The Chili – 30+GH/s BFL based Bitcoin Miner Assembly

[Smooth0ne]

It's a corsair cx500.  I just cam home on my lunch break and was able to get it to turn on. I'm sure it will stay on for a couple hours but can go down at any thime. Then I will be unable to get the psu to turn on again for a long time. Thx again.

Check the voltages on the PSU while it's running. It's a group regulated design, so if you're pulling enough current on the 12V line without a load on the 5V line it's possible it's shutting off due to overvoltage on the 5V line.

Just out of curiosity. I have been running the single chili off a single pcie 6 pin coming from the PSU would that be a problem? I can try and find a dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin pcie adapter if needed. Anyone think this might be an issue? Still up and running since my last post. But i am sure by the time i wake up tomorrow it will be down. It has not stayed up more then 12-16 hours yet. I would ideally like to run both chilis off 1 500 wat supply if I can. Doesnt matter if its on the pcies themselves or if I need to get adapters. Please let me know. Thx!

The direct PCIe will be better than a dual 4 pin to PCIe, so use the one coming directly out of your power supply.

Thats what ive been doing. O well new PSU comes in today. Will test more when I get in from work.

[Mudbankkeith]

Hairdryer worked for me (for 4 cards, need to get a fan connectors for the other two), but I had to do it slightly differently.

1. power cycle the boards (two boards per PSU)
2. wait until they finish initialization (LEDs stop flashing)
3. unplug one board from usb hub
4. start hotdrying the power module on board that is connected to USB hub
5. After 15 seconds of hotdrying, start bfgminer on to scan the port in step 4 and start hashing
6. Keep hotdrying until die temp get to 65C
7. turn off hairdryer
8. when temps start to drop to 45, turn on hotdrying again to bring them up to 65C
9. another 1 minute or so, they should stay above 60C
10.  turn off the hairdryer
11. board should be stable around 60C and hash 30+GH/s

One thing I noticed, that each board is behaving differently in regards to temp rise.
I did not cool the boards at any time.  

For me, it seems that getting the boards to 60C and stabilize them there was the key.

Running one bfgminer instance per board is not best solution, but at least they are hashing.

The trick is to get them about 60c and stable.
If you get some gentle cooling on the back of the board, then the temp will rise again to around 68-70c and you will get another 3Gh

[GenTarkin]

Is the firmware open source yet? I would like to mess w/ voltages ...

[af_newbie]

Hairdryer worked for me (for 4 cards, need to get a fan connectors for the other two), but I had to do it slightly differently.

1. power cycle the boards (two boards per PSU)
2. wait until they finish initialization (LEDs stop flashing)
3. unplug one board from usb hub
4. start hotdrying the power module on board that is connected to USB hub
5. After 15 seconds of hotdrying, start bfgminer on to scan the port in step 4 and start hashing
6. Keep hotdrying until die temp get to 65C
7. turn off hairdryer
8. when temps start to drop to 45, turn on hotdrying again to bring them up to 65C
9. another 1 minute or so, they should stay above 60C
10.  turn off the hairdryer
11. board should be stable around 60C and hash 30+GH/s

One thing I noticed, that each board is behaving differently in regards to temp rise.
I did not cool the boards at any time.  

For me, it seems that getting the boards to 60C and stabilize them there was the key.

Running one bfgminer instance per board is not best solution, but at least they are hashing.

The trick is to get them about 60c and stable.
If you get some gentle cooling on the back of the board, then the temp will rise again to around 68-70c and you will get another 3Gh

You are right, I got all of them above 31 GH/s, some do 34 GH/s.  Thanks for your help.

I've noticed similar behavior with my mini rig, it does not like ambient temperature to fall below 15C.  Just won't start.

Here are some pics of my chilies.  I used 6x32 1 1/2" bolts from Home Depot, Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste, some old PCB for backplate material.
I just hope I will not have to restart it every day :-)

[Mudbankkeith]

I've noticed similar behavior with my mini rig, it does not like ambient temperature to fall below 15C.  Just won't start.

Here are some pics of my chilies.  I used 6x32 1 1/2" bolts from Home Depot, Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste, some old PCB for backplate material.
I just hope I will not have to restart it every day :-)

Restarts are part of the gamble. Only time will tell.

I have a theory that the Chili was designed and prototype tested in an "American Air conditioned summer workshop" 
Now that they are out in the wild (of the rest of the world) There are some "exceptions to the standard" being found.
The next firmware release will probably bring things back on track.   

If we are still hashing them in the coming summer then they will have had a good testing cycle.
The unfortunate reality is that they will be way out of date by then ( in 6 months they may be the "graphics cards" of the asics)
Such is the speed of development of mining hardware. 

[Smooth0ne]

It's a corsair cx500.  I just cam home on my lunch break and was able to get it to turn on. I'm sure it will stay on for a couple hours but can go down at any thime. Then I will be unable to get the psu to turn on again for a long time. Thx again.

Check the voltages on the PSU while it's running. It's a group regulated design, so if you're pulling enough current on the 12V line without a load on the 5V line it's possible it's shutting off due to overvoltage on the 5V line.

Just out of curiosity. I have been running the single chili off a single pcie 6 pin coming from the PSU would that be a problem? I can try and find a dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin pcie adapter if needed. Anyone think this might be an issue? Still up and running since my last post. But i am sure by the time i wake up tomorrow it will be down. It has not stayed up more then 12-16 hours yet. I would ideally like to run both chilis off 1 500 wat supply if I can. Doesnt matter if its on the pcies themselves or if I need to get adapters. Please let me know. Thx!

The direct PCIe will be better than a dual 4 pin to PCIe, so use the one coming directly out of your power supply.

Thats what ive been doing. O well new PSU comes in today. Will test more when I get in from work.

So got both of them hooked up to  a 500 watt thermaltake and theyve been going fine for about an hour. I didnt realize this psu had 2 6+2 pins on one rail and then an 8 pin on other. After testing both chilis on the 1 rail with the 6 pins. I determined it was a bit to hot. So I chopped off the 8 pin and connected a 6 pin to it. So far so good! If it makes it thru the night I'll be a happy camper. Thx for the input guys!

[GrapeApe]

Restarts are part of the gamble. Only time will tell.

I have a theory that the Chili was designed and prototype tested in an "American Air conditioned summer workshop" 
Now that they are out in the wild (of the rest of the world) There are some "exceptions to the standard" being found.
The next firmware release will probably bring things back on track.   

If we are still hashing them in the coming summer then they will have had a good testing cycle.
The unfortunate reality is that they will be way out of date by then ( in 6 months they may be the "graphics cards" of the asics)
Such is the speed of development of mining hardware. 

Yeah this is the ultimate example of diminishing returns, with that said I'm very happy with my chilis they go days and days with out restarting including the Lucko boards(pleasantly surprised). And yes I do miss the 2 I sold you...

[Mudbankkeith]

Restarts are part of the gamble. Only time will tell.

I have a theory that the Chili was designed and prototype tested in an "American Air conditioned summer workshop" 
Now that they are out in the wild (of the rest of the world) There are some "exceptions to the standard" being found.
The next firmware release will probably bring things back on track.   

If we are still hashing them in the coming summer then they will have had a good testing cycle.
The unfortunate reality is that they will be way out of date by then ( in 6 months they may be the "graphics cards" of the asics)
Such is the speed of development of mining hardware. 

Yeah this is the ultimate example of diminishing returns, with that said I'm very happy with my chilis they go days and days with out restarting including the Lucko boards(pleasantly surprised). And yes I do miss the 2 I sold you...

The 2 MrTeal Chili boards are now in my remote cluster (12 boards) (the boards I can trust) managed by 2 rPi's, the cluster is split into 2 parts, for further safety.(hash rate is 417Gh at the pool)
As you say they are stable and reliable. My only concern is that with the rPi donations turned on, the pool switch does sometimes cause a crash.

At home I have the last 4 wobbly boards that need the supervision of my mini desktop pc.
Under windows they run most of the day and usually manage to restart themselves without intervention.
On the rPi if they crash then they stay down.
The hash rate for these 4 is 126Gh at the PC but only 87Gh at the pool, so they are restarting and crashing a lot.

[Walking Glitch]

I just got my chili, and have it hooked up and running, but it's only running at 27.5GHs, and the temp isn't going higher than 60C, when these chips are rated for 70C? I have another fan blowing on the vregs, which have heatsinks attached.

[lightfoot]

Your heat sink might not be on right or contacting everything. The code will slow the chips down which will really cut the temps.

C

[Mudbankkeith]

I just got my chili, and have it hooked up and running, but it's only running at 27.5GHs, and the temp isn't going higher than 60C, when these chips are rated for 70C? I have another fan blowing on the vregs, which have heatsinks attached.

Try re-seating your cooler, it can help.

[Cascaders28]

I just got my chili, and have it hooked up and running, but it's only running at 27.5GHs, and the temp isn't going higher than 60C, when these chips are rated for 70C? I have another fan blowing on the vregs, which have heatsinks attached.

Are you using a backplate? I've found that having something on the back of the board for the sake of stiffness ensures that the board doesn't flex so chips can't pull away from the heatsink. At that speed it sounds like a cooler contact issue to me too. My water cooled Chili ran around 33GHs @ 61C but when I added a fan over the VRMs it went to 38GHs @ 69C.

[InCoinsITrust]

does it necessary to send my BFl chips, or it is possible to buy those too ?

[af_newbie]

...
For the second board, it does sound like it might have the same issues that many boards from that group buy are experiencing. We're working on firmware as a workaround for some of those issues, and hope to have it out soon.

Are you guys still working on firmware workaround around this "temp reading error"?

Hairdryer trick works but when they do go down, to restart it i have to use hairdryer.  Now, i figured I only need to heat them to 45-48 C (as reported by bfgminer) and let them go.  The boards continue from that point on by themselves.  Just the initial start up from ~20C to 40C is problematic.  Once around 45C they manage ok.

[Walking Glitch]

Your heat sink might not be on right or contacting everything. The code will slow the chips down which will really cut the temps.

C

I will try this. At first it seemed to be the vregs limiting it, as it throttled after the chips hit 65C at 32GHs, but I wonder if one or two of the chips aren't making good contact because of the flexing from shipping.

[ZBC3]

A big thank you to Mr. Teal for fixing my board. Not only am I happy with my boards, but I am especially pleased with the fantastic customer service!

[lin0sspice]

My only run at 15-16GH ?
i just replace the thermal paste.
Any suggestion to fix ?

[MrTeal]

My only run at 15-16GH ?
i just replace the thermal paste.
Any suggestion to fix ?

Did it just start working at 15-16 after you replaced the thermal paste?
What temperature does it read at that speed?

[lin0sspice]

Right now is about 70.
Is is about 65-70
But when i use the firmware flash to check it show 29-30gh
then i do the power cycle.
Then i power it up a gain only run 15-16gh since 3 days now

[lin0sspice]

@Mr Teal ?
Any help ?