Antminer S9/T9 overheating issues and solutions

[mettalmag]

First of all hello fellow miners!
Couple weeks ago I relocated my farm into a new place, previous one had some issues with dust and air intake vents.
After relocating I disassembled them and cleaned with air compressor, as I usually do once in a month. They are running since last August with no rest for 24/7. After some time I noticed that the temps are growing while the room temp stays the same 22-26°C. Also after relocating I got new S9s from bitmain and while they are operating at 75-80°C the older ones are reaching nearly 100°C, in this case I'm lowering the frequency to not overheat them.
I guess it's all about thermal paste, I'm not sure correct me if i'm wrong but hashing board chips are glued with thermal glue right?
What if and how can I replace that? I'm pretty sure it will give significant difference to temps.
Also older batches are running oldest software, the reason I'm don't want to upgrade them is that as far as I know I won't be able to change frequency, which helps me to avoid overheating as I mentioned above. Is it possible that firmware upgrade will also give the difference in temps and if it is I'd like to use firmware which supports the frequency management.
Thanks for your time guys and happy mining to all!

[1714876594]

1714876594

[1714876594]

1714876594

[1714876594]

1714876594

[1714876594]

1714876594

[1714876594]

1714876594

[philipma1957]

First of all hello fellow miners!
Couple weeks ago I relocated my farm into a new place, previous one had some issues with dust and air intake vents.
After relocating I disassembled them and cleaned with air compressor, as I usually do once in a month. They are running since last August with no rest for 24/7. After some time I noticed that the temps are growing while the room temp stays the same 22-26°C. Also after relocating I got new S9s from bitmain and while they are operating at 75-80°C the older ones are reaching nearly 100°C, in this case I'm lowering the frequency to not overheat them.
I guess it's all about thermal paste, I'm not sure correct me if i'm wrong but hashing board chips are glued with thermal glue right?
What if and how can I replace that? I'm pretty sure it will give significant difference to temps.
Also older batches are running oldest software, the reason I'm don't want to upgrade them is that as far as I know I won't be able to change frequency, which helps me to avoid overheating as I mentioned above. Is it possible that firmware upgrade will also give the difference in temps and if it is I'd like to use firmware which supports the frequency management.
Thanks for your time guys and happy mining to all!

three questions
 
fan setting = ?

freq = ?

temps = ?   95-100 c   correct?  for about a year correct?

and as for thermal paste  your gear has thermal glue pretty sure  it is not the issue.

my guess is you ran them too high for a year and the caps  are showing their age  as heat will do that.

but wtf do I know?

[mettalmag]

First of all hello fellow miners!
Couple weeks ago I relocated my farm into a new place, previous one had some issues with dust and air intake vents.
After relocating I disassembled them and cleaned with air compressor, as I usually do once in a month. They are running since last August with no rest for 24/7. After some time I noticed that the temps are growing while the room temp stays the same 22-26°C. Also after relocating I got new S9s from bitmain and while they are operating at 75-80°C the older ones are reaching nearly 100°C, in this case I'm lowering the frequency to not overheat them.
I guess it's all about thermal paste, I'm not sure correct me if i'm wrong but hashing board chips are glued with thermal glue right?
What if and how can I replace that? I'm pretty sure it will give significant difference to temps.
Also older batches are running oldest software, the reason I'm don't want to upgrade them is that as far as I know I won't be able to change frequency, which helps me to avoid overheating as I mentioned above. Is it possible that firmware upgrade will also give the difference in temps and if it is I'd like to use firmware which supports the frequency management.
Thanks for your time guys and happy mining to all!

three questions
 
fan setting = ?

freq = ?

temps = ?   95-100 c   correct?  for about a year correct?

and as for thermal paste  your gear has thermal glue pretty sure  it is not the issue.

my guess is you ran them too high for a year and the caps  are showing their age  as heat will do that.

but wtf do I know?

fan settings - auto all of them

freqs - 600 if outside temp is below 25, 400 or even 200 sometimes, point is to don't make them run above 85

third question?

first couple month they were running like a charm, then due to some outside factors the dust became an issue and I relocated them, Cleaning is done once or even twice a month. The fact that new S9s at freq 600 are running under 82 made me think that thermal glue is the reason older ones are running at same temps at freq 400. In fact I don't see other reason, correct me if I'm wrong and if it is the case, how is it possible to change/repair it? I've used thermal glue before, never done that before.

[mettalmag]

So I think I'll try to remove heat sinks and replace the thermal glue, let's see if it helps or not, the reason is that I can't think of another solution

[NotFuzzyWarm]

So I think I'll try to remove heat sinks and replace the thermal glue, let's see if it helps or not, the reason is that I can't think of another solution

Sure. Go ahead and DESTROY your miner....

It is a thermal epoxy that is used and it does not age or otherwise 'go bad'. It is also very difficult to remove the sinks and if you have not done board rework before odds are you will rip off the chips as well.

Paste only has issues because with cheap paste the wet part of it (Xytol) drys out and that drastically lowers the thermal conductivity. Thermal adhesives do not do that.

[mettalmag]

So I think I'll try to remove heat sinks and replace the thermal glue, let's see if it helps or not, the reason is that I can't think of another solution

Sure. Go ahead and DESTROY your miner....

It is a thermal epoxy that is used and it does not age or otherwise 'go bad'. It is also very difficult to remove the sinks and if you have not done board rework before odds are you will rip off the chips as well.

Paste only has issues because with cheap paste the wet part of it (Xytol) drys out and that drastically lowers the thermal conductivity. Thermal adhesives do not do that.

I can't think of other reason why they are overheating that much, last batches are working like a charm. Ok I got it I won't remove them and won't try to replace thermal glue, but what else can be done ?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

You cannot compare older models to newer ones like that. These things have gone through around 28 batches/versions and Bitmain tweaks something different with every one. The old ones run hot because of how the speeds and Vcore are setup and unless you have ones before batch-16 there is nothing that we can change.

While certainly pushing it and not ideal, I have some s9 batch-1 and 3's that have ran 100-C and often a bit higher since day-1. They still run perfect so frankly I wouldn't fret over it.

[mettalmag]

You cannot compare older models to newer ones like that. These things have gone through around 28 batches/versions and Bitmain tweaks something different with every one. The old ones run hot because of how the speeds and Vcore are setup and unless you have ones before batch-16 there is nothing that we can change.

While certainly pushing it and not ideal, I have some s9 batch-1 and 3's that have ran 100-C and often a bit higher since day-1. They still run perfect so frankly I wouldn't fret over it.

so you say that if I leave them alone to run at 90+ degrees I won't harm them? I did my best to reduse that temps but summertime kills it

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Yes they should be fine.
You know, this subject of temps has been beaten to death in the Official Bitmain s9 thread. It has been questioned ever since they were introduced over 1.5 years ago... I suggest you scan through it.

[mettalmag]

Yes they should be fine.
You know, this subject of temps has been beaten to death in the Official Bitmain s9 thread. It has been questioned ever since they were introduced over 1.5 years ago... I suggest you scan through it.

I did it when I got my first batches in August of last year and since then they increased a lot, that's why I was asking about it. Anyways thanks for your answers and time of course.

[fusion0389]

Yes they should be fine.
You know, this subject of temps has been beaten to death in the Official Bitmain s9 thread. It has been questioned ever since they were introduced over 1.5 years ago... I suggest you scan through it.

I did it when I got my first batches in August of last year and since then they increased a lot, that's why I was asking about it. Anyways thanks for your answers and time of course.

My suggestion would be to set the fan setting at 100% and see if it makes a difference. I had to do this to a couple Batch 4 units in order to keep the temps in the 80's

[mettalmag]

Yes they should be fine.
You know, this subject of temps has been beaten to death in the Official Bitmain s9 thread. It has been questioned ever since they were introduced over 1.5 years ago... I suggest you scan through it.

I did it when I got my first batches in August of last year and since then they increased a lot, that's why I was asking about it. Anyways thanks for your answers and time of course.

My suggestion would be to set the fan setting at 100% and see if it makes a difference. I had to do this to a couple Batch 4 units in order to keep the temps in the 80's

I will try to do that but I was afraid not to burn them, in fact I have couple fans in reserve

Edited:
So i made fans to work on 100%. with freq 400 I get around 77-82 degree when outside temp is around 32-33 degrees. With freq 600 I get around 90-96 degrees on boards. When I adjust fans to normal and let the miner decide on freq 400 I get around 82-85 and on freq 600 I got a bit higher temps 92-98. so no big deal, but still I'm afraid to leave them run at these temps, don't know may be I'm wrong and it's ok to do so

[fanatic26]

You keep saying overheating but they are well within normal operating range. The thermal cutoff for those older s9s is 115c. Running them at 90c is right where they should be.

Also another thing of note, you can upgrade the firmware without going to the autotune. Bitmain has both static speed firmware and auto tune firmware available.

Dont disassemble a functional miner, you really should just leave well enough alone. You will 100% kill your boards trying to replace the thermal epoxy.

[mettalmag]

still have warranty? mean need claim to warranty first. don't open seal. 

most of them are from last August.
Anyways I'm sending the boards once every two month or so, also since now is September and temps are going down they will last another year I guess..