Asic miner USB Block Erupter AMU (Icarus) giving too many HW errors

[Su100]

Hi Everyone,

I have started using the USB Asic miner couple of days ago and I am having the following issue in CGminer 3.4.0:

A: 23
R: 5
HW: 45

Thats seems to be a pretty bad HW error ratio.

The settings is: --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100.

Zadig installed the WinUSB driver, connected via USB 2.0, 1.2m (4') cable, with cooling.

Does anyone know how lower the HW error ratio?


PS: I used a box cpu cooler placing it on Icarus. I used a thermal paste, cooler gets warm and it is getting out the heat out of the Erupter, so temperature shouldnt be the issue.

[Scorpia]

ok so your not using cgminer are you? if you are then upgrade to the latest and remove those options.

how are you powering the stick? is it in a powered USB hub?

you say you have added a cpu cooler? does that mean you have added a cooler to the back of the standard heatsink or have you replaced the heatsink? maybe take the stick back to stock and just use a fan to blow air over it. see if that helps

edit. i just read you are using a 1.2M cable. remove the cable and try it. the power loss over a bad cable could be the issue.

[os2sam]

The settings is: --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100.

These options are for CGMiner 3.1.1

Zadig installed the driver, connected via USB 2.0

The WinUSB driver that Zadig can install for you is for CGMiner 3.2.1 and higher.

What version of CGMiner are you using?

Are you sending diff1 work or do you have a high difficulty set via your pool?

[Su100]

Okay, I have updated the original post.

I use cgminer 3.4.0. Have removed the USB extension cable, plugged in the USB directly, without cooling. Lets see what happens:)
I had the cooler added to the original heatsink, but removed it for now.

[Zanatos666]

Okay, I have updated the original post.

I use cgminer 3.4.0. Have removed the USB extension cable, plugged in the USB directly, without cooling. Lets see what happens:)
I had the cooler added to the original heatsink, but removed it for now.

Are you running this off the USB port from the motherboard? Or are you using a powered hub?

[Scorpia]

Okay, I have updated the original post.

I use cgminer 3.4.0. Have removed the USB extension cable, plugged in the USB directly, without cooling. Lets see what happens:)
I had the cooler added to the original heatsink, but removed it for now.

That cgminer is still at least 2 versions behind

but with that version you don't use the command line options you were running. but I cant say if they were an issue.

as for cooling. can you use a fan to blow some air across the stick to cool it a little.

and as per above. are you plugged into a hub or direct to a PC or something?

[Su100]

Sorry for unclear answer first time.

the usb is connected directly to Mobo. No cable, no hub now, no cooling either though (had to run and the machine alone next few days).

I just checked and for the last two hours:

A:1
R:0
HW:5.

[eleuthria]

Sorry for unclear answer first time.

the usb is connected directly to Mobo. No cable, no hub now, no cooling either though (had to run and the machine alone next few days).

I just checked and for the last two hours:

A:1
R:0
HW:5.

Are you running at a really high difficulty on the pool?  2 hours to only have 1 accept and 5 errors seems really awkward.  If you're running at a high difficulty on your pool, that may be why you have such a high A vs HW rate.  Multiple your 'A' by the pool difficulty, then divide HW by that number to get your actual error rate.  This number should be 0.00-0.03 without cooling.  Anything over 0.05 would indicate something wrong with the hardware.

[c789]

Also, try mining on a different pool to see if that's the problem. When I mined at a now-defunt pool several months ago, I'd get 10% HW error rates. Now I get less than 1%.

Some people's setups perform best with cgminer 3.1.1.