[HOWTO] flash your jalapeno to 8+ ghs

[vapourminer]

Jalapeno Flash howto.

This howto will walk you through flashing your BFL Jalapeno.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS WORKS FOR ME. HOWEVER I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BRICK YOUR JALLY. MY JALLY IS A "HOT" MOSFET UNIT AND I HAVE EXTRA COOLING. EVEN "GOOD" MOSFET JALLYS SHOULD USE EXTRA COOLING AS STOCK JALLYS ONLY GO TO 7 GHS, THIS CAN TAKE YOU TO 8+.

not all jallys will reach this, depends on the chip grades you have. my 5 ghs has two good chips, 15 engines each. YMMV.

AFAIK all jallys with aluminum heatsinks are "good" mosfet jallys. look at Q1-12, if you have 2 different sizes [6 one size, 6 another] this is a unit with "good" mosfets - you should be good to go. mine is a "hot" mosfet jally (all mosfets same size) and with LOTS of additional airflow Im OK. but HEATSINKS ON YOUR MOSFETS (AND 1850 CHIP IF YOU CAN GET TO IT) ARE A GOOD IDEA.

seems at least some 7 ghs jallys (and 7s only?) come with heatsinks on the mosfets now. see warhark187s post here.

temps @ 23 C ambient, caseless, top fan blowing down, with 120v 22 watt "muffin" side fan:

before flash  30C 3.1v
after flash 37C 3.1v

WHAT YOU NEED:

source code from BFL
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/announcements/3282-bitforce-sc-firmware-version-1-2-5-a.html

and/or

the .hex file from BFL, just in case you have trouble compiling it (I did initially).
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=235312.0

atmel studio 6.1 - I grabbed the Full installer (806 MB)
http://www.atmel.com/tools/ATMELSTUDIO.aspx

AVRDragon:
http://www.atmel.com/tools/AVRDRAGON.aspx

digikey seems to have the dragon also.. I had already ordered from atmel though.. DOH
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATAVRDRAGON/ATAVRDRAGON-ND/1124251

USB AB cable for the Dragon
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=usb+ab+cable&N=100006519&isNodeId=1

10 pin JTAG cable.
something like this . its just the 1st link I found
http://compare.ebay.com/like/190681930364?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

I just cut down a 40 conductor IDE cable. (mine is cut to 2x6 as i was sloppy)



thermal tape or paste if you disassemble your jally. the chips are bare silicon so I recommend you reuse the tape and just add some paste to fill on the voids if the tape falls apart. or just use new thermal tape. using paste alone is a good way to crack the chips if you are not VERY careful. the tape helps cushion the heatsink.

cgminer 3.3.1 - its the earliest version that will properly handle the 1.2.5 firmware jally. my picture below shows 3.2.2 but I compiled from git just before 3.3.1 was released.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0

my heatpipe jally had plenty of clearance for the middle (now end) IDE connector to slip on without removing the heatsink.

aluminum heatsinks probably will require you to remove it to get the cable on the jtag connector. if you cant get the heatsink back on with the cable attached you will need to find a way to keep the chips cool while you program them. right after programming they will be tested so will generate some heat. danattacker used the metal backplate pressed down on the top of the chips after he masked off the surrounding areas with masking tape.

SEE DANATTACKERS POST BELOW ON ALUMINUM HEATSINK JALAPENOS. DO NOT RUN YOUR JALLY WITH NO HEATSINK!!



ATTACH THE CABLE: (IMPORTANT: REMOVE THE BLACK ANTISTATIC PADS FROM THE DRAGON BOX BEFORE POWERING IT UP IF YOU RUN IT IN THE BOX AS I DID)

power off the dragon and jally. connect one end to JTAG on the dragon, the other to JTAG 1 on the jally. MAKE SURE PIN 1 GOES TO PIN 1! plug the dragons USB and the jallys USB cable into the computer (the dragon did not recognize my jally until I had the jallys USB cable plugged into the computer). the dragon draws power from USB so it will come right up. then plug the jallys power cable in.



CLEAR THE JALLY.

my 1.0.0 firmware 5 ghs jally had the security bit set.. which means you cant program it or read the firmware. so to clear it you need to erase the chip. THIS MEANS THIS IS A ONE WAY TICKET.

[THIS SECTION I WILL FILL IN MORE A BIT LATER WITH SCREENSHOTS AND STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS. I DONT HAVE THE JALLY IN FRONT OF ME AND HOOKED UP SO I CANT DO INCLUDE ANYTHING ATM - JUST GOING FROM MEMORY BUT ITS EASY]

fire up Atmel Studio 6.1. hit Tools, Device Programming. under Tool, chose "Dragon" under Device, choose "AT32UC3A1256" at this point it will probably want to flash your dragon to the latest version. let it, it will take a few minutes. when its done, hit "apply", it should read your device signature. then click "read" and all sorts of info should be displayed. youre ready to go. hit "erase" NO TURNING BACK NOW!

PROGRAM IN THE .HEX file

chose .hex image you grabbed before and chose "program" - thats pretty much it. dont even need to compile anything, or even unplug the JTAG cable.. just fire up cgminer and watch it go. cgminer had several false starts initializing it but after a minute or so it dug in and was mining.



stats output after flash:

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

more later but I wanted to get something up to show how easy it is.

THANKS TO:
danattacker, for leading the way here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236875.0

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[thomashrev89]

gonna be fun to see all those "help my jala is not working anymore" threads.

edit: and yeh, nice work

[01BTC10]

Good work! Following!

[phantitox]

it is possible to make this work with this programmer

http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Download-Programmer-Xilinx-Platform/dp/B0057OC5VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372294682&sr=8-1&keywords=xilinx+usb+programmer

this is what i have on hand right now. 

[phantitox]

also can you take photo of the your mosfet to see the difference on the jally versions. Thx ahead

[vapourminer]

gonna be fun to see all those "help my jala is not working anymore" threads.

oh yeah.

Im in the middle of house remodeling so Im kinda rushed in this howto thing but Ill add to it as time permits.

one thing to add is a q&a section.. 1st one will be:

Question: is it possible to destroy my jally?
Answer: yup!

[vapourminer]

it is possible to make this work with this programmer

http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Download-Programmer-Xilinx-Platform/dp/B0057OC5VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372294682&sr=8-1&keywords=xilinx+usb+programmer

this is what i have on hand right now. 

almost certainly not.

1st thing atmel studio did was flash my dragon so atmel is pretty fussy.

Ill try to get pics of the mosfets, but AFAIK if they are the same size, its a "hot" mosfet one, 2 different sizes are "good" mosfets.

[GigaWave]

Did you figure this out yourself or did you follow instructions from somewhere else? If some where else that has a OP, please post the link too.

Edit:Is it that other thread experimenting with jally firmware?  Is so, kudos for starting a new thread and organizing it. Haven't had a chance to read past the first page.

[tom99]

it is possible to make this work with this programmer

http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Download-Programmer-Xilinx-Platform/dp/B0057OC5VQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372294682&sr=8-1&keywords=xilinx+usb+programmer

this is what i have on hand right now. 

I dont think this thing will work and you need Avr jtag programmer.

[notlist3d]

Congratz on 8+ very impressive!

[erk]

my 1.0.0 firmware 5 ghs jally had the security bit set..

Not sure why they do that, seeing the release the source publicly anyway.


Great work.
Lets hope too many people don't brick there Jally's

[macromode]

Nice job! You're a pioneer! I hope you've inspired many to follow in your footsteps. You certainly have inspired me.

[vapourminer]

Did you figure this out yourself or did you follow instructions from somewhere else? If some where else that has a OP, please post the link too.

Edit:Is it that other thread experimenting with jally firmware?  Is so, kudos for starting a new thread and organizing it. Haven't had a chance to read past the first page.

danattacker was 1st, I updated the OP with a thanks.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236875.0

I just followed his lead and figured the rest out as I stumbled along.

[Sitarow]

Did you figure this out yourself or did you follow instructions from somewhere else? If some where else that has a OP, please post the link too.

Edit:Is it that other thread experimenting with jally firmware?  Is so, kudos for starting a new thread and organizing it. Haven't had a chance to read past the first page.

danatacker was 1st, I updated the OP with a thanks.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236875.0

I just followed his lead and figured the rest out as I stumbled along.

thanks for sharing your results.

[danattacker]

There are some important things that everyone needs to know if they attempt this with a Jalapeno with an aluminum non-heatpipe heatsink.

The JTAG cable will not fit with that heatsink installed. That means to program it you will need to remove the heatsink.

DO NOT POWER ON THE UNIT WITHOUT ANY HEATSINK!

As the OP already mentioned, I used the aluminum backplate as a heatsink and put masking tape around the chips so I don't short out anything. I left the thermal pads on the chips. However, if the chips are initialized, you can only hold it for about 3 seconds before it starts burning your fingers.



To get around this, be ready to erase the microcontroller when you plug in the power to the Jalapeno. As soon as you plug it in, press the erase chip button. It only takes 1 second. Right when it completes, unplug the power. You should be able to do this all in less than 3 seconds, so your fingers won't get burnt. If you screw up and can't hold the metal plate down any longer, just unplug the unit.

Then, when you plug it back in to program it, the chips won't initialize since there is no program on the microcontroller, so the chips wont heat up nearly as much. You can then proceed with the programming while holding down the metal plate. When the microcontroller is done programming, the chips will heat up again, so be ready to unplug it.

[Bitcoinorama]

+2 Good effort, both of you!

[Gomeler]

Those that have the AVRDragon should loan them out with a deposit. Save everyone some money and they could make a little money in the process. Congrats on getting this to work, look forward to people with little singles and singles tweaking their boards.

[erk]

There are some important things that everyone needs to know if they attempt this with a Jalapeno with an aluminum non-heatpipe heatsink.

The JTAG cable will not fit with that heatsink installed. That means to program it you will need to remove the heatsink.

DO NOT POWER ON THE UNIT WITHOUT ANY HEATSINK!

As the OP already mentioned, I used the aluminum backplate as a heatsink and put masking tape around the chips so I don't short out anything. I left the thermal pads on the chips. However, if the chips are initialized, you can only hold it for about 3 seconds before it starts burning your fingers.



To get around this, be ready to erase the microcontroller when you plug in the power to the Jalapeno. As soon as you plug it in, press the erase chip button. It only takes 1 second. Right when it completes, unplug the power. You should be able to do this all in less than 3 seconds, so your fingers won't get burnt. If you screw up and can't hold the metal plate down any longer, just unplug the unit.

Then, when you plug it back in to program it, the chips won't initialize since there is no program on the microcontroller, so the chips wont heat up nearly as much. You can then proceed with the programming while holding down the metal plate. When the microcontroller is done programming, the chips will heat up again, so be ready to unplug it.

Can't you just simply bolt the original heat sink back on after you plug in the JTAG cable before you power up?

[tigerfree]

nice man .

[danattacker]

Can't you just simply bolt the original heat sink back on after you plug in the JTAG cable before you power up?

Nope. It's still in the way.

EDIT: Actually, when you asked this question you got me thinking. You might be able to make it fit if you remove the clamps at the end of the cable.

Never mind, I disassembled the end of my cable down to where you can see the spikes that go into the cable and I don't think it would fit either.