Raspberry Pi.... how reliable is it?

[babaji.ca]

I have a RasPi running a few instances of BFG Miner for my USB miners,(BFL and BE)  and also acting as a proxy for a cube. I am finding that it locks up once in a while requiring a reboot. Is this typical? I am wondering if it is perhaps overheating and shutting down? I have it in a plastic case. Perhaps I should remove the top half of the case to help vent it.

I am new to this ras pi deal, and hoping someone can share their experiences with Ras Pi's as workhorses.

[mrhobbeys]

I have 3 that are on 24/7. 2 of them run at 100% CPU running ASIC miners, it seems I only have a problem about once every month or so, typically they reboot them selves.

1 is a media machine that has been playing a customized media loop for nearly a year, I get tired of it and update the firmware everyone in a while to see if I can break anything but no problems it just goes.

Another is used here and there when I am trying out new projects, I am about to stick it in a fake security cam housing and attach the real cam to it. I only point this one out because it has been dropped and set outside and been in the sun, the cold, and everything else you can think of but water. No problems.


I also have 6 more that have not seen their intended use yet.

[furezasan]

I have 3 that are on 24/7. 2 of them run at 100% CPU running ASIC miners, it seems I only have a problem about once every month or so, typically they reboot them selves.

1 is a media machine that has been playing a customized media loop for nearly a year, I get tired of it and update the firmware everyone in a while to see if I can break anything but no problems it just goes.

Another is used here and there when I am trying out new projects, I am about to stick it in a fake security cam housing and attach the real cam to it. I only point this one out because it has been dropped and set outside and been in the sun, the cold, and everything else you can think of but water. No problems.


I also have 6 more that have not seen their intended use yet.

Good to know, was thinking of getting one... can the ASIC miners mine any other coin or are they limited to Bitcoin?

[lyth0s]

They can mine any SHA-256 coin such as bitcoin, terracoin, zetacoin, devcoin, freicoin, peercoin etc. However, they cannot mine scrypt coins such as litecoin.

[turtle83]

I am finding that it locks up once in a while requiring a reboot.

http://pi.gadgetoid.com/article/who-watches-the-watcher

u can set it to autoreboot if it locks up...

[babaji.ca]

@mrhobbeys   good to hear you are putting yours through their paces! Are you running them in an enclosure or case? I wonder how much heat is an issue? Is there a temp monitor?


@turtle83  great link... will play with it. thx

[Zoella]

Running MinePeon on mine with cubes.  After doing a git pull it has been very stable.  Running inside a plastic case.

MinePeon Version
    MinePeon 0.2.4.2
Miner Version
    bfgminer3.8.0
MinePeon Temp
    48.15 °C | 118.67 °F
MinePeon CPU Load
    0.14 [1 min]
    0.09 [5 min]
    0.13 [15 min]

[Morblias]

I run minepeon on one of mine that runs BFL SCs, never had a problem with it.

Code:

[minepeon@minepeon ~]$ uptime
 15:18:42 up 75 days, 20:48,  2 users,  load average: 2.19, 1.88, 1.87

I also use a RPi as a home entertainment center running raspbmc, and never had a problem with that one either. Just make sure you get good class 10 SD cards.

[jimsonunique]

iv had mine running 24/7 mining with 11 block erupter asics since august.

only had trouble recently after upgrading to latest cgminer it locks up at least once every couple of days, always happens during the night so i miss out a few hours of mining!!

can't seem to solve it. I'm sure it has something to do with me upgrading cgminer and not a problem with the PI itself

[takagari]

I run minepeon on one of mine that runs BFL SCs, never had a problem with it.

Code:

[minepeon@minepeon ~]$ uptime
 15:18:42 up 75 days, 20:48,  2 users,  load average: 2.19, 1.88, 1.87

I also use a RPi as a home entertainment center running raspbmc, and never had a problem with that one either. Just make sure you get good class 10 SD cards.

This is what I want, a way to run 3 or 4 of these in my home, with XBMC, I'll check out what you suggest, I guess than you just need some sort of an IR sensor for a remote

[Samir_H]

Newer Pies works at 1GHz without overvoltage if somebody needs more horse power give it a try.
Also add passive heatsink for longer life of Pi if you overclock it.

I also use a RPi as a home entertainment center running raspbmc, and never had a problem with that one either. Just make sure you get good class 10 SD cards.

Did you try openelec? In new version library is working almost smooth.
Best remote for me is some mini bluetooth keyboard with touch-pad.

[Morblias]

This is what I want, a way to run 3 or 4 of these in my home, with XBMC, I'll check out what you suggest, I guess than you just need some sort of an IR sensor for a remote

My remote worked without installing or doing anything on the RPi with raspbmc installed. It picks up the signal from my TV. If your TV has Consumer Electronics Control (CEC), it sends the TV remote signal to the RPi through the HDMI cable. I love it!

Did you try openelec? In new version library is working almost smooth.
Best remote for me is some mini bluetooth keyboard with touch-pad.

Haven't tried that yet. I will have to set that up sometime to check it out. I have 6 RPi's

[Samir_H]

iv had mine running 24/7 mining with 11 block erupter asics since august.

only had trouble recently after upgrading to latest cgminer it locks up at least once every couple of days, always happens during the night so i miss out a few hours of mining!!

can't seem to solve it. I'm sure it has something to do with me upgrading cgminer and not a problem with the PI itself

If you made image of SD card with working configuration it's easy to check if cgminer is problem.
I like that on Pi, SD cards are cheap and you can have multiple OS configuration ready for use.
My plan with Pi was mining but in process of buying all stuff I gave up, it was pointless at one point.


@Morblias
Wow you made some stock there

[Speakeron]

They're normally totally reliable. I run several for all sorts of things; one runs cgminer and hasn't rebooted for months.

Two things that maybe causing problems (and I've experienced both of these):

- You power supply may be inadequate (make sure it can supply more than 1A). Try swapping your current one out and see how it goes.

- The pi may be running out of swap space if the program has high memory requirements. (I don't get a problem with cgminer and the default swap space, but I don't know what bfgminer needs). You can google for information on how to change this if necessary.

[madcratebuilder]

2 Pi's running 53+ghs of miners.  About the only problem I have is the usb hubs power supplies tend to die under the 24/7 demand of mining.  They slowing loose there output amperage causing all kinds of problems, same goes for Blades and Cubes, you need adequate psu amperage for efficient mining.

[HellDiverUK]

If you're running hubs and miners off the supplied power bricks, you're doing it wrong.

Buy a low power ATX PSU, make up adapter cables, run everything off those.  The ATX supplies are more efficient, and don't die after a month.

[bog1111]

I've also had some issues with a similar setup to the OP.

Raspbian Wheezy, with BFG Miner.

It runs 20 USB block erupters and a blue fury stick for weeks without any issue.

As soon as I connect the blade in via the BFG Miner proxy, it'll last 10hrs max before the Pi locks up.

Haven't tried the Slush stratum proxy yet though on the Pi - it may help?

[Xian01]

I am finding that it locks up once in a while requiring a reboot.

 Try adding slub_debug=FP to /boot/cmdline.txt

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=55370&p=421883

[crazydownloaded]

Beagle Bone Black and Cubieboard are wayyyyyy more powerful and more stable (I'm testing the BBB for months, incredibly stable, and the Cubieboard for like a week only).
I don't imaging running my miners on RPi anymore, they are not as stable (I think it's because of the SD Cards... both BBB and Cubieboard have embedded MMC).

[mrhobbeys]

Beagle Bone Black and Cubieboard are wayyyyyy more powerful and more stable (I'm testing the BBB for months, incredibly stable, and the Cubieboard for like a week only).
I don't imaging running my miners on RPi anymore, they are not as stable (I think it's because of the SD Cards... both BBB and Cubieboard have embedded MMC).

I've got BBB also and it is is pretty nice but for me running RPi has seen very good uptime, and it seemed like a waste to put the BBB on mining when it can do so many other things.

@babaji.ca - 1 of the 2 miners is in an encloser with no heat sink or air flow, the other simply sits on the carpet (literally). My media playback machine plays a loop and is inside the the TV with the heat of the RPi along with the heat of the TV, the only problem I have had was due to a bad storm that had several power outages. The SD card card was corrupted but not ruined (sudo fsck took care of it).