Just purchased a ModMiner QUAD...

[battmann]

I just bought a ModMiner QUAD from www.btcfpga.com and was wondering what flavor of linux will be best suited for running this miner?

Any help is appreciated!
-battmann

[1715040661]

1715040661

[1715040661]

1715040661

[allinvain]

Any flavor will do. What determines which distro is best is your proficiency with it. There are some libs that are necessary for mining with these fpga units, so whichever distro makes it easier for you to install the prerequisite software is the one that might be best. I hear Ubuntu is really easy

[Magnate]

I tell you what, with the price gouging by BFL, the slow shipping of avalon, and the high bitcoin price, I'd be tempted to stick with FPGAs if the prices could come down to reflect their hash rate.

But you know what- a jalapeno is still a better deal at 6 times faster than a mode miner and half the price. A little single is similar in price and up around 30x faster. SO I guess it would be impossible for a FPGA to be priced per hash even against the increased pricing of BFL.

Looking forward to a lot more competition.

[Turok]

why are you posting the same topic in every single category?

[battmann]

why are you posting the same topic in every single category?

Covering my bases so that I am not ignored :/ i know it sucks so sometimes I do this to get quick answers from a variety of people.

[allinvain]

You are clogging up the internets like this :p lol j/k

[JonSnow]

any news from the guy? 

[battmann]

any news from the guy? 

Check basecamp

[BR0KK]

I hope you get a unit.... Wasn't the guy that ran this shop bankrupt!?

[Gator-hex]

LOL Battmann you started the topic..

"Advice from someone who isn't a moron"

Which moron advised you to buy from someone with only a P.O, Box address and on the known scammer list for taking pre-order funds for a non-existent ASIC project?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=152980.20

Let the community know if you get your unit.

[JonSnow]

Battmann heard about the units - we'd been looking for some for awhile and when he saw the website, we bought Battmann's and mine.  At the time he recommended them, he had no idea the guy was a possible scammer.  However, we've gotten an email back from him stating that the units WILL be sent out, that he is not a scammer, and that he is trying to make things right with those who placed orders for his bASIC units.  Hopefully everything will work out.

[battmann]

LOL Battmann you started the topic..

"Advice from someone who isn't a moron"

Which moron advised you to buy from someone with only a P.O, Box address and on the known scammer list for taking pre-order funds for a non-existent ASIC project?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=152980.20

Let the community know if you get your unit.

see

Battmann heard about the units - we'd been looking for some for awhile and when he saw the website, we bought Battmann's and mine.  At the time he recommended them, he had no idea the guy was a possible scammer.  However, we've gotten an email back from him stating that the units WILL be sent out, that he is not a scammer, and that he is trying to make things right with those who placed orders for his bASIC units.  Hopefully everything will work out.

Tom got back with us, and is also actively refunding he customers on the failure of trying to create a technology that doesn't even exist yet; his bASIC units. Even though he failed to create an ASIC he still has great rep as a FPGA manufacturer; which is what I bought. I trust that I will receive my unit, and if I do I will be sure to let everyone know. I always give someone a chance to clear their name, and if he comes through with refunding his bASIC customers (already has most of them refunded) while also getting me my FPGA then I will do my best to clear his name, but if he end up actually being a scammer I will tear apart any future project he gets involved with, and any efforts to clear his name

I think things will work out just fine.

[JonSnow]

And you won't be the only one!

[rttnpig]]

Any news? Recieved your order?

[battmann]

Any news? Recieved your order?

Got a tracking number, and hoping for it to come tomorrow!

[rttnpig]]

Any news? Recieved your order?

Got a tracking number, and hoping for it to come tomorrow!

Keep me updated!!! want 2...

[battmann]

Any news? Recieved your order?

Got a tracking number, and hoping for it to come tomorrow!

Keep me updated!!! want 2...

Got it today!

Here are some pictures of the pretty little thing ^.^





I have yet to set it up completely, but everything seems to be just fine!

[JonSnow]

AWESOME!  Can't wait to receive mine tomorrow!!!!!!!!

[battmann]

AWESOME!  Can't wait to receive mine tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Thank you very much Jonny! ^.^

[JonSnow]

  woot!

[ionux]

Well darn. Looks like they are redoing their website or something. Can't order anything at the moment. :/

[Bogart]

Very nice.

So, uh, Tom, how about bringing these back to the market in force?

I have a feeling they'd gobble them right up as quick as you could make 'em.

[JonSnow]

I should be receiving mine tomorrow!

[roy7]

Well darn. Looks like they are redoing their website or something. Can't order anything at the moment. :/

Can order now, bitcoins only. I'm almost tempted myself. But ~$1K for something with a 4-5 month breakeven at current BTC/USD and difficulty levels, hard to pull that trigger. With the ASICs coming the breakeven could stretch way way out...

[shibaji]

Well darn. Looks like they are redoing their website or something. Can't order anything at the moment. :/

Can order now, bitcoins only. I'm almost tempted myself. But ~$1K for something with a 4-5 month breakeven at current BTC/USD and difficulty levels, hard to pull that trigger. With the ASICs coming the breakeven could stretch way way out...

^^ This +100

[jerye]

Actually tempted to get one of this. Do you know how to get it running with the wiki now down?

[tigerfree]

Well darn. Looks like they are redoing their website or something. Can't order anything at the moment. :/

Can order now, bitcoins only. I'm almost tempted myself. But ~$1K for something with a 4-5 month breakeven at current BTC/USD and difficulty levels, hard to pull that trigger. With the ASICs coming the breakeven could stretch way way out...

i dont agree with you when you buy Avalon Batch 3 you paid 6000$ which give you 65GH/s after 3 month from now and some people paid 20k -40k to get in batch 2 but if you bought FPGA with 20k you will get 20Gh/s today not next month or long time waiting if i had some money now i would buy it ,

[DPoS]

I should be receiving mine tomorrow!

how'd you order?  did you just call him up?

I'd run one on the side since i got extra system doing nothing

[gateway]

what hash rate is this sucker putting out, looks sexy with the red fans!

[purelithium]

Hash rate 840 mh/s

[ionux]

Just received mine and one of the units arrived with pieces broken off so the fan isn't held to the backing at all ... and then there were a few other tiny metal pieces that had broken off of who knows what. 

Pretty frustrating. 

Would've been safer to ship them individually wrapped in bubble wrap, rather than the 4 units just dropped into a bag.

Holy crap!  How were they packaged?  Can you upload a pic showing the packing materials?

[DPoS]

I'd buy two QUADs if they came unbroken 

[DPoS]

you deleted your posts....  did he refund you?

[JonSnow]

you deleted your posts....  did he refund you?

No, no, I didn't want a refund - he offered to ship out a replacement via Express Mail, and since he has already had a hard time from people here, I didn't want to add to that over an issue he is resolving.  Anyway, I'll of course update when the replacement part has arrived, but I don't anticipate any problems.  He's surprisingly nice!

[DPoS]

sounds good - I'd order two but not sure how to place orders with him

[roy7]

sounds good - I'd order two but not sure how to place orders with him

Can just order on the web site.

[DPoS]

sounds good - I'd order two but not sure how to place orders with him

Can just order on the web site.

i guess this is it now?
http://modminerquadstore.com/

[rttnpig]]

sounds good - I'd order two but not sure how to place orders with him

Can just order on the web site.

i guess this is it now?
http://modminerquadstore.com/

Yup, you can only pay on BTC. He is trying to introduce other payment methods.

[DPoS]

damn I would of done this before the crash if i had this site...  if price jumps up some when mt gox opens i'm game

[CoinHoarder]

lol... a 6 month break even time at current prices and difficulty, with Batch 2/3 Avalon's to be deployed in the next couple months... no thanks.  

(sorry Tom) 

[DPoS]

Its speculative, we all know the price cant stay the same for 6 hours let alone 6 months

atleast it puts me over 1Gh with my lame GPU miner and better off than the BFL wait forever crew

[crazyearner]

huh i thought this company folded and was a scam ?

[gdbutler]

why does this smell like fish?

[segfault88]

Just curious, how are you guys planning on breaking even on these? At 840 MH/s it would be 3.2 months to break even, if BTC went back up to around $200 and there was no difficulty increase and excluding power (which admittedly isn't much). Is there a different currency to mine or something? Not trolling, just curious - whatever you're doing is obviously working for you guys, so keep it up.

I would love to get a few of these, but I can't take the risk of 3+ month break even with how volatile everything is at the moment.

[shibaji]

Just curious, how are you guys planning on breaking even on these? At 840 MH/s it would be 3.2 months to break even, if BTC went back up to around $200 and there was no difficulty increase and excluding power (which admittedly isn't much). Is there a different currency to mine or something? Not trolling, just curious - whatever you're doing is obviously working for you guys, so keep it up.

I would love to get a few of these, but I can't take the risk of 3+ month break even with how volatile everything is at the moment.

Oh - they are doing it for the sake of the network. Honest.

[JonSnow]

Just curious, how are you guys planning on breaking even on these? At 840 MH/s it would be 3.2 months to break even, if BTC went back up to around $200 and there was no difficulty increase and excluding power (which admittedly isn't much). Is there a different currency to mine or something? Not trolling, just curious - whatever you're doing is obviously working for you guys, so keep it up.

I would love to get a few of these, but I can't take the risk of 3+ month break even with how volatile everything is at the moment.

Oh - they are doing it for the sake of the network. Honest.

My reasoning is just that it sounds fun - it's my first experience in mining.  I don't expect to get rich doing it, obviously, but it's just a fun new hobby.

[JonSnow]

why does this smell like fish?

What's fishy about it?

[miter_myles]

lol... a 6 month break even time at current prices and difficulty, with Batch 2/3 Avalon's to be deployed in the next couple months... no thanks.  

(sorry Tom) 

This.. but if you have the cash to throw at tommy, which in turn could help refund some bASIC people.. more power to you..

[DPoS]

Im cursed..  btc goes back to ~128 and I go to buy the modminer but my online wallet is saying "Lock wait timeout exceeded; try restarting transaction"

lol  thanks blockchain


yeah i know, should have my own wallet at home, blah blah, but it was easier to put money into this and move it around the exchanges.. until now of course

[JonSnow]

Yeah, blockchain.info's wallet is .... not working at all right now. 

[DPoS]

well I kept pounding and it got through!!


8.5937 BTC

8.5937 BTC paid


payment accepted   


it'll probably take me 5-6 months to mine that many but who cares!!!

[JonSnow]

Yay!  It's working now! 

Also, Tom has been great so far.  My replacement piece will be shipped out in the morning so I should get it early this upcoming week.  Hope you get yours soon too!

[DPoS]

Yay!  It's working now! 

Also, Tom has been great so far.  My replacement piece will be shipped out in the morning so I should get it early this upcoming week.  Hope you get yours soon too!

good for you..  what system you running yours in?  windows/linux?   
 I might run a really old amd motherboard/cpu i have lying around with linux to keep power down if possible

I have a few options of unused things around here

[JonSnow]

i'm using an old thinkpad with Ubuntu installed.  still learning it and setting it up - haven't yet begun mining.

[nathanrees19]

cgminer + raspberry pi reportedly works well. rpi uses less power than a laptop.

[DPoS]

cgminer + raspberry pi reportedly works well. rpi uses less power than a laptop.

nice to know - I will check it that out!!!!

I was mining with my main PC that has two GTX 460's...  not really a great miner but got it to be consistent at ~145 Mh with GUIminer onto deepbit just to learn

The modminer will run a lot cooler and i get my GPUs back   

[battmann]

cgminer + raspberry pi reportedly works well. rpi uses less power than a laptop.

That is exactly what I am doing. My Pi came in today, and I'm not home to play with it, or the MMQ! Lol, I will this coming Monday though... can't wait XD

[loszhor]

How are your MMQ's working so far? I've been thinking buying one myself but wanted to see some people actually getting theirs and running acceptably.

[JonSnow]

How are your MMQ's working so far? I've been thinking buying one myself but wanted to see some people actually getting theirs and running acceptably.

Still working on getting mine running.  Two of the four are being replaced and Tom has offered to ssh into my machine to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong with bfgminer.

[nathanrees19]

help me figure out what I'm doing wrong with bfgminer.

There's your problem.

[papamoi]

hi guys

his website is no longer working

do you know how to contact him?

thanks

[ionux]

hi guys

his website is no longer working

do you know how to contact him?

thanks

Yeah, go to http://modminerquadstore.com/

[papamoi]

hi guys

his website is no longer working

do you know how to contact him?

thanks

Yeah, go to http://modminerquadstore.com/

thanks

[JonSnow]

help me figure out what I'm doing wrong with bfgminer.

There's your problem.

What would you suggest?  cgminer?  I was using bfgminer because I was reading that it was more geared toward working with the btcfpga modminer quad, but if cgminer has some benefit, I'd definitely be willing to give it a shot as well. 

Tom offered to ssh into my machine to help me get the two functional cards mining while the two replacements make their way through the postal system.  I'll give cgminer a try tonight ... see if I have any more luck with it!

[th3joker]

Did you get yours up and running ok? I've ordered two as well but Tom seems to have dropped off the face of the planet :-(

[JonSnow]

Did you get yours up and running ok? I've ordered two as well but Tom seems to have dropped off the face of the planet :-(

Nope, mine arrived broken by USPS, so Tom has sent out 2 replacement cards.  I've received one of them, so I'm currently trying to get it all running on the 3 fpga cards while waiting for the other replacement to show up.  Tom sshed into my machine last night to try to get it running but I had installed some of the optional dependencies shown on the bfgminer git page and apparently that was wrong, so Tom told me I needed to do a fresh install of Linux and try again.

Which, I assume, means he will try ssh'ing in again soon (hopefully)!

When did you place your order?

[th3joker]

Placed the order on Friday 12th April, Tom said they would ship on Saturday 13th, I got the email from USPS "Electronic Shipping Info Received" but it's been stuck on that ever since and we paid for the super quick shipping option too.

[JonSnow]

Placed the order on Friday 12th April, Tom said they would ship on Saturday 13th, I got the email from USPS "Electronic Shipping Info Received" but it's been stuck on that ever since and we paid for the super quick shipping option too.

You paid for the Express mail upgrade?  Express mail should get to you the day after it is sent, so if it was truly sent on Saturday, you should have received it on Monday or Tuesday.

[th3joker]

I'm in the UK so I think it might take up to 3 days. That said the shipping status normally changes when the item is actually in the hands of USPS and it looks like it was booked on but not shipped as yet.

[DPoS]

I'm in the UK so I think it might take up to 3 days. That said the shipping status normally changes when the item is actually in the hands of USPS and it looks like it was booked on but not shipped as yet.

he might need to drop them off..  i think he is just boxing a lot and doing the electronic scaning from home.

[th3joker]

I'm in the UK so I think it might take up to 3 days. That said the shipping status normally changes when the item is actually in the hands of USPS and it looks like it was booked on but not shipped as yet.

he might need to drop them off..  i think he is just boxing a lot and doing the electronic scaning from home.

When did you place your order?

[DPoS]

A week ago.. He scanned it two days ago and tracking is updating now.   Will be fun to play with and put in my old PC box.  It has a lot of room

[th3joker]

I ordered mine a week ago too and it was scanned last Friday but shipping (global express) hasn't updated since then :-(

[Signus]

That website is still working? I could have sworn it wasn't anymore and that no more orders were being taken?

What did that pretty little thing run you?

[CoinHoarder]

That website is still working? I could have sworn it wasn't anymore and that no more orders were being taken?

What did that pretty little thing run you?

about 1069 + ship

Aka... not worth it

[Signus]

That website is still working? I could have sworn it wasn't anymore and that no more orders were being taken?

What did that pretty little thing run you?

about 1069 + ship

Aka... not worth it

I'd imagine not. I don't get why they are that expensive. I mean I'm developing my own board at the moment and the costs aren't even close to the selling point. I mean what I'm looking at is probably $400-$450 in parts for my board. Not sure what I'd sell it at, people don't want to buy a $600 board if it doesn't produce.

To me the hashrates of the MMQ are not worth that pricepoint. If you bought 20-50 of them 6 months ago you would have probably made your money back with the recent bubble, but now they're not going to do much.

[DPoS]

for an established miner not so much reason, but for ones looking to learn and play with it will pay for itself at some point.  not all hobbies can do that...

i am also gettin avalon chips, etc and we'll see how the pcb thread goes too.. 

[JonSnow]

Yeah, I think we're all aware that we're not going to get rich with the MMQ -- that's not the point.  I just thought it would be fun to dabble in mining as a hobby.  Nothing wrong with that, and no reason for people to keep telling us how it's not worth it.

[CoinHoarder]

Yeah, I think we're all aware that we're not going to get rich with the MMQ -- that's not the point.  I just thought it would be fun to dabble in mining as a hobby.  Nothing wrong with that, and no reason for people to keep telling us how it's not worth it.

I'm just pointing out to "noobs" that it's silly to buy these if you're looking to make money, which is why most people mine in the first place. There are hardly any miners that truly do it "for the security of the network" or "to learn". You are maybe one in a hundred.

I do admit it is fun hooking up hardware, tweaking settings, cooling your rigs, etc.

I don't mean to offend you or anything... I am a nerd in that sense, but I also like to make money too.  

I just don't want anyone buying them thinking they're gonna get rich.

[MWNinja]

FPGA is still in the game, the current asic offering isn't much better power wise and you guys keep bidding them up to where they cost the same.

[JonSnow]

I do admit it is fun hooking up hardware, tweaking settings, cooling your rigs, etc.

I don't mean to offend you or anything... I am a nerd in that sense, but I also like to make money too. 

I just don't want anyone buying them thinking they're gonna get rich.

Yes, ideally we nerds could have fun while also making money!  The MMQ was in my price range at the time, though I admit this 2 weeks of frustration trying to get the replacements for the broken ones, and trying to get it to actually work have been incredibly discouraging!  Another awesomely helpful member of the forums SSH'ed in and was unable to get it to work as well; he has 10+ years of Linux experience and runs a cairnsmore1, and was about as frustrated as I am!  The conclusion is that it might well be something with the hardware, since the mining software (both bfgminer and cgminer) detect the miner plugged into the USB, but couldn't detect the actual FPGAs themselves.

When Tom tried on Wednesday night, he abruptly told me to reinstall fresh and that he was going to bed.  So, he had no luck either.  I've been trying to get back in touch to have him try again since I did a fresh install, but haven't had any success getting ahold of him.

We'll see ... but at this point, BFL ASICs might beat me to mining! 

[DPoS]

sucks about your luck..  i have an old windows box I am going to put mine in and try if that is quicker.. i am going to use that box for a couple of other things too so i dont care much about ultra low power, etc

i like that i am stashing some btc into this miner and will see them later on..   kinda a long buy and hold strategy but you get to play with a miner the whole time and it becomes free!

[JonSnow]

sucks about your luck..  i have an old windows box I am going to put mine in and try if that is quicker.. i am going to use that box for a couple of other things too so i dont care much about ultra low power, etc

i like that i am stashing some btc into this miner and will see them later on..   kinda a long buy and hold strategy but you get to play with a miner the whole time and it becomes free!

i'll be very interested to hear how your setup goes!  i would offer to help with any questions you had, but seeing as how i haven't figured my setup out yet, that's probably not too comforting. 

[Bitweasil]

I have two up and running with little to no trouble.

I'm running the bfgminer out of the current repo.  I did have to add myself to the USB group per directions, but otherwise, they're working great.

I'd be willing to provide dumps from my debug output or such if it would help.  I did manually set the clocks to something a bit more sane (I was pushing to hardware errors more than I cared to do).

[JonSnow]

I have two up and running with little to no trouble.

I'm running the bfgminer out of the current repo.  I did have to add myself to the USB group per directions, but otherwise, they're working great.

I'd be willing to provide dumps from my debug output or such if it would help.  I did manually set the clocks to something a bit more sane (I was pushing to hardware errors more than I cared to do).

That could help, if you don't mind posting it!

[Bitweasil]

 

Code:

[2013-04-20 00:19:55] Started bfgminer 3.0.0                    
 [2013-04-20 00:19:55] DISPLAY not set, setting :0 just in case                    
 [2013-04-20 00:19:55] Failed to load OpenCL library, no GPUs usable                    
 [2013-04-20 00:19:58] ModMiner identified as: ModMiner Quad v0.4-ljr-alpha                    
 [2013-04-20 00:19:58] ModMiner ModMiner Quad v0.4-ljr-alpha has 4 FPGAs                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] ModMiner identified as: ModMiner Quad v0.4-ljr-alpha                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] ModMiner ModMiner Quad v0.4-ljr-alpha has 4 FPGAs                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 0a: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 0b: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 0c: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 0d: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 1a: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 1b: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 1c: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] MMQ 1d: Set temperature config: target=79 cutoff=85                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Probing for an alive pool                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Popping work to stage thread                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Testing pool http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] HTTP request failed: Empty reply from server                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Failed to connect in json_rpc_call                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] HTTP request failed: Empty reply from server                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Failed to connect in json_rpc_call                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] initiate_stratum with sockbuf=(nil)                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Failed to get sessionid in initiate_stratum                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Pool 0 stratum bdifficulty set to 1.000000                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Received stratum notify from pool 0 with job_id=47043                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Stratum authorisation success for pool 0                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Pool 0 http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 active                    
 [2013-04-20 00:20:01] Pool 0 stratum bdifficulty set to 2.000000                    
 

And relevant lsusb -v output:

Code:

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 1fc9:0003  
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            2 Communications
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1fc9 
  idProduct          0x0003 
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 BTCFPGA 
  iProduct                2 ModMiner LJRalpha 
  iSerial                 3 0909F716535804B84FA21FCEF5000004
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           67
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              100mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         2 Communications
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Abstract (modem)
      bInterfaceProtocol      1 AT-commands (v.25ter)
      iInterface              0 
      CDC Header:
        bcdCDC               1.10
      CDC Call Management:
        bmCapabilities       0x03
          call management
          use DataInterface
        bDataInterface          1
      CDC ACM:
        bmCapabilities       0x02
          line coding and serial state
      CDC Union:
        bMasterInterface        0
        bSlaveInterface         1 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0010  1x 16 bytes
        bInterval               2
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass        10 CDC Data
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 Unused
      bInterfaceProtocol      0 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x03  EP 3 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

[Bitweasil]

Also, is the center LED blinking?

Have you seated the FPGA cards properly (they take a bit of a shove to lock in)?

Do you have the boards sitting on something non-conductive?

[JonSnow]

Also, is the center LED blinking?

It depends - sometimes it is blinking, other times it is off completely, and other times still it is lit up solid without blinking.  Even when it is blinking (as it's supposed to when it's ready to mine or mining) it still can't mine.

Have you seated the FPGA cards properly (they take a bit of a shove to lock in)?

Yes, and I've redone the assembly several times to be sure that there's nothing I'm missing.

Do you have the boards sitting on something non-conductive?

Yes, a wooden surface.

And still no word from Tom. 

[DPoS]

Mine looks healthy and great in my case but WinXp is not installing it.  It keeps asking for a driver.  The Wiki said that 32bit windows would just install from windows update but that ain't happening

Does anyone know what driver I am suppose to give it?

It does know its name "ModMiner LJRalpha" listed under Other Devices with the big Question Mark

I dont think I need to do any firmware updates.

Until it installs, it won't get a com port so no point in trying to mine with it for now

[JonSnow]

Does it specify anything more than "driver" ??  I mean is there any other information given in the error?

[DPoS]

Does it specify anything more than "driver" ??  I mean is there any other information given in the error?

It notices it as new hardware, states its name 'ModMiner LJRalpha' and tries to install driver for it but can't find any.

So it sits as a yellow question mark in the Device Manager

The modminer wiki said that win 32bit would just install with no issue. but what is it suppose to install?

i did the usual uninstall the USB ports, let the system re-install those, but no change when it comes to the modminer.  Wish whatever it needs was posted

I'll have to ping Tom.

[JonSnow]

i haven't been able to get in touch with him since Wednesday and still haven't received my final replacement card. 

hope you have better luck than i have!

[JonSnow]

Oh, also, just found this:

http://gfyi95.com/bASIC/bASIC%20Forum/www.btcfpga.com/forum/indexc9fa.html?topic=88.0

And this is the link that was given:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/libwdi/files/zadig/

[DPoS]

thanks for diggin this up..  i still need to get some time for this since here is the instructions for using that

https://github.com/pbatard/libwdi/wiki/Install

it looks like this allows you to create a driver assigned to whatever device to make windows happy

I am surprised no one posted a finished compiled file somewhere but i will once i get time but that is empty until later this week sadly


hopefully by the time i can work on this again you will have your replacement and be up and running!!

[Bitweasil]

Is there a reason you're not just using Linux in a virtual machine?

[DPoS]

Is there a reason you're not just using Linux in a virtual machine?

that's one of the many plan B's

The rig is my old PC running a P4 with plenty of space in the case to put the Mod Miner in it.  It had XP so that was the quick idea.

Not sure why there was lots of talk that it would 'just install no issues' with 32 bit XP when it looks like no one has every done that 
I may take a stab at creating the USB driver for it but just dont have much time right now (leaving for the 3D printer convention in NY)

[JonSnow]

Well, it has been over a week since Tom said he sent my 2nd replacement card and I still haven't received it or had any luck getting the miner to actually mine.  Tom also hasn't responded since Wednesday.    This is getting frustrating.

[th3joker]

I spoke to Tom earlier after a couple of attempts got hold of him.

Try calling him, the number is on the modminerquad.com page.

[Spendulus]

I just bought a ModMiner QUAD from www.btcfpga.com and was wondering what flavor of linux will be best suited for running this miner?

Any help is appreciated!
-battmann

And now that website is down.

www.btcfpga.com

[JonSnow]

I just bought a ModMiner QUAD from www.btcfpga.com and was wondering what flavor of linux will be best suited for running this miner?

Any help is appreciated!
-battmann

And now that website is down.

www.btcfpga.com

Yeah, he moved it to here:

modminerquadstore.com

[Bitweasil]

Jon -

Were you ever able to successfully get the card working?

[JonSnow]

Update: 

It has been over a month and a half since I initially placed my MMQ order.  Two replacement cards later and multiple peoples' attempts to get it working (including Tom, whose product this is) and it STILL will not work.  I've tried three different power supplies, five different operating systems, three forum members with FPGA and Linux experience have tried SSH'ing in to no avail, Tom himself hasn't been able to get it work ... and at this point, I just want this situation resolved. 

[DPoS]

have you tried a Win7 64 bit?  That would probably be the easiest way to prove if anything is wrong with it.

I got it to work on a WinXP 32 bit but had to mess with the config file

[JonSnow]

I don't have a windows computer available to use .... and the last time that Tom SSH'ed in, he said everything was configured correctly for the MMQ so that it should just be a matter of plugging it in once I had the new power supply.  Didn't change a damn thing.

[emunebtk]

If I were to get a hold of a couple of these for say $200 each then would it be a good deal with the current difficulty,etc?

[DPoS]

If I were to get a hold of a couple of these for say $200 each then would it be a good deal with the current difficulty,etc?

200 would be a steal - where are you getting them?

[emunebtk]

 trying to make sure it is not a scam as i found this craigslist ad selling them...hmmm! Going to try and meet in person to avoid losing some BTC

[Bitweasil]

If I were to get a hold of a couple of these for say $200 each then would it be a good deal with the current difficulty,etc?

If you can find one for $200, yes.  They're still selling for $700-$1000 on eBay.  So it's probably a scam.

[emunebtk]

Thats what i am thinking as the poster said he moved 3 hours away from original location. I am going to still try and by 4-5 from him but will make the 3hr drive to avoid the scam. Lets see if happens but at the moment not counting it..

[JonSnow]

sorry to resurrect an old thread, but i wanted to update everyone.  i never was able to get the MMQ working.  Tom continually came up with answers like "your power supply isn't good enough" etc. etc.  still didn't work after i purchased a new, powerful PSU. 

then i started talking to another member here - Bitweasil - who surprised me with a very kind offer.  having familiarity with the MMQs and their issues, Bitweasil offered to trade me the broken MMQ (which he said seemed to have some bad hardware) for a functional 1.5y ZTEX which would supposedly get around the same hashrate.

due to Tom's comments, i was pretty convinced that i wouldn't be able to run the ZTEX either, because i thought i was just too stupid to get the MMQ working.  still, i went ahead and took Bitweasil up on his offer and, to my surprise, managed to get it up and mining WITHIN FIVE MINUTES of receiving it!  lol  i downloaded the necessary driver for it to work with bfgminer, and it worked immediately. 

hopefully Bitweasil has been able to repair the MMQ so he can use it.  (i know nothing about soldering so i didn't want to try and at that point was already so frustrated that i wanted nothing more to do with the MMQ)

anyway, this is just to say THANK YOU to Bitweasil for his generosity, his helpfulness, and the ZTEX that worked immediately ... after spending months trying to get the MMQ to work and trying to get Tom to communicate with me, this was such a pleasant surprise that i wanted to be sure to post my thanks to Bitweasil. 

[Bitweasil]

Glad it worked.

For anyone troubleshooting MMQs, the DC-DC converter in the center seems to go bad far more often than one would expect, and the symptom is that everything works in terms of identifying the board, but the board cannot see any FPGAs.  It will look like everything is working but not find any chips.  You can also verify this with a voltmeter, though I don't recall offhand the pins to test.

If anyone else has dead MMQs exhibiting the "cannot find FPGAs" symptoms, let me know and I'll swap them out as well.  I'm not in any way affiliated with cablepair/btcfgpa/etc, but I have my reasons.

[aspeer]

also had a successful swap with bitweasil for my non-working MMQ.  Stand up guy as far as I'm concerned, Thanks!

Glad it worked.

For anyone troubleshooting MMQs, the DC-DC converter in the center seems to go bad far more often than one would expect, and the symptom is that everything works in terms of identifying the board, but the board cannot see any FPGAs.  It will look like everything is working but not find any chips.  You can also verify this with a voltmeter, though I don't recall offhand the pins to test.

If anyone else has dead MMQs exhibiting the "cannot find FPGAs" symptoms, let me know and I'll swap them out as well.  I'm not in any way affiliated with cablepair/btcfgpa/etc, but I have my reasons.

[klondike_bar]

also had a successful swap with bitweasil for my non-working MMQ.  Stand up guy as far as I'm concerned, Thanks!

Glad it worked.

For anyone troubleshooting MMQs, the DC-DC converter in the center seems to go bad far more often than one would expect, and the symptom is that everything works in terms of identifying the board, but the board cannot see any FPGAs.  It will look like everything is working but not find any chips.  You can also verify this with a voltmeter, though I don't recall offhand the pins to test.

If anyone else has dead MMQs exhibiting the "cannot find FPGAs" symptoms, let me know and I'll swap them out as well.  I'm not in any way affiliated with cablepair/btcfgpa/etc, but I have my reasons.

what if 3 cards work, and the 4th card lights up (the card's led, not the fan obviously) but is not recognised? All resistors look good, is the chip just bad/burnt maybe?

[Bitweasil]

what if 3 cards work, and the 4th card lights up (the card's led, not the fan obviously) but is not recognised? All resistors look good, is the chip just bad/burnt maybe?

There are a few possibilities, all easily testable.

The LED on the back of the blade card should go off after configuration.  If it's not, that's the dead card if you only see three.

Swap the cards around - does the bad card follow the baseboard position, or the card?

Second, try with just two cards (one bad card, one good card).  If there is not sufficient supply voltage/amperage, you can end up with unreliable card detection.

I have good cards for the MMQs if you need any.  I also buy dead MMQs or swap for known good hardware.

[klondike_bar]

what if 3 cards work, and the 4th card lights up (the card's led, not the fan obviously) but is not recognised? All resistors look good, is the chip just bad/burnt maybe?

There are a few possibilities, all easily testable.

1)The LED on the back of the blade card should go off after configuration.  If it's not, that's the dead card if you only see three.
2) Swap the cards around - does the bad card follow the baseboard position, or the card?
3) Second, try with just two cards (one bad card, one good card).  If there is not sufficient supply voltage/amperage, you can end up with unreliable card detection.

I have good cards for the MMQs if you need any.  I also buy dead MMQs or swap for known good hardware.

1) LED on the card (in slot 2) stays on after programming
2) issue is with the card and not the position (i moved to slot 4)
3) power is not the issue - i removed 2 other cards

CGminer reports only 3/4 cards or 1/2 cards, and the led stays on, so the issue is definitely the card. As mentioned, it visually looks fine, fan spins up alright and no resistors are chipped or missing.

If you have any other suggestions id love to hear them! Could i perhaps use the reset button on the baseboard or reprogram the firmware to get a result, or is this just an issue that is likely the FPGA chip itself?

additionally, the unit will run if only slotspositions 1,3,and 4 are filled correct? (it runs the 3 working cards fine when the bad card is in slot 2, but its only in at the moment because of the cool leds) UPDATE: looks like slot 1&2 are a bank, and 3&4 are a bank, because putting the bum card in slot 3 causes slot 4 to not be seen by cgminer

[klondike_bar]

I have seen reports that certain FPGA bitstreams (TML and/or bitfury) allow higher clock speeds and/or higher hashrates coming out, in the range of a 20% increase.

can anyone point me in the right direction or confirm this? For whatever reason my FPGA cards report:

44.6 C   212MHz   211.6Mh/s
31.4 C   216MHz   214.9Mh/s
43.0 C   208MHz   206.5Mh/s

the middle card's heatsink feels the warmest, so im not sure if the temperature reading is a bit low, or if the heatsink is seated really well. In either case, why is cgminer not setting a higher clock on this card? The total hashrate is 630 average over 24hrs, so perhaps that is a limit set in the bitsteam?