GekkoScience 2Pac/Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[vh]

I've been hashing away at 200 MHz with 2 2pacs for several days.  I stopped everything, slightly upped the voltage on one that was producing occasional HW errors, and restarted cgminer.  Now cgminer cannot see the second chip on that stick.  cgminer now reads "COMPAC-1" instead of "COMPAC-2" and the hash rate reflects this.

I've restarted and reset everything I can, reduced the voltage, and isolated the stick but I cannot get cgminer to find both chips anymore.  Did I push it too hard?  My setup includes a usb fan, perhaps that wasn't enough?

Sounds possible.  The second chip is unhappy and not replying.  Not sure how to undo that.  Let it cool down for about 30 minutes before plugging it back in?

[vh]

Is it profitable? I bought one from Amazon and with default settings, about 10Gh/s I earned 0.00000716BTC the 1st day. So in about 5 years I will earn 0.01BTC (without calculating power cost) which is way too low.. If I did not do any mistake or misunderstood something it seems there is no point to use it.
Even if I increase frequency eg with 25Gh/s I will earn 0.01BTC in 2 years...
Please tell me if I am wrong.

Small USB stick miners, like this one, are more for getting started in the bitcoin mining game. They are mostly a learning tool, but also a way for you to join the community. That said, the miners do contribute to the distributed nature of the bitcoin network. Unless you are solo mining and find a block, which is not impossible, just highly improbable,  they will not return your "investment."

Yes, they require a little hands on effort to get going; a nice entry step into learning [a lot] more about bitcoin mining.

As far as how it ranks in the theoretical BTC/day space, and a glance at other miners, visit this miners table:
http://mining.tipsternet.com/miner.html

[tonyluey32]

Blame that to Windows 10. I bought GekkoScience 2Pac BM1384 Stickminer from Eyeboot since its free shipment. Its take 2 months to get here. After that I ask a friend to get the item in main post office. I'm very excited and test right away. Original cgminer work but some times get usb error. After that I see your thread and test vh's cgminer. It's work perfectly after 8 hours of use. Then usb stop working and get a lot of error. I'm using a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series.

Keep an eye on the number/id to the left of the device and the WU value.

If the number is increasing or the WU is not equal to ~150/m, then it is not actually working well.

Error message of cgminer:
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.405] USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - BSC device 1:42
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] See README file included for help
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] GekkoScience detect (1:42) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.407] failed usb_init

[philipma1957]

Zadig to load the driver on the stick

[tonyluey32]

Zadig to load the driver on the stick

Already done that. Message keep over and over like a infinite loop. I didn't know, they died faster after I use it. I should buy Antminer S5 instead.

[klintay]

Blame that to Windows 10. I bought GekkoScience 2Pac BM1384 Stickminer from Eyeboot since its free shipment. Its take 2 months to get here. After that I ask a friend to get the item in main post office. I'm very excited and test right away. Original cgminer work but some times get usb error. After that I see your thread and test vh's cgminer. It's work perfectly after 8 hours of use. Then usb stop working and get a lot of error. I'm using a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series.

Keep an eye on the number/id to the left of the device and the WU value.

If the number is increasing or the WU is not equal to ~150/m, then it is not actually working well.

Error message of cgminer:
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.405] USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - BSC device 1:42
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] See README file included for help
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] GekkoScience detect (1:42) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.407] failed usb_init

what hub are you using? it may not be supplying enough power. try lowering your clock setting to 100 mh and see if it is stable then.

[klintay]

Eyeboot 2 port usb hub extender/splitter;



It comes with 5V 2 amp power supply so has everything you need out of the box.







The max power per port possible is 1.5 amps;





At 150 mhz we get a speed of 16.41 GH



At 175 mhz we get a speed of 19.51 GH



At 200 mhz we get a speed of 21 GH




Pros: it is cheap and cheerful. can boost the power of any usb port it is used with. includes 3A 5V power supply
Cons: shape means it can only run 1 usb stick. power draw is limited to 1.5 amps.

[ab1jx]

Aw, the Superbpag is only twice the price and advertised good for 14 amps with 7 ports. https://www.amazon.com/Superbpag-Portable-Charger-Transfer-Samsung/dp/B013OK10YM  I'm fairly sure people have run up to at least 4 Compac/2pacs on them.  I'm tempted to buy one to have around even though I've already got 3 lesser USB hubs.  Should be able to handle a Raspberry Pi 3 and at least a couple of sticks.

[tonyluey32]

Blame that to Windows 10. I bought GekkoScience 2Pac BM1384 Stickminer from Eyeboot since its free shipment. Its take 2 months to get here. After that I ask a friend to get the item in main post office. I'm very excited and test right away. Original cgminer work but some times get usb error. After that I see your thread and test vh's cgminer. It's work perfectly after 8 hours of use. Then usb stop working and get a lot of error. I'm using a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 series.

Keep an eye on the number/id to the left of the device and the WU value.

If the number is increasing or the WU is not equal to ~150/m, then it is not actually working well.

Error message of cgminer:
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.405] USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - BSC device 1:42
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] See README file included for help
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.406] GekkoScience detect (1:42) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting
 [2017-06-12 11:31:18.407] failed usb_init

what hub are you using? it may not be supplying enough power. try lowering your clock setting to 100 mh and see if it is stable then.

I'm not using any hub, just laptop that used usb 3.0. It's work on first time, but now its not working anymore. Clock setting is in default.

Eyeboot 2 port usb hub extender/splitter0.00042788

Where can I buy one? Eyeboot website don't have this.

[buddyleex]

I'm thinking about adding more 2Pacs to my setup but I have a Superbpag hub and it's only rated to 14 Amps. I'm trying to figure out how much more juice I need to add more. Am I correct in assuming that the amount of draw I need per port is relative to the clock frequency the chip is running at? I've got the 2Pacs running at 275mhz so per the chart that means if I'm running 8 2pacs then I need 2.4amp draw per port (19.2 amp total) and 96 Watts of power?

[Biodom]

I'm thinking about adding more 2Pacs to my setup but I have a Superbpag hub and it's only rated to 14 Amps. I'm trying to figure out how much more juice I need to add more. Am I correct in assuming that the amount of draw I need per port is relative to the clock frequency the chip is running at? I've got the 2Pacs running at 275mhz so per the chart that means if I'm running 8 2pacs then I need 2.4amp draw per port (19.2 amp total) and 96 Watts of power?

Superpag=7 slots, although i was not able to run more than 5 Compacs on it (others may have run more).
NFW figured out that slots are grouped in 2-2-3 fashion, so that helps.
I tested running three: one in ea "slot" group. Maybe you can run two in the last group, so it would be four total (in positions 1,3,5,7). I very much doubt that you can run four at 275 (due to box overheating).

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I'm thinking about adding more 2Pacs to my setup but I have a Superbpag hub and it's only rated to 14 Amps. I'm trying to figure out how much more juice I need to add more. Am I correct in assuming that the amount of draw I need per port is relative to the clock frequency the chip is running at? I've got the 2Pacs running at 275mhz so per the chart that means if I'm running 8 2pacs then I need 2.4amp draw per port (19.2 amp total) and 96 Watts of power?

Superpag=7 slots, although i was not able to run more than 5 Compacs on it (others may have run more).
NFW figured out that slots are grouped in 2-2-3 fashion, so that helps.
I tested running three: one in ea "slot" group. Maybe you can run two in the last group, so it would be four total (in positions 1,3,5,7). I very much doubt that you can run four at 275 (due to box overheating).

Actually, that ^^ is for Plugable's 7-port '60w' charging hub that I opened up. Not a Superpag hub.

That said, I would not be surprised to see a similar setup in other charging hubs not specifically made for powering stick miners. In short, open up the case and look how the USB slots are powered. Bet very few (if any) use a single regulator and like the ones from Plugable use multiple regulators with each feeding just a couple slots.

[rockmoney]

I'm having some issues with a 2Pac, wondering if anyone has any ideas...

Was working fine; PC rebooted unexpectedly, and now I cannot get cgminer to recognize it. (have tried multiple PCs, fresh installs, etc.)
-Green light stays illuminated
-Windows recognizes device - shows in devices and printers
-when i run cgminer.exe -n, it finds device, and lists as GekkoScience 2PAC Bitcoin Miner
-when cgminer.exe is run either via batch or just launching the executable - always states 'No devices found'  (cgminer build is confirmed working with other 2Pacs)
-have verified and re-installed winUSB driver via zadig 2.3
-checked with mutimeter - pulling 0.02a, 5v, 0.217w

any ideas or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
CJ

Hi, just to clarify! You have 3 Sticks, 2 are working in the same Computer and with the same Cgminer (VH's) version, but 1 stick is not working? is that so?

There were 2 devices running on this machine at one point, one of those devices is no longer being used.  The single stick that I have currently was running on this PC without issue prior.
Thanks,
CJ

For some reason sounds like the chip is not getting enough power to run anymore.
Move around the PC and try a port on a different controller or use a powered hub (recommended).

I received the 2PAC from my cousin in the mail today. Using a USB 'Y' cable to supply sufficient power, a regular/standard USB multi-meter, & a 35W powered USB multi-meter (to add or decrease power). Along with several other things I tried to get it hashing, I used different versions of CGMiner. Here are some of the results:

     

To view full-size, larger photos, view album here: http://imgur.com/a/UeM7v

[zumpbond2000]

Does anyone got more than 300mhz on the stick?

Is it possible?

[vh]

Does anyone got more than 300mhz on the stick?

Is it possible?

I had one set aside to push its limits, but I have to admit I fried it a week later ( electrical mishap  ), so I didn't test it long enough to confirm stability.

[roshanrbb]

Is it ok to run 3 2PAC on this hub from pluggable?
Or should I get the usb 3.0 version? Is there any big difference on them?
I am running one of the 2PAC in my Windows laptop with usb fan cooling at 250Mhz

Plugable USB 2.0 7-Port High Speed Charging Hub with 60W Power Adapter and BC 1.2 Charging Support for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Mobile Devices https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L2LK164/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6spqzbF2H9GW0

[hariskar]

Is it out of stock everywhere?

[ppetrovic68]

Is it out of stock everywhere?

Go to [FOR SALE - SIDEHACK STICK] GekkoScience 2PAC - 2x BM1384 USB Stick Miner. The very first post has all the info you need.

[Otsutsuki]

Guys just ran my setup last night thanks to btckess. You can find the photos below. Now i have 2 questions:

1- Is it possible to mine other sha256 currencies or just bitcoins?
2- I dont have a multimeter on hands now so i cant adjust the voltage properly, i tried to use a usb voltameter connected to a female cable and isolated the GND / +V wires from that cable to try to measure the vcore but it shorts when i try to measure it. Any other ideas on how i could pull these numbers to adjust the voltage ?
https://i.imgur.com/CbCCkbd.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Urm0X9Y.jpg https://i.imgur.com/C3b2uG2.jpg https://i.imgur.com/yo9aHd1.jpg

Full size photos: http://imgur.com/a/ZPZ8w

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Is it ok to run 3 2PAC on this hub from pluggable?
Or should I get the usb 3.0 version? Is there any big difference on them?
I am running one of the 2PAC in my Windows laptop with usb fan cooling at 250Mhz

Plugable USB 2.0 7-Port High Speed Charging Hub with 60W Power Adapter and BC 1.2 Charging Support for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Mobile Devices https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L2LK164/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6spqzbF2H9GW0

Ya know, just a little further down there is a thread specifically regarding sticks and powered hubs...
re specifically that Plugable one, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1779423.msg17921042#msg17921042