Klondike - 16 chip ASIC Open Source Board - Preliminary

[marto74]

.... I'll be applying paste this morning and start the manual pick n place process.

Any further progress 

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[BkkCoins]

.... I'll be applying paste this morning and start the manual pick n place process.

Any further progress  

Yes, but delayed. I had to abort yesterday after some stencil clogging issues. Re-cleaned the stencil and got all the holes clear. But was too late to start yesterday by that time.

Started this morning at 6:30am and took the board out of the oven about 15 minutes ago. 6 hours to place parts, 5 minutes to cook. I haven't looked at it yet as I had to deal with emails while it cooled down - so hopefully a visual inspection doesn't turn up any issues. Just going to solder PCIe by hand and then do some testing.

edit: visual inspection done - I see a couple minor repairs to do and I'm fairly sure some ASIC pins aren't well connected but can touch them up by hand.

[bebfoo]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

[itod]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

[SebastianJu]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

I wonder for how much overclocking that is guilty. I mean he wrote you can put the voltage to a level that its a sure way to break the chip.

[itod]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

I wonder for how much overclocking that is guilty. I mean he wrote you can put the voltage to a level that its a sure way to break the chip.

It wouldn't be a surprise if he puts some hardcoded voltage limit in the firmware. It's logical that he can't take that much risk, since he promised he will replace the chips with his own chips, otherwise he can go broke letting people to fry the chips playing the voltage roulette.

[SebastianJu]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

I wonder for how much overclocking that is guilty. I mean he wrote you can put the voltage to a level that its a sure way to break the chip.

It wouldn't be a surprise if he puts some hardcoded voltage limit in the firmware. It's logical that he can't take that much risk, since he promised he will replace the chips with his own chips, otherwise he can go broke letting people to fry the chips playing the voltage roulette.

Since you write it this way... can it be that you misinterpreted it? He wrote that he will replace broken chips after production with his own chips. But im not sure if you can send them to him and he will replace your broken chips. This might become devastating for him. Broken fan... he pays, overclocking without enough cooling, he pays... and so on.

[itod]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

I wonder for how much overclocking that is guilty. I mean he wrote you can put the voltage to a level that its a sure way to break the chip.

It wouldn't be a surprise if he puts some hardcoded voltage limit in the firmware. It's logical that he can't take that much risk, since he promised he will replace the chips with his own chips, otherwise he can go broke letting people to fry the chips playing the voltage roulette.

Since you write it this way... can it be that you misinterpreted it? He wrote that he will replace broken chips after production with his own chips. But im not sure if you can send them to him and he will replace your broken chips. This might become devastating for him. Broken fan... he pays, overclocking without enough cooling, he pays... and so on.

Maybe I misinterpreted it, but I didn't say the fan, that's irrational to expect not to brake occasionally. Nevertheless, I understood he will replace chips with his own from his personal reserve, and that impressed me very much.

[Bicknellski]

Has anyone heard what the error/failure rate of Avalon chips is? Wondering if it's too soon to know for sure. Maybe there are some stats from the first 2 batches of Avalon boxes?

It seems that failures are extremely rare. Burnin is so sure in that that he offered 2 year guarantee for Avalon boards he is assembling, he will replace failed chips free of charge.

I wonder for how much overclocking that is guilty. I mean he wrote you can put the voltage to a level that its a sure way to break the chip.

It wouldn't be a surprise if he puts some hardcoded voltage limit in the firmware. It's logical that he can't take that much risk, since he promised he will replace the chips with his own chips, otherwise he can go broke letting people to fry the chips playing the voltage roulette.

Since you write it this way... can it be that you misinterpreted it? He wrote that he will replace broken chips after production with his own chips. But im not sure if you can send them to him and he will replace your broken chips. This might become devastating for him. Broken fan... he pays, overclocking without enough cooling, he pays... and so on.

Maybe I misinterpreted it, but I didn't say the fan, that's irrational to expect not to brake occasionally. Nevertheless, I understood he will replace chips with his own from his personal reserve, and that impressed me very much.

Might want to read his SITE clearly states the 'as is' nature and best effort of the production of these units and the very LIMITED warranty.

[BitCsByBit]

Newsflash - Yifu (BitSyncom) has finally responded.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269950.0

[itod]

Might want to read his SITE clearly states the 'as is' nature and best effort of the production of these units and the very LIMITED warranty.

I've checked, there is no *very* in his limited warranty. I've bothered to search forum to clarify the issue and have found the relevant post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=179769.msg2780643#msg2780643

Yes all boards will be tested at the factory, any defective chip will be replaced by me free of charge as part of my service.
(The chip failure rate should be low, as they are factory tested as well)

So: After the assembly at burnin's facility the boards will be tested, and if you sent him broken Avalon chip he will replace your chip with his chip free of charge.

True, that doesn't include if you fry the chip overclocking it.

Edit: My point was originally that he believes the chip failure rate will be very, very low, since he will be assembling hundreds of thousands of chips.

[Ente]

Might want to read his SITE clearly states the 'as is' nature and best effort of the production of these units and the very LIMITED warranty.

I've checked, there is no *very* in his limited warranty. I've bothered to search forum to clarify the issue and have found the relevant post:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=179769.msg2780643#msg2780643

Yes all boards will be tested at the factory, any defective chip will be replaced by me free of charge as part of my service.
(The chip failure rate should be low, as they are factory tested as well)

So: After the assembly at burnin's facility the boards will be tested, and if you sent him broken Avalon chip he will replace your chip with his chip free of charge.

True, that doesn't include if you fry the chip overclocking it.

Edit: My point was originally that he believes the chip failure rate will be very, very low, since he will be assembling hundreds of thousands of chips.

I interpret it the way that he will replace broken chips when it arrives at the customer. And not if *anything* breaks after running successfully, be it through overclocking or sunbursts.
He doesn't write it that way, but anything else makes little sense, does it?

Ente

[nekonos]

Hello BKKCoins

Did you begun testing the beta board?

What foresight shipping of the PCB ordered on the web?

Cheers

[BkkCoins]

Hello BKKCoins

Did you begun testing the beta board?

What foresight shipping of the PCB ordered on the web?

Cheers

I'm back from Bkk again with 200 K16 boards (ML and SS), and Klego boards, in hand. I'm going to resume testing the one I have assembled and will update as soon as I can. My SS PICs did not arrive yet, so I'm still waiting on those. I'll be assembling Klego conns this weekend, barring some unforeseen problems. I have SD cards, Tweezers, solder paste, and some stencils. I'll be cutting stencils non-stop this weekend but they're very slow - 3.5 hours each for the K16. QFN first since I have chips on hand now. SS to follow asap.

All in all I have 3 items holding up shipping out.  SS PICs, Nano boards in transit now and Nano heat sinks ordered but unclear about delivery still (waiting for phone confirmation). The other items are all in hand and I'll be shipping on Monday for complete order I can.

If you ordered programmed PICs I will be waiting on my firmware upgrader code before shipping. If you're in a hurry and want you order shipped with unprogrammed PICs then PM me but I think that would only save a couple days as I finish that code and run some test upgrades.

[Bicknellski]

Yifu should give 10,000 FREE 55nm chips to all the DIY designers. BKKCoins, Alten and Burnin. That might have the right positive message to the community. Sickening to see what has happened to such great projects. Here is hoping Avalon actually becomes proactive and supports the DIY builders in the right way.

[dnaleor]

Yifu should give 10,000 FREE 55nm chips to all the DIY designers. BKKCoins, Alten and Burnin. That might have the right positive message to the community. Sickening to see what has happened to such great projects. Here is hoping Avalon actually becomes proactive and supports the DIY builders in the right way.

+1

Most Avalon orders are generated by the work of these people!

[Bicknellski]

Yifu should give 10,000 FREE 55nm chips to all the DIY designers. BKKCoins, Alten and Burnin. That might have the right positive message to the community. Sickening to see what has happened to such great projects. Here is hoping Avalon actually becomes proactive and supports the DIY builders in the right way.

+1

Most Avalon orders are generated by the work of these people!

I wonder how much was generated by them? That is a really good question. There is certainly a great amount of power in the DIY community. Maybe other chip manufacturers will figure that out and support these sorts of efforts in future but sad to say that I bet quite a few people are going to rethink the whole idea given the result of this.

Hope all this doesn't get you down BKKCoins... really great work so far and if miracles do happen the chips will arrive soon.

[KS]

The really great thing would be if the boards were immediately compatible with the gen2 chips. What are the odds?

[Bicknellski]

The really great thing would be if the boards were immediately compatible with the gen2 chips. What are the odds?

They aren't but... given the point Yifu made mods might be possible.

The problem is he has basically killed any interesting in reworking these designs with his chips. BitFury chips also fit all these boards and you know what they actually ship their product on time.

[KS]

The really great thing would be if the boards were immediately compatible with the gen2 chips. What are the odds?

They aren't but... given the point Yifu made mods might be possible.

The problem is he has basically killed any interesting in reworking these designs with his chips. BitFury chips also fit all these boards and you know what they actually ship their product on time.

They know they fucked up, hence the change in policy. They now have the money to act as a "normal" business (no pre-orders, only shipping stock), I wouldn't write them off yet.