
Have you been kicking their butts via e-mail or phone to do the repair ready already?

I email them regularly. I called but the second thing is in Chinese so I get scared and hang up.

[lightfoot]

Well I did get a blown S7 in here to fix at Lightfoot labs, so I am learning these things. Once I get the board running I'll post results and thoughts in a thread. I can almost always do turnaround in a few days, never months :-)

C

[VRobb]

If you can deal with the extra noise and extra electricity cost, I would go with the T9.

The sick R4 is in a DC with my S9 so noise isn't an issue in this case.  Just another expensive shipping payment and then mining delay, what fun!!

Well after much delay my sick droid R4B4 is back at the Empire for scrapping.  After some polite back and forth regarding the issues with the R4 I was promised "just this one time" an S9, instead of a T9, for swap once returned on my dime.  It has just arrived today.

Wow, that's actually then quite in a good way handled situation after all?

It took a bit more back and forth, and referencing the original emails with the offer of an S9 this one time, but it is now official: I will be getting a new S9 in swap for my 1/2 running R4B4.  Of course there's a catch...  No stock available until, get this, October!! 
Update to come in September sometime. 
Until then, $$ and hashrate wasting away. 

[fusion0389]

If you can deal with the extra noise and extra electricity cost, I would go with the T9.

The sick R4 is in a DC with my S9 so noise isn't an issue in this case.  Just another expensive shipping payment and then mining delay, what fun!!

Well after much delay my sick droid R4B4 is back at the Empire for scrapping.  After some polite back and forth regarding the issues with the R4 I was promised "just this one time" an S9, instead of a T9, for swap once returned on my dime.  It has just arrived today.

Wow, that's actually then quite in a good way handled situation after all?

It took a bit more back and forth, and referencing the original emails with the offer of an S9 this one time, but it is now official: I will be getting a new S9 in swap for my 1/2 running R4B4.  Of course there's a catch...  No stock available until, get this, October!! 
Update to come in September sometime. 
Until then, $$ and hashrate wasting away. 

October? That kinda sucks... If you live stateside you should be able to send it to their USA based repair facility in California for expedited repair.

[HagssFIN]

Well they didn't handle it well then after all. 
They can't put warranty orders in the same basket with new orders, that is not fair at all.

[VRobb]

Yeah, well you pays your money and you takes your chances.  Now that they got it I will must wait.  Hopefully not the full amount of time!

[VRobb]

If you can deal with the extra noise and extra electricity cost, I would go with the T9.

The sick R4 is in a DC with my S9 so noise isn't an issue in this case.  Just another expensive shipping payment and then mining delay, what fun!!

Well after much delay my sick droid R4B4 is back at the Empire for scrapping.  After some polite back and forth regarding the issues with the R4 I was promised "just this one time" an S9, instead of a T9, for swap once returned on my dime.  It has just arrived today.

Wow, that's actually then quite in a good way handled situation after all?

It took a bit more back and forth, and referencing the original emails with the offer of an S9 this one time, but it is now official: I will be getting a new S9 in swap for my 1/2 running R4B4.  Of course there's a catch...  No stock available until, get this, October!!  
Update to come in September sometime.  
Until then, $$ and hashrate wasting away.  

Things are looking up!  Got an email this morning from Sarah at bitmain letting me know my S9-11THs is ready to ship!  I was hoping it might happen sooner than planned, and it did.  
Now if only there's some open capacity at the Hoth mines I'll be even happier!  

And to keep this on-topic, my R4B2 is still chugging away just great.  My favorite miner I've had by far, not that I've had so many tho...

[HagssFIN]

That's great to hear VRobb.  

[VRobb]

....and we're back in delay mode!    Suddenly the S9 they had ready to ship turned into a T9, which is the wrong unit, and so the wait continues.  I thought they came back with good news a little too fast!  

Consider R4B4 only hashed full power for a few days to a week at most, ran at 1/2 power for a month or so before being unplugged to ship back in May, delay in getting shipped for a month or so, and after sitting at Bitmain for quite a while now I still wait...  Not cool at all.

So for all of you who still want an R4 for its quietness and efficiency, which is great if you get it, it's a 50/50 crapshoot as far as I can tell.

[aarons6]

....and we're back in delay mode!    Suddenly the S9 they had ready to ship turned into a T9, which is the wrong unit, and so the wait continues.  I thought they came back with good news a little too fast!  

Consider R4B4 only hashed full power for a few days to a week at most, ran at 1/2 power for a month or so before being unplugged to ship back in May, delay in getting shipped for a month or so, and after sitting at Bitmain for quite a while now I still wait...  Not cool at all.

So for all of you who still want an R4 for its quietness and efficiency, which is great if you get it, it's a 50/50 crapshoot as far as I can tell.

wow that sucks, at this rate you would probably make more if you just had bitmain return your bitcoin.. since its almost 5000$ now.. it was only around 2300 when these came out?

[VRobb]

Yeah, well, much like Vegas don't play with money you can't afford to lose.  Not that I expect to lose anything, it's just not doing very much at the moment! 
Soon enough we'll be back on track. I think. 

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Consider R4B4 only hashed full power for a few days to a week at most, ran at 1/2 power for a month or so before being unplugged to ship back in May, delay in getting shipped for a month or so, and after sitting at Bitmain for quite a while now I still wait...  Not cool at all.

So for all of you who still want an R4 for its quietness and efficiency, which is great if you get it, it's a 50/50 crapshoot as far as I can tell.

Ja. Thass why I left Gimpy just running with the dead board unplugged when the board went titsup after just 25hrs. Wasn't about to send to China under Warranty and BitmainWarrenty in Co was having issues getting whatever for Paid repair/replacement.

Oh well, ja is down ~4.2THs  but just minor dip in the farm total, I'll live with it. Love my other 2 R4's tho, are perfect and like the majority of the Bitmain miners I have no surprises so far.

[Breeze]

Bitmain.com: Three Ways to Restore Factory Settings (R4/S9/T9)
https://enforum.bitmain.com/bbs/topics/3957

I used the last option in the list, IP Reporter button restore.

Usage: Please power off the miner, then hold down the IP Reporter and don’t release it. At the same time, please power on the miner.
Releasing the IP Reporter after 5 seconds, the machine will automatically restore factory settings.

My miner restored with firmware Aug. 9 2016 and autotune settings were gone.
I am now suddenly able to control frequency and custom fan settings.  

Hi guys!
I tried this several times but my R4 wont go back to the old firmware =(
I have the latgest firmware on my R4 now: Antminer-R4-all-201704280718-autofreq-user-Update2UBI-NF.tar.gz

Does somebody have an older firmware without this autotune settings?

Cheers!

[philipma1957]

Bitmain.com: Three Ways to Restore Factory Settings (R4/S9/T9)
https://enforum.bitmain.com/bbs/topics/3957

I used the last option in the list, IP Reporter button restore.

Usage: Please power off the miner, then hold down the IP Reporter and don’t release it. At the same time, please power on the miner.
Releasing the IP Reporter after 5 seconds, the machine will automatically restore factory settings.

My miner restored with firmware Aug. 9 2016 and autotune settings were gone.
I am now suddenly able to control frequency and custom fan settings.  

Hi guys!
I tried this several times but my R4 wont go back to the old firmware =(
I have the latgest firmware on my R4 now: Antminer-R4-all-201704280718-autofreq-user-Update2UBI-NF.tar.gz

Does somebody have an older firmware without this autotune settings?

Cheers!

the controller may not do it some will some will not.

[qctechno]

I had 1x R4B1 that have very cheap PCI power connectors.
They overheated at stock speed, ruined my P/S cables. ( EVGA G2 1300W )
My second unit didn't have that issue.

Monitor your cables temperature, nothing should heat.
Bitmain lowered connector quality for some R4 batch, probably explaining lot's of defects.

I down clocked by haft speed ( 350Mhz ) to keep connector at reasonable temp until I
replaced my connectors with new one / better quality.

You can purchase Molex Mini-Fit Jr for around 1$ /each

It need a lot's of heat to desoldering, soldering iron alone won't be enough.
Pre-heating bed or hot air is mandatory to execute the job properly.

Also, you need Desoldering Braid ( 5$ ).
Heat soldering and apply braid over it to suck solder into it.

[lightfoot]

I had 1x R4B1 that have very cheap PCI power connectors.
They overheated at stock speed, ruined my P/S cables. ( EVGA G2 1300W )
My second unit didn't have that issue.

Monitor your cables temperature, nothing should heat.
Bitmain lowered connector quality for some R4 batch, probably explaining lot's of defects.

It need a lot's of heat to desoldering, soldering iron alone won't be enough.
Pre-heating bed or hot air is mandatory to execute the job properly.

Or you can send the boards to me for repair. I've been doing this on Avalons, Titans, and S7's for awhile now, and I've seen some poor attempts to do it which don't end well.

If you want me to fix bad connectors, drop me a PM and pack the boards in bubble wrap.

And since I believe information should be free and the skill of work be paid for, here are some tips on how to do it:

You have to get a pre-heater. Aoyue 853+ or better at minimum. Don't use a super big soldering iron, you will just burn the vias before you remove the part.

Cut the back three prongs on the connector before you start. That way you are removing them one at a time, not six at once.

And the super magic secret: Tin the leads with lead/rosin solder. This will lower the melting point of the crap ROHS solder a *lot* and make removal easier.

Use very good flux. Flux cleans connections and transfers heat.

Once off, use the solder wick to take up all the solder. Flux is good.

Clean everything up before installing the new one.

Flux the ends of the new plug before inserting. That way the new solder will flow.

Heat the board again then solder the back three pins.

Flip the hot board over in your lap and solder the front three.

Oh wear thick pants.

Clean everything up and admire your work.

But whatever you do, don't try to remove with just an iron. Or send it in to me for repairs, I take bitcoins :-)

C

[qctechno]

Good step-by-step instructions , that's exactly how I did it
Silver solder is a pain in the ass to work with.

I have one R4 board down. Mostly from a broken ASIC chain.
I had one flashing X when it was running. Now I can't revive it.

Can you fix it too ?
I emailed Bitmain Warranty in Denver, I may ship the board there for repair.
With BTC pumping, cost of repair will be absorbed more quickly.

[huntingthesnark]

I had 1x R4B1 that have very cheap PCI power connectors.
They overheated at stock speed, ruined my P/S cables. ( EVGA G2 1300W )
My second unit didn't have that issue.

Monitor your cables temperature, nothing should heat.
Bitmain lowered connector quality for some R4 batch, probably explaining lot's of defects.

I down clocked by haft speed ( 350Mhz ) to keep connector at reasonable temp until I
replaced my connectors with new one / better quality.

You can purchase /yc4k8eps]Molex Mini-Fit Jr for around 1$ /each

It need a lot's of heat to desoldering, soldering iron alone won't be enough.
Pre-heating bed or hot air is mandatory to execute the job properly.

Also, you need /yah9vsfy]Desoldering Braid ( 5$ ).
Heat soldering and apply braid over it to suck solder into it.

I just had a highly annoying issue. Returned from holiday, r4 had lost IP. So reset to factory as above. Noticed variable settings had returned.

Ran for a week, till I noticed the connectors were smoking. Now have set of dead pcie connectors.

Before resoldering them tested the one board that still had working connnectors. All xxxxxxxxx. Lowered frequency. Runs fine.

I'm now thinking that the original firmware makes these machines over-heat, while the 'newer' firmware obviously regulates automatically, thus saving the connectors...
 

[qctechno]

Firmware have nothing to do with cheap connectors that can't handle load.

Brand name connector ( Molex ) fixed the overheat issue, firmware would not.
Same load at the wall, 900W ish on 120V.