Swedish ASIC miner company kncminer.com

[qberty]

Very interesting post tolip. I appreciate the link for the JTAG and mentions of neppy boards as I haven't had a jupiter or neptune to confirm.

Would be nice to make those bridges cheaper, my new batch will be ready this weekend (for those that don't want to make their own). Also note, the bridge boards aren't just rewiring pins. There's a voltage regulator on there, hence the burning out of some boards, that will also have to be taken into account if you want to make your own (you can use a Harwin M20-7872042 and a Farnell 1256663 for the connectors to fit with the Pi).

I'm not too sure about having control over that cyclone though.

I was suggesting above that if you run power to the Pi thru the original Pi power connector you can use the voltage regulator that is already installed on every Pi.
If there is ONLY a voltage regulator on the bridge  and not also a voltage level shifting logic part that might explain why they are going kaput before their time. In that case I'd suggest adding a part to deliver the proper voltage level logic(as if it were a BBB) the controller is designed for.
It's still just a bandaid and using a BBB is cheaper than 0.5BTC for a new bridge board.
(this assumes that someone ports the software)
I posted a few times in the OC thread instructions for setting up a BBB to compile software.
Has anyone asked kfc if they have a BBB flavor of tit FW???

If one must throw BTC at something I'd suggest asking Luke-jr what he'd charge to port the kfc Pi 'utility' code to the BBB.
He is/was quite fluent in the details of what goes where on the Pi and BBB.
(just an idea if there is no willing tit programming talent in this thread)

I think in one of your posts you mentioned burnt traces on the bridge boards.
This kinda does not make sense, I could see killing Pi's happening or killing a part on the bridge but not burning copper.
There should not be enough current between a Pi and a controller to smoke PCB traces.
A Pi runs fine powered by a typical USB port, this means less than 0.5A @ 5VDC, equates to 2.5 watts or less, mentioned already by others.
The Cyclone IV on the controller gets it's power from the 65217A power chip also on the controller.
The FPGA depends on the 65217A being set up correctly before it will operate.
Thusly, troubleshooting a controller should start by verifying power.
I'd guess that some large portion of dead controller boards are just blown 65217.
It is an easier part to repair than the BGA Cyclone.
Definately the 65217 is doable with US$50 hobbyist reflow tools and they are under US$10 each qty1.

I'm not trying to ruin your fun, rerolling the bridge PCB artwork sounds like fun if it's for something that interests you.
But it doesen't sound IMneverHO like the ideal cost effective long term solution for the wider audience of tit users.

You might try one of theese instead...
https://www.adafruit.com/products/2426
or
https://www.adafruit.com/products/2427
They are already 5V tolerant but may not lead to correct IO pins.
It's a common enough challenge for solutions to have already been found and commoditised specifically for the Pi.
Why re-invent the wheel?

If you like to solder start here...
https://www.adafruit.com/products/801
and add your favorite 5V to 3.3V buffer chip.

As usual,
YMMV

I get it, you want to use what we have to fix our shiz. Problem with this cheap solution is that it requires more people that don't care enough about it and rather not invest the time. Hence my conclusion to just get the PCBs made on a mass scale. The more people that want, the cheaper it will get which is the best it can get with bulk orders.

And I am certain the copper blew out on the bridges. All of my boards have had that issue on multiple controllers with multiple different PSUs after working with the same ones after some time. Just bad design is all. And yeah, rerolling these loafs of bread are fun and why I enjoy everything about cryptocurrency generation.

I will gladly help anyone who is willing to take the bridge/controller situation further (software/build wise). If there's any of you out there that care enough

[GenTarkin]

Quick update: Cube settings history tracking for each controller... code written and in testing =)

[TXSteve]

Quick update: Cube settings history tracking for each controller... code written and in testing =)

great

[lightfoot]

Quick question: Trying to get a Neptune board and BBB/controller working. Doesn't see Neptune, BBB up and running, only 3 i2c devices in ssh.

Is there a command line way to verify if the bbb can see the FPGA? Likewise do you need 12v on the neptune up just to see the voltages or anything on the dc-dc converters?

root@Neptune:/boot# waas -g all-asic-info
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/3-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #0 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/4-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #1 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/5-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #2 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/6-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #3 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/7-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #4 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
Error opening /sys/bus/i2c/devices/8-0050/eeprom: No such file or directory
ASIC board #5 is non-functional: Bad EEPROM data
{
Error opening /dev/i2c-3: No such file or directory
Error opening /dev/i2c-4: No such file or directory
Error opening /dev/i2c-5: No such file or directory
Error opening /dev/i2c-6: No such file or directory
Error opening /dev/i2c-7: No such file or directory
Error opening /dev/i2c-8: No such file or directory

Thanks!

[panhead]

Hi there,

Wondered if anyone here could help me out with recommendations for a good hosting site for two (X4 cube) titans?

Thanks for any help...

[GenTarkin]

Hi there,

Wondered if anyone here could help me out with recommendations for a good hosting site for two (X4 cube) titans?

Thanks for any help...

best place is always a place you can directly control them.

[lightfoot]

Quick update: I opened another thread on hacking these things but I figured out the problem: The FPGA's output drivers are shorted, causing the little 4 way power supply to crowbar and fail while trying to bring up the I/O rail. Proof is in the ssh session, the bring-up-the-power supply command fails.

Edit: Note the board design sucks IMO. The raw FPGA lines go right to those edge connectors, normally a wise person would put an optoisolator chip or heck even a buffer/Schmidt/Op amp trigger on the outputs. Nope, instead of putting in a ten cent part the $100+ FPGA is exposed.

On to the next problem....

[Searing]

Just a side note. I saw this ebay auction for a Neptune card that claims it works with a Titan.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-KNC-KNCMINER-BITCOIN-NEPTUNE-TITAN-100-working-LAST-ONE-For-sale-/272071496900?hash=item3f58b994c4:g:Rx8AAOSwHQ9WZ56p

I sent a polite pm to the guy saying it was good for anything below a Titan but would not work with a Titan and if he had a way to do so post on here put a btc address
up for tips and he would make lots of BTC for such a trick!

In the comments on the below link below..He says the following

quote:

Question & Answer    Answered On
Q:     I have been told that this card can't be upgraded to a titan card in that the titan uses a pi and neptune/jupiter/saturn/mercury all use this card if firmware is changed because beagle bone black in them ..not a pi just figured you should know good luck with your auction    Dec-11-15
A:     That is why in the listing it says if you have the correct computer...I.E. a Pi...I don't understand why so many people are confused by this...I KNOW that you can take a Titan and use it as a Neptune (swapping the PI for a beagle bone black) So I am sure you can go the other way.
Ask seller a question

unquote:

The key on the above is "I know you can take a Titan and use it on a Neptune (swapping the PI for a beagle bone black) So I am sure you can go the other way. (his quote above)


Well still think you can't take a Neptune controller and make it a Titan BUT CAN YOU take a Titan controller as he states and make it a Neptune/Jupiter/Saturn/Mercury with the
above Beagle Bone Black swap? Would explain the guys ebay auction assumptions.

Just wondering if his premise on that is correct even thou the reverse (neptune/jupiter/saturn/mercury to titan controller) is not.

Thanks I was not slamming the guy .....just trying to be helpful and point it out...but kinda wondering about what he replied.

(The ways of KNC design are mysterious to me (w/o my voodoo for dummies book and a bucket of ACME chicken entrails)

[qberty]

woah. I didn't know the neptune boards were exactly the same as the titan boards (aside from pi/bb). what.

Can someone who has a neptune controller board take some high quality shots of the board without the BB? I just want to confirm if they are both the same. If they are, then what the hell, the bridge and pi are easy to make.

[Searing]

woah. I didn't know the neptune boards were exactly the same as the titan boards (aside from pi/bb). what.

Can someone who has a neptune controller board take some high quality shots of the board without the BB? I just want to confirm if they are both the same. If they are, then what the hell, the bridge and pi are easy to make.

The auction guy is not wanting to listen that even if he is correct and you can take a Titan board and make it a Neppie..it will not work in reverse even if you swap out the PI (as he states with proper computer the pi vs the bbb)

He is not into the truth on this (or in denial) he ASSUMES because (if he is correct).... ) the above Titan to Neptune works so it must work the other way around..... anyway he says you can make a Titan board into a Neppie board so it will work vice versa.

So I ended the conversation. If someone gets his board for Neptune/Jupiter/Saturn/Mercury use there will be no issue. IF at his high price they ASSUME it is Titan board upgrade-able ...I assume he will 'say it works' then 'muddle the issue in dispute' and is 'as is' and thus the guy who gets it for Titan use is stuck in a quagmire of explaining the difference of an identical board that is  not working on BTC machines...Neptune or Titan etc.. to Ebay rep ...man that would not be fun......

Just was pointing this out to the guy on ebay so he would NOT get jam'd up saying a Neptune board will work on a Titan ...but it seems he has his story such he thinks he can pull it off.


Back to the original question thou..if a person was CRAZY enough to want to change a Titan Controller to a Neptune Controller ....say tossed the Titan Bridge away....got a beagle bone black to replace the raspberry pi and viola Titan to Neptune Controller downgrade..can this be done (those who know)?

If so it comes down (again) to the fact KNC was too damn cheap to use the 1/3 more expensive beagle bone blacks back in the day and went with the cheaper PI on the same hardware design...hell..well played if this can be done knc....well played....(they are damn good at this evil crypto stuff)

and we get to look forward to their next 20mw data hall in probably 3 months .....fun times in btc difficulty land ..not to mention further fun in that bitfury is gonna dump its 40mh data hall in next week....damn I'm glad I mine scrypt (shudder)

[GenTarkin]

Got a question for yall....
I remember a few people having issues w/ their Titan webgui advanced page being blank and the miner wouldnt hash at all on firmware versions higher than v1.02

Im wondering if this just so happens to be the difference between a Pi A (the older 256MB RAM version)  or the Pi B (newer 512MB RAM version).

Can anyone confirm testing of a Pi A w/ their Titan?

[Searing]

Got a question for yall....
I remember a few people having issues w/ their Titan webgui advanced page being blank and the miner wouldnt hash at all on firmware versions higher than v1.02

Im wondering if this just so happens to be the difference between a Pi A (the older 256MB RAM version)  or the Pi B (newer 512MB RAM version).

Can anyone confirm testing of a Pi A w/ their Titan?

I was told by KNC staff (for what they knew and what it is worth) the the only pi that worked on the Titan is the current one ..which ..again this is remembering
a Raspberry PI B+ 512? which is the standard one that comes with a Titan. They told a guy with a broke SD card port ..to replace with such if I remember correctly.

This was a thread in their KNC forums which I DID NOT ARCHIVE BUT THOUGHT ABOUT IT....a regret to this day. I looked at wayback and they go back like 6 deep which
is very frustrating because ...looking at them...i get to the 'title' of the posting and no farther.

I don't suppose I missed a memo and someone did find or got a complete archive of knc forums before they pulled the plug (we should be so lucky) lots of good stuff lost
at least from member fixes (and staff vs equip buyer (us) drama)

[GenTarkin]

Well, due to complications and my desire to get "energy saver" done and released asap... the cube historic settings tracking feature may be postponed till a future release after "energy saver" =/

[lightfoot]

Searing, can you post a picture of your Titan controller with the Rpi on it? I'm bored while waiting for Santa to bring FPGAs and power circuits from Digi-Key.

[Searing]

Searing, can you post a picture of your Titan controller with the Rpi on it? I'm bored while waiting for Santa to bring FPGAs and power circuits from Digi-Key.

not big on taking board apart did  you look at the swedish guy's videos on youtube...just do a search on youtube on knc titan are the newest ones

the swedish one (1st) has the best video

the 2nd english one not as good but in english

links are on here but a search works on youtube

I had a pic of the whole Titan works at one time ..will look for that pic


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-RBI4am-wY swedish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G_zcJ0vbOw english

i had a titan pic someplace will keep looking


by the way remember this from 2013 knc MARS prototype....so still want to get pexiglass and set up my 8 titan cubes in this manner lol



back to on topic: SOMEONE ON HERE MUST HAVE A PICTURE OR LINK FOR A TITAN PCB BOARD?

[qberty]

Alright *UPDATE* on those titan bridges for those that need a brand new one, and those that want a backup.

Here's the image of what i'm going to go pickup from the lab tomorrow.



Again, they are 0.5 BTC each. This is a non-negotiable price, and those who want/need them please e-mail me so I can send them out to you as soon as I get them. These are brand new bridges with copper thickness reinforced to last longer so it won't burn out like my last three did -_-'

I've made 10, but will be using three to replace some sets that burnt out, and will have 7 available to sell. I'm most likely not going to be making any more.

[coinut]

hey yall

I have a titan cube with 1 die giving me hassles, was fine when I got the miner not to long ago.
I ran the cube1 through about 4 hours in a hot room at 325mhz (was a hot summer day + the aircon had a fault) and when I got home the die in question was hashing slower more unstable so to speak.
I removed the cube and played with another until a couple of days later plugged cube1 back in and it seemed to hash normally all was fine... strange.

then a few days later it was dropping out and hashing slower, I ran it on 100mhz down from 325mhz and was hashing normally about 7mhs stable.
changed it over the next week or two sometimes would run 300mhz fine for a couple of days then would go back to the start.

I also noticed that the die would always say in putty on bfgminer start up "die 4-0 configuration failed"
but when I could get it to work it would submit shares ok so I didn't really worry about it well not completely lol.

Now the die is not very happy at all, refuses to do 300mhz. last night I got it to hash not for very long at 225mhz but on lower speeds it would hash initially then after about 15 min fail and was sitting at fat 0 speeds.
I did notice that when the die would hash the load on the power module was showing a larger difference than normal.
for example at 225mhz speed on the dcdc was 0- 27A
                                                                    1- 24A

if I selected say 300mhz the die would show it was using full power in the advanced screen on the webgui and would look like
                                                                    0- 38A
                                                                    1- 39A

much closer together an appearing normal but despite using full power the hash would always be 0

anyone had a similar experience ?

I'm wondering what could be the issue, I'm more convinced its hardware, maybe leaning towards faulty power module.

any thoughts?

[qberty]

Just an update on the bridges, i've sold 3, only 4 left to sell.

**EDIT** I'd appreciate it, if everyone would stop PM'ing me about schematics. I'll make them public as soon as i've insured the lifetime of my set of titans first (selfishly I know). Forgive me for being a little butt-hurt about constantly not having my titans fulltime.

[Hunyadi]

My Titans controller board is not working. Only one led light is green. Display doesn't show anything. I can connect it but it doesn't find any miners. If anyone knows what to do, please tell me. Also, if anyone has spare controller boards to sell (Titan controller card is compatible with both the Jupiter and Saturn controller cards) please pm me.

[BTC LOVER]

Ahh crap thoose guys are not really helping you in your advetnure :/

regards
BTC LOVER