Antminer R4 - dead hash board? Shitty design, read before you send it back

[not.you]

I'm not worried yet, I wouldn't have sent it if I didn't have at least a little trust.

While it's been almost a month since the process started, they only received it on Jan 23rd. So they've only had it for two business weeks.

If I don't hear back by the end of next week, I'll send an e-mail requesting an update.

I'm not in a rush, I'd just like it to go smoothly so I can rely on them in the future if needed. It might not be cost effective or time effective, but I'll certainly give it a try. It's better than sitting on broken boards anyway.

Assuming that one comes back working for a reasonable price. It'll give me the numbers I need to calculate a ROI based on the repair costs and time. If they are favorable I have more boards to send.

I don't think you realize that the person who just told you to email them is the person who operates the place.  You should send the email.

[kidputer]

I got an R4 of the latest batch on Jan 13, 2017.  It ran for 3 days and one board quit hashing.  I am noticing there is a flaw in the cooling algorithm. Sometimes after a reboot it runs with both boards at 80 degrees and the fan fluctuates periodically.  Other times the fan runs slow and one board runs at 100.  There is definitely something wrong with the fan controller in my unit.  My basement room is humidity controlled and never gets above 68F.  I am so bummed out because I was so excited and spent $1200 to get it.  I also read the website many times and some pages tell you to ship back the board and other pages tell you after Sept 2016 to return the entire unit. I am waiting to see if I can ship the board since I already removed it.  It is pretty obvious by reading the kernel log which board is not hashing.  My guess is they know the defective boards exit and they want you to ship the entire unit in hopes that will make people reluctant and will just run the 50% hash rate and save them some repairs.  I plan to play like a good player but if they don't fix my board I am going to be quite vocal about it. After reading this forum they are not QC these boards very well so buyer beware.

[kidputer]

It seems to be just a bad design.  I believe there needs to be a sheet of aluminum or copper inserted between the hashing boards.  You can see the center area between the hashing boards heats up and the top and bottom heat sinks do not heat as much.  I am very sad.  I wish I would have just got an S9.

[jamesb777]

As suspected, the hashboard that was reporting 55 asics has now died right on schedule... this time cause of death is short circuit.

With a 50% failure rate, makes me wonder why they feel a need to exercise such tight control over their hardware / software 

[qctechno]

R4B1 with temperature sensitive board.  

When cold booted 1x board won't hash. ( 20 Degrees C. )
Led is dead off but as I observed it regained some life ( blinking ) after miner warm-up.
I was unable to recover the board from troubleshooting. ( cable swap, freq, reboot , P/S )

I decided to go radical and put the damn board in the oven for couple of minutes.
Now ... hashing full speed.

My R4 don't like winter ... what kind of heater is that  

[takagari]

Seems all their miners are crap. Got old S3 still running but their latest stuff just falls apart.
Which would be fine, rush stuff to customers. As long as they support it and replace it in a better manner.

Their current warranty... sucks

[tbonetony]

R4B1 with temperature sensitive board. 

When cold booted 1x board won't hash. ( 20 Degrees C. )
Led is dead off but as I observed it regained some life ( blinking ) after miner warm-up.
I was unable to recover the board from troubleshooting. ( cable swap, freq, reboot , P/S )

I decided to go radical and put the damn board in the oven for couple of minutes.
Now ... hashing full speed.

My R4 don't like winter ... what kind of heater is that 

I had a good laugh on your story. Thanks! but yea, that really sucks if 20 degC is considered cold.... My S9 has been hashing stably and quietly (fans < 2k rpm) on my balcony while it's -25 degC.

[blockops]

I got an R4 of the latest batch on Jan 13, 2017.  It ran for 3 days and one board quit hashing.  I am noticing there is a flaw in the cooling algorithm. Sometimes after a reboot it runs with both boards at 80 degrees and the fan fluctuates periodically.  Other times the fan runs slow and one board runs at 100.  There is definitely something wrong with the fan controller in my unit.  My basement room is humidity controlled and never gets above 68F.  I am so bummed out because I was so excited and spent $1200 to get it.  I also read the website many times and some pages tell you to ship back the board and other pages tell you after Sept 2016 to return the entire unit. I am waiting to see if I can ship the board since I already removed it.  It is pretty obvious by reading the kernel log which board is not hashing.  My guess is they know the defective boards exit and they want you to ship the entire unit in hopes that will make people reluctant and will just run the 50% hash rate and save them some repairs.  I plan to play like a good player but if they don't fix my board I am going to be quite vocal about it. After reading this forum they are not QC these boards very well so buyer beware.

I shipped a S9 autofreq board back and they told me I needed to send the entire S9 back. I did that, and set up a second ticket, and in the ticket asked them to put the board in the box.

You probably would want to ship the entire R4 back to them, else they might do the same thing to you as they did to me.

[GWhisper]

What's the average time for Bitmain Hong Kong to turn around warranty claims?

My two R4's were delivered yesterday afternoon, well so the DHL tracking shows however I've heard nothing from Bitmain and the Repair ticket hasn't been updated.

[tbonetony]

What's the average time for Bitmain Hong Kong to turn around warranty claims?

My two R4's were delivered yesterday afternoon, well so the DHL tracking shows however I've heard nothing from Bitmain and the Repair ticket hasn't been updated.

5 business days as they transfer from HK to repair site in mainland

[Seth Nicodemus]

Anyone know how I can get in touch with Yoshi? I would much prefer to get one of the hashing boards repaired from him than bitmain.

[tbonetony]

Hey guys,

So my R4 with missing chips (in kernel log) has returned by BM.  It's now up and running and I can see that it's running 20161209 firmware which is a higher version than what's available on BM website

It also appears to run quieter (fan 2040 vs 2100 prior) and at a much lower error rate.

I hope this magic lasts.

So far I am happy with their services as they have opt to cover my round trip shipping.

[captinkid]

Hey guys,

So my R4 with missing chips (in kernel log) has returned by BM.  It's now up and running and I can see that it's running 20161209 firmware which is a higher version than what's available on BM website

It also appears to run quieter (fan 2040 vs 2100 prior) and at a much lower error rate.

I hope this magic lasts.

So far I am happy with their services as they have opt to cover my round trip shipping.

I'm pretty sure the firmware is the same in the S9 and the R4, it uses a different controller, but the base code is the same with the exception of the fan control.

You can load any S9 firmware with a Xilinx folder to an R4 and it'll do everything the same until it detects only one fan, then it'll shutdown bmminer. You can also load any R4 firmware with a c5 folder to an S9. I haven't run them for long, they don't seem to like the others fan configuration, but it works.

Also my S9 board is fixed and hopefully on the way back soon. It's been almost a month since they received it as it had more issues than they were expecting. Hopefully it runs without issue. They responded quickly and helpfully each time I emailed, so a big plus for that.

[Bob the Builder]

new R4 running for ~1 day, dropped 1 board....WTF

[MyRig]

Did you try power it off, wait for 30 seconds and power it back on?  It may work fully with simple reboot if you reboot it immediately after the hash pcb disappeared or dropped.  

new R4 running for ~1 day, dropped 1 board....WTF

[Bob the Builder]

Did you try power it off, wait for 30 seconds and power it back on?  It may work fully with simple reboot if you reboot it immediately after the hash pcb disappeared or dropped.

more than once

[philipma1957]

more than once

Join the club bro.  I have two r4s. And three working boards

[Moonrackers]

We purchased some R4 to test them.. 1 of 16 boards died after 2 days. The others are running strong since 5 weeks. Knocking wood. We will not purchase R4 again.

If someone want the faulty hashing board to test it and find a solution to repair them, the board is already out of the miner. S9 controller can hash with R4 firmware I've tested it.

[dogjunior]

Got back my repaired R4. Worked for a few hours then some chips died with the dreaded missing 0 0. Then I rebooted the unit and it never came back up. I have powered it down and left it for a few hours then powered it back up and no go. I can't even ping it. I will contact Bitmain and to see what can be done.

[huntingthesnark]

I've got a new one (for me anyway) - R4 is hashing fine, asics all present, but browser interface is mainly blank, no fan speed, and no detailed hashing info. However, it's definitely online, and the pool (or nicehash in this case) is logging fine.

Have rebooted, but no changes, worth reinstalling firmware? Or just leave it?
Edit: Reflashing the firmware seems to have fixed it (fingers firmly crossed). BM's latest is from Dec just FYI...