Black Arrow 28nm 100Ghash Bitcoin ASIC from $0.49/GH/s

[tempestb]

Open them up at the top.  Remove the fans.  Lift the metal tab slightly and pull the hash boards out one at a time (Obviously unplugged from the wall).  Insert one hash board at a time and power up each time.  See if one of the hash boards cause the problem.  You can then RMA the hash board that causes the miner to stop working.  And mine with the others in the meantime. 

[kodeon.CEO]

Open them up at the top.  Remove the fans.  Lift the metal tab slightly and pull the hash boards out one at a time (Obviously unplugged from the wall).  Insert one hash board at a time and power up each time.  See if one of the hash boards cause the problem.  You can then RMA the hash board that causes the miner to stop working.  And mine with the others in the meantime. 

Thanks man, will definitely give it a try.

[SunnyIgor]

Did anyone recieve an X1.5?
What will happen to the custumers who bought compensation psu's for the x1's?

[ElGrandJefe]

Did anyone recieve an X1.5?
What will happen to the custumers who bought compensation psu's for the x1's?

If you bought them from BA, you might get a nice fireworks display when you plug them in. Or maybe just an LED light show, depending on who you believe.

[ElGrandJefe]

Here's the latest wheeze from Alexey A., posted on ecointalk:

Dear ********

We do understand that situation may seem grim, however Mining equipment was never done to produce large amounts of Fiat or profit, but as a tool for Bitcoin enthusiasts, the device still serves it's purpose and can miner bitcoins, that is it's original purpose.

Also before buying any equipment, you must get familiar with product you are investing to, as we do not sell out of the shelf products. The purchase is classified as investment in to development of new products. As any investment it involves risk.

However, if you experienced issues with our products we still provide RMA. Unfortunately development of miners are complex process and things not always go as planned, which we apologize for from our side. However we do not refuse to deliver product, or repair it as per agreement during purchase.

We apologize for inconvenience caused.

Regards Alexey A.

In other words, your miner purchase is just your expensive hobby and you have no one but yourself to blame for not doing your homework and finding out what lying, thieving fucks we are before sending us your thousands of dollars. Every investment involves risk, and you lose.

Good day, sir.

[Specialkey]

Dear X,

Unfortunately due to lack of funds, as we invested money in production and payment to workers, we currently do not posses money required to issue refunds.

We understand your situation, however we do not sell out of the shelf products and according to Hong Kong law, this case is classified as investment in new product development.

As for delay compensation, we offered our customers multiple options where they can pick the best way that will suit them, Currently we offer 50% compensation in hardware, or Conversion to ASIC minion chips each 45$ paid equal 1 chip of 100 GH/S, we will also announce additional option soon.

We are sorry for inconvenience caused.

Regards Alexey A.



I am preparing a legal action against BA with a HK lawyer.
Enough is enough.

[jobelz]

Well,

I feel I sat by passively long enough. Aside from sending my info to a few people that were going for lawsuits (and have gone silent ever since) I haven't done much but try to communicate constructively with BA.

If anyone is taking legal actions from HK, I want to join in and be actively involved (financially too of course). I know they feel they're quite safe because of the steep cost of starting something legal, but to be honest at some point it just becomes a question of honor to take them down.

Cheers,
J.

[gkos]

LOL. Nearly a year after  I paid, I got X-3 delivered today.

Despite writing to BA in June asking to change the delivery address, those plonkers still delivered it to my old work address.

I don't even fucking live in UK anymore! It seems they can't do anything right!

Selling both units on ebay if someone is interested.

[ElGrandJefe]

LOL. Nearly a year after  I paid, I got X-3 delivered today.

Despite writing to BA in June asking to change the delivery address, those plonkers still delivered it to my old work address.

I don't even fucking live in UK anymore! It seems they can't do anything right!

Selling both units on ebay if someone is interested.

There is a high probability that your units are defective. I wouldn't sell them on eBay, because you'll be liable after they go up in smoke.

    blackarrow, on 14 Nov 2014 - 11:39 AM, said:

    In the last few days there have been increasing reports of X3 units that have failed during hashing.

    We have now located this issue: It has been introduced by a part that we have used in our latest shipped batch (shipped between 20 Oct to 13 Nov). All miners affected by this problem have a barcode sticker (picture will be posted here:http://www.blackarro...y_hashboard.jpg. We are currently sending individual emails to all customers that we believe that are affected. If you have not received an email but are concerned that your miner is affected, please open it and check if your hashboard has such sticker. If your miner is affected, please stop using it immediately. If you do not stop using your miner there is a very high possibility that one or more hashboards will burn. We are now testing new hashboards in which we believe that we have solved the problem. We will send new hashboards to all customers as soon as tests are conclusive. Alternatively we can make arrangements to host your miner in our partner's datacenter in China that charges an all-inclusive fee.

    We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience.

    Technical details: On the latest batch of miners we started to use a different mosfet because of higher efficiency and better sourcing availability. However, to achieve this efficiency this mosfet lacks a diode that protects it from short circuiting the 12V with GND in case there's a wrong message received from the controller. A wrong message can only be caused by the noise in the circuit or by a faulty controller. We have encountered this issue back in May but we have been working with Vishay (the manufacturer) to fix it. Initially, when we found the issue, we wanted to return the chips but Vishay declined to take them back claiming that they are considered safe to be used in consumer electronics and Sony is using them in PS4. Upon applying the changes in our design based on their advice and after testing more than 20 miners we believed that the problem has been solved and started manufacturing miners with these chips. However, it turns out that the problem is still there and in some unknown cases it happens and the mosfet burns, causing a short circuit which heats up the board and sometimes melts the PCIE connector.

[eightcylinders]

LOL. Nearly a year after  I paid, I got X-3 delivered today.

Despite writing to BA in June asking to change the delivery address, those plonkers still delivered it to my old work address.

I don't even fucking live in UK anymore! It seems they can't do anything right!

Selling both units on ebay if someone is interested.

There is a high probability that your units are defective. I wouldn't sell them on eBay, because you'll be liable after they go up in smoke.

    blackarrow, on 14 Nov 2014 - 11:39 AM, said:

    In the last few days there have been increasing reports of X3 units that have failed during hashing.

    We have now located this issue: It has been introduced by a part that we have used in our latest shipped batch (shipped between 20 Oct to 13 Nov). All miners affected by this problem have a barcode sticker (picture will be posted here:http://www.blackarro...y_hashboard.jpg. We are currently sending individual emails to all customers that we believe that are affected. If you have not received an email but are concerned that your miner is affected, please open it and check if your hashboard has such sticker. If your miner is affected, please stop using it immediately. If you do not stop using your miner there is a very high possibility that one or more hashboards will burn. We are now testing new hashboards in which we believe that we have solved the problem. We will send new hashboards to all customers as soon as tests are conclusive. Alternatively we can make arrangements to host your miner in our partner's datacenter in China that charges an all-inclusive fee.

    We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience.

    Technical details: On the latest batch of miners we started to use a different mosfet because of higher efficiency and better sourcing availability. However, to achieve this efficiency this mosfet lacks a diode that protects it from short circuiting the 12V with GND in case there's a wrong message received from the controller. A wrong message can only be caused by the noise in the circuit or by a faulty controller. We have encountered this issue back in May but we have been working with Vishay (the manufacturer) to fix it. Initially, when we found the issue, we wanted to return the chips but Vishay declined to take them back claiming that they are considered safe to be used in consumer electronics and Sony is using them in PS4. Upon applying the changes in our design based on their advice and after testing more than 20 miners we believed that the problem has been solved and started manufacturing miners with these chips. However, it turns out that the problem is still there and in some unknown cases it happens and the mosfet burns, causing a short circuit which heats up the board and sometimes melts the PCIE connector.

Just f-ing ubelievable. I have my X-3s in a data center 2 hours away.  Now I have to go back just to check to see if they are a fire hazard???

Hey blackarrow, where the hell are my comp units?  Yeah, I know its hopeless.

[eXOBeX]

Date added: 12 Nov 2014 Prospero X3 issues

we are offering hosting into our partner's datacenter in China.

Where your machines have probably already been mining for the past six months.

[ThePhwner]

So I keep hearing more and more reports of these burning up. First hand from people who own them. As recently as 20 minutes ago. Not good...

[kingscrown]

this was pure scam, stop waiting

[Acid Alchamy]

So I recently purchased some X3 Units, and 2/4 boxes burnt down. One was burnt to complete rubbish (picture below), worst part was the blade was burnt from one end to the other so the machine stayed on causing quiet the smoke and an awful smell of burnt plastic, spoiled eggs, and burnt electronics. LUCKILY I was home..I was able to unplug em and throw the unit outside in my shed.



As for my second unit, it kept going on and off and hashing extremely low. The smell of burnt plastic kept coming and going. Opened it up and saw it begging to blacken/char on the metal of the blade; needless to say I threw it outside as well as the major fire hazard wasn't worth the cost of my home and my other mining gear or better yet my life.




Neither of the units were at default frequency; in fact all my units were under clocked and on its own dedicated 20 amp breaker.

So yeah..not sure I'll be using Black Arrow products anymore.

[ElGrandJefe]

They know/knew about this fault:




   blackarrow, on 14 Nov 2014 - 11:39 AM, said:

   In the last few days there have been increasing reports of X3 units that have failed during hashing.

    We have now located this issue: It has been introduced by a part that we have used in our latest shipped batch (shipped between 20 Oct to 13 Nov). All miners affected by this problem have a barcode sticker (picture will be posted here:http://www.blackarro...y_hashboard.jpg. We are currently sending individual emails to all customers that we believe that are affected. If you have not received an email but are concerned that your miner is affected, please open it and check if your hashboard has such sticker. If your miner is affected, please stop using it immediately. If you do not stop using your miner there is a very high possibility that one or more hashboards will burn. We are now testing new hashboards in which we believe that we have solved the problem. We will send new hashboards to all customers as soon as tests are conclusive. Alternatively we can make arrangements to host your miner in our partner's datacenter in China that charges an all-inclusive fee.

    We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience.

    Technical details: On the latest batch of miners we started to use a different mosfet because of higher efficiency and better sourcing availability. However, to achieve this efficiency this mosfet lacks a diode that protects it from short circuiting the 12V with GND in case there's a wrong message received from the controller. A wrong message can only be caused by the noise in the circuit or by a faulty controller. We have encountered this issue back in May but we have been working with Vishay (the manufacturer) to fix it. Initially, when we found the issue, we wanted to return the chips but Vishay declined to take them back claiming that they are considered safe to be used in consumer electronics and Sony is using them in PS4. Upon applying the changes in our design based on their advice and after testing more than 20 miners we believed that the problem has been solved and started manufacturing miners with these chips. However, it turns out that the problem is still there and in some unknown cases it happens and the mosfet burns, causing a short circuit which heats up the board and sometimes melts the PCIE connector.

They promised they would e-mail all the affected customers immediately, but apparently that's just another broken promise from them.

Assholes.

[raskul]

They know/knew about this fault:




   blackarrow, on 14 Nov 2014 - 11:39 AM, said:

   In the last few days there have been increasing reports of X3 units that have failed during hashing.

    We have now located this issue: It has been introduced by a part that we have used in our latest shipped batch (shipped between 20 Oct to 13 Nov). All miners affected by this problem have a barcode sticker (picture will be posted here:http://www.blackarro...y_hashboard.jpg. We are currently sending individual emails to all customers that we believe that are affected. If you have not received an email but are concerned that your miner is affected, please open it and check if your hashboard has such sticker. If your miner is affected, please stop using it immediately. If you do not stop using your miner there is a very high possibility that one or more hashboards will burn. We are now testing new hashboards in which we believe that we have solved the problem. We will send new hashboards to all customers as soon as tests are conclusive. Alternatively we can make arrangements to host your miner in our partner's datacenter in China that charges an all-inclusive fee.

    We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience.

    Technical details: On the latest batch of miners we started to use a different mosfet because of higher efficiency and better sourcing availability. However, to achieve this efficiency this mosfet lacks a diode that protects it from short circuiting the 12V with GND in case there's a wrong message received from the controller. A wrong message can only be caused by the noise in the circuit or by a faulty controller. We have encountered this issue back in May but we have been working with Vishay (the manufacturer) to fix it. Initially, when we found the issue, we wanted to return the chips but Vishay declined to take them back claiming that they are considered safe to be used in consumer electronics and Sony is using them in PS4. Upon applying the changes in our design based on their advice and after testing more than 20 miners we believed that the problem has been solved and started manufacturing miners with these chips. However, it turns out that the problem is still there and in some unknown cases it happens and the mosfet burns, causing a short circuit which heats up the board and sometimes melts the PCIE connector.

They promised they would e-mail all the affected customers immediately, but apparently that's just another broken promise from them.

Assholes.

"we are deeply sorry for the inadvertent manslaughter of your wife and children. email us."

assholes.

[Specialkey]

So I recently purchased some X3 Units, and 2/4 boxes burnt down. One was burnt to complete rubbish (picture below), worst part was the blade was burnt from one end to the other so the machine stayed on causing quiet the smoke and an awful smell of burnt plastic, spoiled eggs, and burnt electronics. LUCKILY I was home..I was able to unplug em and throw the unit outside in my shed.



As for my second unit, it kept going on and off and hashing extremely low. The smell of burnt plastic kept coming and going. Opened it up and saw it begging to blacken/char on the metal of the blade; needless to say I threw it outside as well as the major fire hazard wasn't worth the cost of my home and my other mining gear or better yet my life.




Neither of the units were at default frequency; in fact all my units were under clocked and on its own dedicated 20 amp breaker.

So yeah..not sure I'll be using Black Arrow products anymore.

What for a mess.

[poon-TANG]

I thought there was a video some where from BA showing/saying to break off those capacitors on that board. I could be wrong. I'll see if I can find it.

[Unacceptable]

I thought there was a video some where from BA showing/saying to break off those capacitors on that board. I could be wrong. I'll see if I can find it.

You mean this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=564-sYaXYfI#t=45

Don't forget to add to the comments section while your there 

[zurg]

I thought there was a video some where from BA showing/saying to break off those capacitors on that board. I could be wrong. I'll see if I can find it.

Those were the green caps that were at fault.
This pics do not show them and it looks like it's a newer revision.
Wondering if that hashboard is faulty, in which case it can be pulled.