USB ASIC ERUPTER - Setup & Config. BCG Miner, cgminer & Hubs "Oh Pi"!

[ashpooler]

don't mean to re-ask a question, but im holding 330 mh/s in my cgminer window, but when I check my pool stats page (coinotron.com) my reported hash rate is much lower at times and also much higher, ive seen it anywhere from 100kh to 500 kh/s

just wondering if that normal and reason behind it. thks

A pool can only calculate your hashrate through your actually submitted shares/time.
So it could vary quite a bit at times... should be normal as long as your payout is what you'd expect (or accepted shares).

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[MikeMike]

No possible because the oscillator for the USB is a fixed frequency one. The voltage is also fixed at the lowest possible for the current frequency to match the 500mA spec of USB ports.

Ah - thanks for that insight.

""Generation 1:
Block Eruptor. 130nm with 6-8J/GH. Each chip's rated frequency is 336MHz at 1.05V. It translates to 336MH/s because it does one hash per cycle. The chips work stable and well at 392MH/s at 1.15V. Further overclocking needs proper handling of heat and power supply.""

[runam0k]

I had one of the arctic fans running but it was too loud (my HTPC is passively cooled, so completely silent - this fan is not!).  Anyway, I let them run without the fan and they've been doing fine for days now (famous last words).  No change in performance.

[maxpower]

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s.  I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1.  Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well.   Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan.  For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.  

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up.  With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics.  While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

I have a couple of these on order, maybe they'll work better: http://amzn.com/B00080G0BK

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now.  After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates.   Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.  

Thanks for the info. Hopefully the Thermaltakes will arrive today. I'll report back on how effective they are.

[MikeMike]

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s.  I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now.  After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates.  Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well. 

"snipped"

It could be the hub itself.
On main page info of lesser error D-Link hub.
Also calculate how many watts you are using to not over draw from hub.
don't put hub on flat surface as heat builds up.
Put hub low in altitude as it's a few degrees cooler on the floor.
Just a word from the blind...
 

It's true the hubs can make all of the difference, I had been running 10-port Manhattan hubs with many problems it powering off intermittently.  Decided to go all Ankers which have been rather stable in comparison.  Appreciate the suggestion on the draw and placement, will give it a try!     

Even the Anker's have issues as someone posted about an issue of two USB ports of the 10 on one hub always had issues.
So on that particular hub they ran two less Erupters. I'm nearly certain it was an anker.

[os2sam]

That's .5 Amp.  So you think that can be delivered by all 6 ports?  I do have some USB hubs on the way but the Block Erupters will probably be here first.
Thanks,
Sam

y'know, i'm really not sure. add them one at a time until things stop working

Yep, that's the plan.  I'm just worried about stressing or frying the M/B or having the current on the hairy edge and start having flaky problems.  Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow night.
Thanks,
Sam

Well, I could only fit 4 Erupters into the M/B six USB ports.  But they seem to be working just fine.  So I doubt there would be any problems powering them.

I am using CGMiner 3.2.1 and got them mining without a hitch, so far anyway.  I was afraid I would have some problems like everyone seems to be having but the install and setup could not have been easier.
Sam

[maxpower]

What speeds are you guys holding? Mine is at 330.5Mh/s. Been going a since Wednesday. About 3.5HW errors an hour.

So far it's steady around 334.2Mh/s.  I finally got 99 of them working with CGMiner 3.1.1 this evening on a Win7 laptop.

Had a lot of trouble with 3.2.1 crashing on Win7 after about 6 detections, so I decided to roll it back and try my luck with 3.1.1.  Missed the hotplug aspect of 3.2.1, but being able to specify each com## worked out well.   Running 10 Anker hubs with 9 usb miners with arctic fans, and 1 Anker hub without the fan.  For some reason one of the ports isn't working on the 11th, so 100 has been elusive.  

Ran a copy of CGMiner for each Anker hub and hopefully this will stay up.  With BitMinter, I had to restart a couple of workers every so often, so CGMiner has been great.

A big thanks to MikeMike for starting this thread and to everyone who has posted.

How are your error rates with the Arctic fan? I was running one on an Anker as well, but it seemed like it wasn't big enough to get airflow to the USB ports at the edges. On the other hand, right now I have an 8" desk fan pointed at the hub and miners, and I'm seeing about 1% errors, so I'm not convinced that that's much better than the Arctic.

Currently getting about 1%+ with the Arctics.  While the ones on the edge feel a bit warmer, the error rate is actually on par with the interior ones so I've been thinking about getting a desk fan to increase the overall airflow.

Interesting, maybe I should switch back to an Arctic. I get a little under 1% with a desk fan, but not much under 1%. The big problem with my desk fan, at least, is that it's just wide enough to cover all my Erupters, but there's a big airflow dead spot in the middle where the fan's axle is. So the BE in the center of the hub runs slightly hotter and has a slightly higher error rate than the rest.

I have a couple of these on order, maybe they'll work better: http://amzn.com/B00080G0BK

You're probably going to be better off with the Thermaltakes on order, the arctic fans aren't cutting it right now.  After more than 24 hours the HW errors are piling up, it's jumped to over 10% error rates.   Thanks for the link, might just get a couple of thermaltakes as well.  

Thanks for the info. Hopefully the Thermaltakes will arrive today. I'll report back on how effective they are.

I received the Thermaltakes earlier today and they've been running for about 8 hours now. I can report that, so far, they cool at least as well as the desk fan; I'm slightly under 1% errors overall. The two of them side by side also cover the length of the Anker hub a bit better, without much of a dead airflow spot in the middle.

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

[LaserHorse]

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

I'm using the 120mm TT fan @ ~80%, surprisingly quiet - found no benefit to running @ full speed.

[maxpower]

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

I'm using the 120mm TT fan @ ~80%, surprisingly quiet - found no benefit to running @ full speed.

Nice! I'll have to try turning these down a bit and see if it makes any difference to error rates.

[maxpower]

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

I'm using the 120mm TT fan @ ~80%, surprisingly quiet - found no benefit to running @ full speed.

Nice! I'll have to try turning these down a bit and see if it makes any difference to error rates.

Good call. I turned them down to ~75% and am getting the same error rates with a lot less noise.

[MikeMike]

They're a bit noisy at full speed, but they draw a *lot* less power than the desk fan, so that seems like a fair trade-off to me.

I'm using the 120mm TT fan @ ~80%, surprisingly quiet - found no benefit to running @ full speed.

Nice! I'll have to try turning these down a bit and see if it makes any difference to error rates.

Good call. I turned them down to ~75% and am getting the same error rates with a lot less noise.

I'm starting to wonder IF any fan motor electrical disturbance is off setting their benefit keeping them cool....

[FiatKiller]

On the overclock issue - what software or commands would you use to change the voltage on these??

On the increased rate of errors over time issue - maybe a periodic programmed cooling-off period would be overall beneficial?

[LaserHorse]

I'm starting to wonder IF any fan motor electrical disturbance is off setting their benefit keeping them cool....

I had the same thought. Running the fan off of a separate hub doesn't seem to help in my setup though. 
Not sure if fan proximity could play a role (motor EMF?). 

Need to establish a little testing protocol here.

On the overclock issue - what software or commands would you use to change the voltage on these??

friedcat (he of ASICMiner) stated earlier in this thread that overclocking was not possible due to the chip's timing being dependent on USB fixed clock frequency & voltage.  One could speculate that one would need to get the chip running off of an external variable voltage and/or clock - but one would certainly risk bricking their erupter with such an experiment 

[MikeMike]

I'm starting to wonder IF any fan motor electrical disturbance is off setting their benefit keeping them cool....

I had the same thought. Running the fan off of a separate hub doesn't seem to help in my setup though. 
Not sure if fan proximity could play a role (motor EMF?). 

Need to establish a little testing protocol here.

On the overclock issue - what software or commands would you use to change the voltage on these??

friedcat (he of ASICMiner) stated earlier in this thread that overclocking was not possible due to the chip's timing being dependent on USB fixed clock frequency & voltage.  One could speculate that one would need to get the chip running off of an external variable voltage and/or clock - but one would certainly risk bricking their erupter with such an experiment 

Also might want to try putting the ones with higher errors in slot of ones with lower errors and skip every other one for heat related and POWER related issues...

[FiatKiller]

Another idea. if willing to give up another slot. would be to have an artic fan at each end, but bent to each side with a push-pull setup...

[MikeMike]

Another idea. if willing to give up another slot. would be to have an artic fan at each end, but bent to each side with a push-pull setup...

Check out the mini heat sink mod attached right to the chip.
It's on the mail page here on bottom under ***MODS***

That would be a an excellent test to see what happens...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220905.msg2326671#msg2326671

[2weiX]

Another idea. if willing to give up another slot. would be to have an artic fan at each end, but bent to each side with a push-pull setup...

Check out the mini heat sink mod attached right to the chip.
It's on the mail page here on bottom under ***MODS***

That would be a an excellent test to see what happens...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220905.msg2326671#msg2326671

I'll take 10 of those please.

[LaserHorse]

Check out the mini heat sink mod attached right to the chip.
It's on the mail page here on bottom under ***MODS***

That would be a an excellent test to see what happens...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220905.msg2326671#msg2326671

I'll take 10 of those please.

I plan on testing one out later today - let you know how it goes.

[MikeMike]

Check out the mini heat sink mod attached right to the chip.
It's on the mail page here on bottom under ***MODS***

That would be a an excellent test to see what happens...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220905.msg2326671#msg2326671

I'll take 10 of those please.

I plan on testing one out later today - let you know how it goes.

Stick a little peltier cooler on it and freeze it then crank up the v's!

[FiatKiller]

Got a part number for the mini-heatsink?