Experimenting with Jalapeno firmware...

[vapourminer]

yes, Ill have a howto in a day or two.

Im comfortable with building and modifying electronics and computers but never with stuff like this.

its easy enough but I did have a couple "uh oh" moments.

[vapourminer]

after 7 hours its average is 8285.56 ghs, 81 hardware errors.

That's not too bad for HW errors,  out of interest sake, have you tried reducing the speed slightly to see if the error rate changes substantially? Thinking that you might be on the threshold.

reduce speed?? NEVER!! heh

9.5 hours, 16241 accepted @ difficultly 4, 102 hardware errors = 0.0016 % errors. thats OK in my book as others with stock jallys have had way more that that.

there the stats output for the interested:

Code:

DEVICE: BitFORCE SC0x0aFIRMWARE: 1.2.50x0aIAR Executed: NO0x0aCHIP PARALLELIZATION: YES @ 20x0aQUEUE DEPTH:400x0aPROCESSOR 3: 15 engines @ 267 MHz -- MAP: FFFE0x0aPROCESSOR 7: 15 engines @ 281 MHz -- MAP: FFFE0x0aTHEORETICAL MAX: 8220 MH/s0x0aENGINES: 300x0aFREQUENCY: 274 MHz0x0aXLINK MODE: MASTER0x0aCRITICAL TEMPERATURE: 00x0aXLINK PRESENT: YES0x0aDEVICES IN CHAIN: 10x0aCHAIN PRESENCE MASK: 000000010x0aOK0x0a0x00

both chips 15 engines, one @ 281, one @ 267

[SwissMiner]

Why do people post "watching" rather than pressing the watch button and watching? Ah yes, to increase post count.

.. why kids giving the answer to their own question right away 

[vapourminer]

Was the copy protect bit set?  Could you download the firmware to save it?  (I assume AVRs have that just like PICs)

the security bit was set. 1st thing I tried was to read the original 5 ghs 1.0.0 firmware out. nope.

the only way to clear the security bit and program it is to erase the whole chip. so, unless bfl releases a 1.0.0 *.hex file or the original 1.0.0 source, flashing these things is a one way ticket.

[erk]

after 7 hours its average is 8285.56 ghs, 81 hardware errors.

That's not too bad for HW errors,  out of interest sake, have you tried reducing the speed slightly to see if the error rate changes substantially? Thinking that you might be on the threshold.

reduce speed?? NEVER!! heh

9.5 hours, 16241 accepted @ difficultly 4, 102 hardware errors = 0.0016 % errors. thats OK in my book as others with stock jallys have had way more that that.

It's actually (102/16,241)*100= 0.628% errors, one of the cgmnier devs suggested that 1% HW errors are ok for that kind of ASIC setup.

[vapourminer]

It's actually (102/16,241)*100= 0.628% errors, one of the cgmnier devs suggested that 1% HW errors are ok for that kind of ASIC setup.

whoops, thanks for that. forgot my basic math

but its difficulty 4 (4 shares average by the asic for every 1 submitted), and hardware errors are 1 to 1. so divide by 4 = 0.157% error rate.

[PulsedMedia]

very interesting and hoping to see guide soon, hopefully with ebay purchase links

[bitpop]

I wonder if I can bend the pins out, tired of removing the heatsink

[kano]

Was the copy protect bit set?  Could you download the firmware to save it?  (I assume AVRs have that just like PICs)

the security bit was set. 1st thing I tried was to read the original 5 ghs 1.0.0 firmware out. nope.

the only way to clear the security bit and program it is to erase the whole chip. so, unless bfl releases a 1.0.0 *.hex file or the original 1.0.0 source, flashing these things is a one way ticket.

Oh ... I was hoping that would be a good test before actually flashing it ... though I've not got that far yet ...

I have (which I finally found today) an Xilinx Platform Cable USB with 4 cables and an adapter board to match the 3 extra cables provided by ngzhang - it was called the icarus dev kit back when I bought it last year - but I've never used it.

I'm in the process of slowly downloading the free version of the Xilinx ISE - anyone know in advance if that will work?

Edit: OK after reading up much more about all this ... it seems the answer is probably no.
It also seems that the AVR32 chips are rarely supported by the random no-name Amtel JTAG programmers you can find on ebay.
Fortunately, google found me a shop 35km away that has 44 in stock $63 ... OK time to go visit them tomorrow.

Aside: I found the pictures provided by others a little hard to read clearly ... so I took one of my Jala mining

(click if you want it 4x that size)

Anyone is Aus wanting to know where they can find an AVR Dragon - this is the place I'll be visiting tomorrow ... after I call them and verify it is the right device.
http://au.element14.com/atmel/atavrdragon/in-system-debugger-programmer-avr/dp/145508801

[erk]

Oh ... I was hoping that would be a good test before actually flashing it ... though I've not got that far yet ...

I have (which I finally found today) an Xilinx Platform Cable USB with 4 cables and an adapter board to match the 3 extra cables provided by ngzhang - it was called the icarus dev kit back when I bought it last year - but I've never used it.

I'm in the process of slowly downloading the free version of the Xilinx ISE - anyone know in advance if that will work?

Edit: OK after reading up much more about all this ... it seems the answer is probably no.
It also seems that the AVR32 chips are rarely supported by the random no-name Amtel JTAG programmers you can find on ebay.
Fortunately, google found me a shop 35km away that has 44 in stock $63 ... OK time to go visit them tomorrow.

Aside: I found the pictures provided by others a little hard to read clearly ... so I took one of my Jala mining

(click if you want it 4x that size)

Anyone is Aus wanting to know where they can find an AVR Dragon - this is the place I'll be visiting tomorrow ... after I call them and verify it is the right device.
http://au.element14.com/atmel/atavrdragon/in-system-debugger-programmer-avr/dp/145508801

Element14 are huge, they are the one of the international Raspberry Pi distributor networks, so you should be able to find them all over the planet, they are part of the Farnell group of electronic distributors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Farnell

The Premier Farnell group trades globally under the following company names:

    Farnell in the UK and Europe
    element14 in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, China and Singapore
    Newark Electronics in the US, Canada and Mexico
    MCM Electronics in the US
    Farnell-Newark in Brazil
    Combined Precision Components (CPC) in the UK
    Akron Brass, North America
    TPC Wire and Cable, North America

[peterepeat]

And they have free delivery for orders over $45.

[Lucko]

Hm... I just realised something. Look at board pictures publish hire. And look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw7kVfJ5X5Y

Do you see a difference? Anyone has a single? I think that this chip that is missing here is for a 50gh single to connect 2 boards. If you look at the plans you will see chain out chain in connected to that... And I really think that this is a longboard. 2 normal boards connected... If anyone has a idea how to get program off that chip we can make a longboard....

[erk]

Hm... I just realised something. Look at board pictures publish hire. And look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw7kVfJ5X5Y

Do you see a difference? Anyone has a single? I think that this chip that is missing here is for a 50gh single to connect 2 boards. If you look at the plans you will see chain out chain in connected to that... And I really think that this is a longboard. 2 normal boards connected... If anyone has a idea how to get program off that chip we can make a longboard....

Why would you bother?

[Lucko]

Good point... Interest how did they do it...

[kano]

Edit: I'll update it when I come up with changes on my blog copy I made of this: http://www.kano-kun.net/

Good point... Interest how did they do it...

Well ... it's not x-link

The MR that had 8 SC Singles in it (that I got to play with for a night) were all single devices, not x-linked anywhere.

Anyway went and got the AVR Dragon earlier today ... then put AVR Studio in a windows VM
I'll sort out Linux some other time - since it's a 3 year old version of it - they stopped updating it in 2010

Compiled fine ... with 769 warnings
Took hell to do the Dragon Firmware update (VM problems) but did manage it finally.

SC firmware update was simple (less than 2 minutes)

Now runs at 8.0GH/s using default Freq 7 as with 1.2.5 firmware as a Single
(used to be 5.4GH/s)

I'll post again later ... details.

Edit:

FYI the GetInfo is:
DEVICE: BitFORCE SC
FIRMWARE: 1.2.5kano
IAR Executed: NO
CHIP PARALLELIZATION: YES @ 2
QUEUE DEPTH:40
PROCESSOR 3: 15 engines @ 268 MHz -- MAP: FFFE
PROCESSOR 7: 15 engines @ 259 MHz -- MAP: FFFE
THEORETICAL MAX: 7905 MH/s
ENGINES: 30
FREQUENCY: 274 MHz
XLINK MODE: MASTER
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE: 0
XLINK PRESENT: YES
DEVICES IN CHAIN: 1
CHAIN PRESENCE MASK: 00000001
OK

HW errors are about one every 3 or 4 minutes (about 16 per hour)

   [Elapsed] => 4997
   [MHS av] => 8072.59
   [Hardware Errors] => 22
   [Difficulty Accepted] => 8982.0
   [Difficulty Rejected] => 0.0

--

So ... the process requires a few things:

a) a tiny hex screwdriver to remove the screws off the bottom of the Jalapeno

b) an Atmel AVR Dragon like the one I got (no cables come with it)
http://au.element14.com/atmel/atavrdragon/in-system-debugger-programmer-avr/dp/145508801

c) a standard printer USB cable - Standard A on one end and Standard B on the other http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USB.svg

d) a 10 pin ribbon cable e.g.
http://au.element14.com/molex/92321-1030/cable-assembly-ribbon-10way-30cm/dp/1012217?Ntt=1012217

Install Atmel Studio 6 on a windows computer
You'll need to register on their site to download it
http://www.atmel.com/microsite/atmel_studio6/

It takes a while to download and to install - do this before stopping cgminer mining on your Jalapeno

Get the firmware source from here:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/announcements/3282-bitforce-sc-firmware-version-1-2-5-a.html
And extract it somewhere

Run Atmel Studio and click Menu: File->Open->Project/Solution
Then select the BitForce_SC-1.2.5 folder and select BitForce_SC.atsln to open the project
Once it has opened, to compile: select Menu: Build->Build Solution

You may as well compile it yourself since you only need to select that one menu to do that ...
You'll get 769 warnings - ignore them - but no errors.

Now get the hardware ready:

If you don't have the heat pipe version of the heat sink, then you'll also need to be able to remove the heat sink and put it back on properly.
I do have the heat pipes so I didn't have to even attempt to do this.
Look elsewhere for how to do that.

Unplug your Jalapeno (USB and power)

On the front left of the board (left of the front led) there are two 5x2 jtag pins
The furthest one left (that says jtag1) is the one you need to connect to the AVR Dragon
Use the end of the lead that puts pin1 (the red lead) on the left to pin1 (left) of the 10 jtag1 pins
Connect the other end to the AVR Dragon such that the same red lead (pin1) is in pin 1 on the AVR on the outside


Click for bigger pics

Warning: Don’t leave the AVR Dragon on the black padding it comes with. It’s somewhat conductive.

Next plug the power into your Jalapeno

Plug the USB into your AVR Dragon

Plug the AVR Dragon USB into your computer - It is best to use a powered USB2 hub - there have been reports in the distant past of the AVR Dragon destroying it’s own chips if the USB voltage is a little low

The AVR Dragon left light will go orange and then red, then the led next to it (green) will flash and then stay on.

Next click on the device programming button (a blue chip with a yellow lightning bolt) top right'ish



Select the Tool, Device, Interface in the popup
Tool=AVR Dragon
Device=AT32UC3A1128
Interface=JTAG

Then click on "Apply"

At this point it will want you to reflash the AVR Dragon if you haven;t done this already.
Of course you must let it do this.
I had trouble in my Windows VM VirtualBox but after setting a USB Filter to automatically pick up the Linux device and pass it to windows, it eventually upgraded the firmware in the AVR Dragon successfully.

Next click on "Memories"


If you have the original Jalapeno 1.0.0 firmware you must:
Select "Erase Chip" and click on "Erase Now" (then it will erase it - takes less than a minute)

Then Finally click on "Program"

After less than 2 minutes it will have programmed and verified it.

Unplug the AVR Dragon USB.
Power off the Jalapeno.
Remove the Jtag cable ... then plug the Jala back in as usual to go back to mining.
Of course if you were running cgminer on a linux box, it will just hotplug back in when you plug it in
Done.

The default is frequency setting 7 - which is about 8.0GH/s on my Jalapeno.
I get about 16 HW errors an hour - which suggests to me to not increase the frequency.

P.S. If you screw up your Jalapeno doing this - sorry - not my fault

[danattacker]

Nice work Kano! I see that you customized your firmware version also 

With 30 engines, you might be able to get a substantially higher hash rate than me. I'm running 8.27 GH/s with 29 engines, but with a ~1% error rate. With an extra engine, it might be possible to get ~275 more MH/s. Of course, you will have a higher error rate overclocking further.

[vs3]

Good point... Interest how did they do it...

Well ... it's not x-link

The MR that had 8 SC Singles in it (that I got to play with for a night) were all single devices, not x-linked anywhere.

Anyway went and got the AVR Dragon earlier today ... then put AVR Studio in a windows VM
I'll sort out Linux some other time - since it's a 3 year old version of it - they stopped updating it in 2010

Compiled fine ... with 769 warnings
Took hell to do the Dragon Firmware update (VM problems) but did manage it finally.

SC firmware update was simple (less than 2 minutes)

Now runs at 8.0GH/s using default Freq 7 as with 1.2.5 firmware as a Single
(used to be 5.4GH/s)

I'll post again later ... details.

<...>

Unplug the AVR Dragon USB.
Power off the Jalapeno.
Remove the Jtag cable ... then plug the Jala back in as usual to go back to mining.
Of course if you were running cgminer on a linux box, it will just hotplug back in when you plug it in
Done.

The default is frequency setting 7 - which is about 8.0GH/s on my Jalapeno.
I get about 16 HW errors an hour - which suggests to me to not increase the frequency.

P.S. If you screw up your Jalapeno doing this - sorry - not my fault

Kano - THAT WAS ONE HELL OF A GREAT POST!!! WELL DONE! AND THANKS!

Keep up the good news coming!

[Flashman]

Wow, awesome expose Kano, if I had a jalapeno, I'd tip you.

If that don't tell you what you need to git-r-done, I'd guess you need to start simpler, like practice changing batteries in remotes or something

[pvtbrutus]

BFL_Nasser mentions on the BFL fourm post that some settings need to be set in a file:

in Std-Def.h, the "__PRODUCT_MODEL_LITTLE_SINGLE__" should be defined and other product types must be commented. Also the __ASIC_FREQUENCY_ACTUAL_INDEX should be set to like 7 for 274MHz operation. Higher will increase speed but the chips may not support it and hang. The safe value for it is '0'.

Kano did you do this prior to compiling?

Waiting on my Dragon atm  .

[kano]

BFL_Nasser mentions on the BFL fourm post that some settings need to be set in a file:

in Std-Def.h, the "__PRODUCT_MODEL_LITTLE_SINGLE__" should be defined and other product types must be commented. Also the __ASIC_FREQUENCY_ACTUAL_INDEX should be set to like 7 for 274MHz operation. Higher will increase speed but the chips may not support it and hang. The safe value for it is '0'.

Kano did you do this prior to compiling?

Waiting on my Dragon atm  .

The default in that 1.2.5 code is already 7 and a Single - so nothing needs changing to go to 8GH/s with 30 engines

This basically means the firmware thinks it's a Single with only 2 chips.

I set cgminer to decide what it is based on the number of engines, so it still thinks it's a Jalapeno.