BTCMiner - Open Source Bitcoin Miner for ZTEX FPGA Boards, 215 MH/s on LX150

[BR0KK]

Code:

[code]2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: f=210,00MHz,  errorRate=0,00%,  maxErrorRate=0,39%,  hashRate=210,0MH/s,  submitted 15 new nonces,  luckFactor=0,99
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-1: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: f=204,00MHz,  errorRate=0,17%,  maxErrorRate=0,77%,  hashRate=203,7MH/s,  submitted 7 new nonces,  luckFactor=0,83
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-2: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: f=198,00MHz,  errorRate=0,00%,  maxErrorRate=0,29%,  hashRate=198,0MH/s,  submitted 19 new nonces,  luckFactor=1,14
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-3: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: f=204,00MHz,  errorRate=0,18%,  maxErrorRate=0,86%,  hashRate=203,6MH/s,  submitted 12 new nonces,  luckFactor=1,11
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-4: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: f=210,00MHz,  errorRate=0,93%,  maxErrorRate=2,12%,  hashRate=208,1MH/s,  submitted 10 new nonces,  luckFactor=0,98
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-0: poll loop time: 21ms (USB: 0ms network: 21ms)   getwork time: 552ms  submit time: 440ms
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-1: poll loop time: 19ms (USB: 0ms network: 19ms)   getwork time: 530ms  submit time: 548ms
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-2: poll loop time: 25ms (USB: 0ms network: 24ms)   getwork time: 553ms  submit time: 488ms
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-3: poll loop time: 23ms (USB: 0ms network: 23ms)   getwork time: 595ms  submit time: 470ms
2012-03-14T17:32:47: bus-0-4: poll loop time: 22ms (USB: 0ms network: 21ms)   getwork time: 568ms  submit time: 535ms
2012-03-14T17:32:47: Total hash rate: 1023,3 MH/s
2012-03-14T17:32:47: Total submitted hash rate: 1030,9 MH/s
2012-03-14T17:32:47:  -------- 
2012-03-14T17:32:48: bus-0-1: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Submitting new nonce 7c96834e
2012-03-14T17:32:49: bus-0-3: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:32:50: bus-0-1: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:32:52: bus-0-2: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:32:57: bus-0-4: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:32:57: bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:32:58: bus-0-2: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Submitting new nonce 48b712be
2012-03-14T17:33:01: bus-0-3: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Got new work
2012-03-14T17:33:03: bus-0-4: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Submitting new nonce 48ea5c24
2012-03-14T17:33:06: bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0001--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device
2012-03-14T17:33:06: bus-0-3: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0004--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device
2012-03-14T17:33:06: Stopped thread for bus bus-0-3
2012-03-14T17:33:06: Stopped thread for bus bus-0-0
2012-03-14T17:33:07: bus-0-1: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0002--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device
2012-03-14T17:33:07: Stopped thread for bus bus-0-1
2012-03-14T17:33:07: bus-0-2: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0003--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device
2012-03-14T17:33:07: bus-0-4: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0005--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device
2012-03-14T17:33:08: Stopped thread for bus bus-0-4
2012-03-14T17:33:08: Stopped thread for bus bus-0-2

Since i moved my VM to Parallels i got this error some times?

What could cause that?
[/code]

[antirack]

Putting analog circuits on an all-digital chip is more difficult than you think.
The particular semiconductor process chosen for FPGAs is an all-digital, high-speed process.
Adding analog elements like a thermal diode, its associated amplifier and an ADC on an all-digital semiconductor process is something like squaring the circle - at best, time-consuming, cumbersome and costly.
Just because Intel can do it, don't assume a fabless manufacturer like Xilinx can do it.

How about something like this, it's digital.

1 WIRE DS18b20 Digital Temperature Sensor
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/348880219/_ISO9001_2008_Most_Popular_1.html

Isn't this something the GPIO's are for on the ZTEX 1.15x?

- 8 GPIO's from EZ-USB FX2 and 8 GPIO's from FPGA, can also be used for LED's


-- // --

Since i moved my VM to Parallels i got this error some times?

What could cause that?

Slow USB / timouts / interruptions ?

[rupy]

Hm, so they sell you a 160$ without adding a temperature sensor to it? I mean common, intel sells you a complete Atom motherboard with processor, GPU and everything for 80$!?!? I'm pretty sure theres a temp thingy inside the Spartan-6, it's just not connected on the ZTEX board?

[antirack]

Hm, so they sell you a 160$ without adding a temperature sensor to it? I mean common, intel sells you a complete Atom motherboard with processor, GPU and everything for 80$!?!? I'm pretty sure theres a temp thingy inside the Spartan-6, it's just not connected on the ZTEX board?

My guess is if there would be a temperature sensor ZTEX would be using it. The ZTEX board is very well designed and the stock heatsink/fan is absolutely sufficient, mine barely gets warm. The firmware/software deals with heat in a very well thought through way (clocking down) that allows us to mine at maximum capacity of each board at an individual level (not each FPGA/board is identical). I think it's more us people worrying over something that is a non-issue.

For me personally, having temperature sensors or at least some sort of solution to remotely monitor the temperature is because I plan building a bigger mining rig. I'd like to have a way to know the temperature of my boards or in the room or in the cabinet, so that I can react to it if it gets too hot. By switching on a second aircon, shutting down some equipment, increasing airflow, etc. If I would be just running a few boards, I wouldn't even waste a minute thinking about all this.

For comparison, my Icarus boards get VERY hot for my taste (and I expressed my concerns in the Icarus thread about it and even went out to buy an IR thermometer) while the ZTEX boards 20cm next to them are barely warm.

As posted by CAcoin here, he has a few dozen of the ZTEX boards and has no heat issues at all.

[rupy]

It's not that I have a heat issue, it's that I use passive heatsinks and they are cooled by the building ventilation, so come summer (when we open balcony door etc.) the airflow will stop intermittently and I need to limit the damage.

The *REALLY* strong case for temperature measuring control is that you can raise/lower the frequency forever and thus leave the chips TOTALLY unmanaged for longer periods at maximum "non damaging" speeds.

Using error control (specially one way like it's today, having to reboot the java process to up the frequency again) will wear the chips more and/or not get max hash rate.

What happened to me was that my gf opened the balcony door and one chip triggered the overheat thing. If I hadn't noticed the diode lighting up I would have lost 20% of my mining power!

Of course I could just use the -oh 0.9 parameter and let the chips error down to some low frequency, but temperature would let me leave the chips (balcony door open or not) and have them perform maximum depending on heat not error over years without worrying.

Also a shame that DeepBit doesn't support MH/s drop warning mails!

[antirack]

Couldn't you just write a script with some control logic (ie. restart miner, send email) to monitor the outputs and act accordingly? (or make changes to the miner software, it's open source after all, but I'd rather use some external script)

[ztex]

Then can I get a parameter for specifying the initial frequency and another to disable initial step-up of frequency. You can cap the initial frequency parameter to max 200 since I'm going to use this to _lower_ the frequency for passive cooling during summer.

I already answered it when you asked it per Email: Reducing the frequency limit would break the overheat detection. Therefore I will not this add a feature.

The only thing I can offer is to compile a firmware with a frequency limit of 120 MHz. (This is where the frequency limit is defined. The host software is board independent.) But if the airflow fails in a setup where the FPGA boards stacked densely (as in your configuration) the FPGA boards will also overheat if they only consume 6W. The only difference is that this will not be recognized by the software.

It is most save for you if you run the software as it is. If the airflow fail, you have to restart the cluster after fixing the problem.

[ztex]

Code:

[quote author=BR0KK link=topic=40047.msg802071#msg802071 date=1331771156]
2012-03-14T17:33:07: bus-0-2: ztex_ufm1_15d3-04A32E1205: Error: bus=bus-0  device=\\.\libusb0-0003--0x221a-0x0100: Read hash data: libusb0-dll:err [control_msg] sending control message failed, win error: Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht.
: Disabling device

This are USB errors, usually caused by bad cables, hubs or unstable power supplies. A driver / OS problem is possible too.

[ztex]

Hm, so they sell you a 160$ without adding a temperature sensor to it? I mean common, intel sells you a complete Atom motherboard with processor, GPU and everything for 80$!?!? I'm pretty sure theres a temp thingy inside the Spartan-6, it's just not connected on the ZTEX board?

What makes you so sure? The fact the the FPGA board is more expensive than a Atom Mainboard?

Spartan 6 FPGA's does not have on-die temperature sensors.

[rupy]

Ok, I'll live with it.

I didn't quite get that the error/frequency mechanism was in the firmware. I would make the Java code decide frequency instead.

It's weird that there is no protection on expensive hardware yes! From xilinx and from ztex, would be a good addition to the Artix-7 series.

What about the "Algorithmically placed FPGA miner", will you look at that or is it doomed to fail too?

[Turbor]

It's weird that there is no protection on expensive hardware yes! From xilinx and from ztex...

What do you mean by no protection ? The protection works perfect ! Saved my 1.15d about 20 times when i had my heatsink troubles. It gets hotter, my boards run slower. All works as it should. Why not use a nice 140mm fan ? They run at like 16 dB and provide some nice airflow.

[rupy]

Yes, but if there is a bug, your chip is toast (f.ex. say the firmware = software raises the frequency to 400Mh = bye bye chip). Compare it to Intel vs. AMD a few years ago; Intel has always had hardware temperature shutdown of it's chips while AMD, well many friends have toasted their CPU because of software/fan malfunction. If you are serious you have temperature hardware control or at least temperature software control.

Of course, you get what you pay for.

[BR0KK]

Hm now the usb errors are gone.

I think it has something to do with parallels Coherence mode ....

Thx BR0KK

[CA Coins]

Here is an idea that I am using for my own setup:

I have the boards cooled by the stock heatsink/fan and a bunch of Silverstone FM121s connected to a NZXT-2 temperature monitor/fan controller.  It works pretty well.  Do note that the NZXT-2 runs the fan at a minimum of 50% RPM, which for the FM121's are still too loud for my taste (maybe the FN121 would be quieter).  It might not work for rupy's passive setup, but it's a thought.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811992005

[CA Coins]

Hey, is anybody running BTCMiner on Linux?  What distro are you using?

My win7 box suddenly died, and I really don't want to go back to win7 unless I have to.  I tried Ubuntu/Fedora before but couldn't get it to work. 

[roomservice]

Hey, is anybody running BTCMiner on Linux?  What distro are you using?

My win7 box suddenly died, and I really don't want to go back to win7 unless I have to.  I tried Ubuntu/Fedora before but couldn't get it to work. 

I run BTCMiner on Ubuntu 11.10. Works without any problems. Just install Java before running BTCMiner.

[CA Coins]

Did you install the 64 bit Java?

[roomservice]

Did you install the 64 bit Java?

No, just the 32 version:
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jre (for earlier verisons)
or
sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre (for Ubuntu 11.10)
worked fine for me.

[BR0KK]

It would be nice to know to which pool the bounce is submitted. CGMiner does tho, so could you add something like this to BTCMiner.

just an info like "nounce 924872847 submitted to pool 0"?

[ztex]

It would be nice to know to which pool the bounce is submitted. CGMiner does tho, so could you add something like this to BTCMiner.

just an info like "nounce 924872847 submitted to pool 0"?

BTCMiner can log the submitted blogs (-bl). Adding the server name should be easy.