S9i with driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH...

[Ameador1]

I have a new S9i 13.5T. Started it up and it ran fine. Setup mining pool info, admin acct password, network name, etc...
It was working for about 10 minutes. Then I ran Awesome Miner software config to configure API access for this miner so I can manage it via Awsome Miner.

After a reboot, it no longer mines.

System Overview has blanks in places for Hardware Version and BMMiner Version. Miner Status page is empty - no data on the page - just blank form.

I tried flashing the firmware with Antminer-S9i-xilinx-201805222008-autofreq-user-UBI-NF.tar.gz.

This changed the File System Version to: S9i_VTest and added a Frequency setting on the Miner Configuration page below the pools but only after power up - after rebooting - the Freq setting is missing

The kernel log shows this at the bottom of the log:

Code:

main.c:13889: use critical mode to search freq...
driver-bitmain.c:2401: get PLUG ON=0x000000e0
driver-bitmain.c:2471: Find hashboard on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:2471: Find hashboard on Chain[6]
driver-bitmain.c:2471: Find hashboard on Chain[7]
driver-bitmain.c:1840: set_reset_allhashboard = 0x0000ffff
main.c:2049: Check chain[5] PIC fw version=0x00
main.c:2070: chain[5] PIC need restore ...
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]
main.c:2077: After restore: chain[5] PIC fw version=0x00

So, I don't know if Awesome Miner did something wrong - or is this a coinedence and it is another issue?

Working through Bitmain support is going slow and so far - nowhere. This is the last response:

If the the miner doesn't have hardware version or BMMiner, it means the mining program has not started yet.

First, please confirm that your internet connection is stable. Network configurations or security settings in the router can cause this error.

Second, please check the pool URL in the miner configuration page very carefully. Make sure you've entered three different stratum servers. Any error, including spaces, can cause this error.

Third, please read the kernel log, if it shows "Fatal Error: some Fan lost or Fan speed low", the fan might have issue. Please replace with a good known fan to test.

If the issue is not resolved please test this miner with the control board from a good working miner. If that solves the issue we will send you a replacement control board. Please provide us a picture SN to confirm your warranty and create the Repair ticket as detailed here: https://enforum.bitmain.com/bbs/topics/3804
Please kindly advise the ticket ID after you have created the ticket.

If all the steps above can't solve your problem, please carefully read and follow these instructions to create a Repair ticket and ship the whole miner back to us for repair: https://shop.bitmain.com/repairGuide

Please let us know if you have additional questions or concerns.

Best Regards
Jocelyn
Bitmain

So far, internet connection is not an issue - 10 other miners are running just fine and I copied pools setting from another S9 to this one - changing the .id portion of the worker setting. The kernel log has no "Fatal Error" anywhere in the text. I only have this one S9i, so don't know about swapping controller board from and S9 to and S9i. I'm going to ask them about that. But until then, any other ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!

[1713922382]

1713922382

[Javede30]

I think I would try reloading the firmware from the bitmain website to see if awesome miner did something to it.

[Ameador1]

I think I would try reloading the firmware from the bitmain website to see if awesome miner did something to it.

As stated in my op, I already reloaded the firmware with a more recent version from Bitmain's site.

[tim-bc]

First off, the bitmain response is essentially worthless boilerplate and unrelated to your problem, so you can ignore it.

Basically, the S9i firmware and the newer S9 firmware will hang and stop booting when this error is encountered. On the S9, you can work around this issue by installing a previous version of the firmware. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you since you need S9i firmware. Perhaps bitmain warranty rma is your only option, although there must be some fix for this that I'm not aware of.

[Ameador1]

First off, the bitmain response is essentially worthless boilerplate and unrelated to your problem, so you can ignore it.

Basically, the S9i firmware and the newer S9 firmware will hang and stop booting when this error is encountered. On the S9, you can work around this issue by installing a previous version of the firmware. Unfortunately, that doesn't help you since you need S9i firmware. Perhaps bitmain warranty rma is your only option, although there must be some fix for this that I'm not aware of.

More or less - that's what I thought. I have gotten another message from them after I updated them with answers to their test list. Now they want me to take an S9 controller board and swap it out with the controller board on this S9i - then re-flash it with the S9i firmware from their site. If that works, then they will send me a replacement controller. Does that make sense? I don't know what these PIC things are - so not sure if this is a viable solution/test. If the PICs are on the controller, then I suppose this would make sense and this test would verify if there's some kind of controller flaw.

Not sure why going to an older version of the firmware with the S9's would solve this - unless the newer firmware is trying to do something particular with the controller that the older firmware is not. Maybe for efficiency purposes? Maybe this could truly indicate a problem with the controller that simply isn't noticed with an older firmware. Anyway, now I have to go through this process to see if it helps. If the S9 controller works - I wonder if I couldn't re-flash the S9i controller with the S9 firmware and literally just swap the controllers... Maybe use an earlier version of the S9 firmware if it shows the same issue. If that works then could have them up faster while they have a controller on the way.

[menindorf]

I am having the exact same issue that you describe. 

driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]

I thought I would try what your last post recommended, swapping an S9 control board for the S9i in question, and reflashing the firmware with the S9i firmware. . .   

But how the heck do you get the control board out???

After removing all the cords, I pop the clips and begin to slide it out of the back, but it bumps into the hashing boards.

Do I have to unscrew the small control-board metal faceplate and slide it out of the front. . . ?  I will research more . . . 

I am following your issue since we seem to be having the same one.  Have you tried this control board swap yet?  Did it work? 

Wish us luck!

[Ameador1]

I am having the exact same issue that you describe. 

driver-bitmain.c:5474: Error of set PIC FLASH addr: addr_H=3(0) addr_L=0(0) on Chain[5]

I thought I would try what your last post recommended, swapping an S9 control board for the S9i in question, and reflashing the firmware with the S9i firmware. . .   

But how the heck do you get the control board out???

After removing all the cords, I pop the clips and begin to slide it out of the back, but it bumps into the hashing boards.

Do I have to unscrew the small control-board metal faceplate and slide it out of the front. . . ?  I will research more . . . 

I am following your issue since we seem to be having the same one.  Have you tried this control board swap yet?  Did it work? 

Wish us luck!

They gave directions and a link to a YouTube video showing the process. Here is their response telling me what to do here:

You could use the S9 controller but be sure to reflash the S9i firmware https://shop.bitmain.com/support.htm?pid=00720180525135351672WCe9WPkv06BF

How to disassemble and reassemble S9/T9 control boards:
1.   Unplug the fans and flat cable. Please handle the clip-on plug carefully.
2.   Remove the four mounting screws of the fan shroud and put aside the fan. Keep the screws in a safe place.
3.   Remove the control board from the card slot.
4.   Push aside the two leaf springs and remove the control board.
5.   To install the control board reverse the above steps.

Please refer to the demo video via the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL8l2qWLKm8&t=29s

Please let us know if you have additional questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Jocelyn
Bitmain

If you get this done before me please post your results... I may get to it tonight, but maybe not until as late as Sunday evening.

Good luck!

[Ameador1]

Well, this did not help. I swapped an S9 controller into the S9i, re-flashed the firmware to the S9i firmware link they provided - and still the same issue!

I did also re-flash the original S9i controller with S9 firmware while in my S9 that I pulled the controller from for the S9i. It worked fine. So definitely the controller is good - well, at least it functions in the S9.

I flashed the controller in the S9i back to S9 firmware and flashed S9i firmware on the controller in the S9 and then swapped the controllers back to their original miners. This time when I flashed the S9i firmware, I did it WITHOUT keeping the previous settings to see it that would help. NOPE! Still the same issue!

Both machines booted with the improper firmware flashed to them (S9i firmware on S9 and S9 firmware on S9i). The S9 (with the S9i firmware) got similar PIC errors and would not start BMMiner - thus no mining would occur. Once the S9 had its S9 firmware back - it went back to mining just fine. But I still have a non-mining toaster for an S9i.

If this is a software fix, it would really suck to have to send it back to Bitmain in China.

Doesn't Bitmain have a warranty place here in the US, like in California or something? I think their next step is going to be to have me to send it back.

Unless anyone else has any other ideas?

[Ameador1]

Just shipped the S9i out to Bitmain repair facility in Washington (state). Better than having to send back to China - should be faster and definitely cheaper. Hate to loose the processing time and downtime with testing though.

Well, hopefully it comes back happy and working!

Oh, and be careful try to swap controllers if you want to try this. They made a point in submittin the repair ticket that tearing the warranty seal will void the warranty - unless Bitmain support actually told you to do so. In my case, I should be good since they told me to do it, but others on here might not be so lucky if you can't show that their support personel told you too. You can't swap the controllers without tearing one of their warranty tapes as they put it over one of the screws on the fan shroud plat, which has to be remove to get the controllers on/off.

[Ameador1]

So it's 1 out of 10 S9i had this error or just 1/1 ? I've just got my hand on 19 S9i and few of them stop hashing board by board in about 30 minutes after power on, reboot or apply setting will bring back hashing power but it doen't last long. Got no clue.

I only have this one S9i. The others are 5 S9's and 4 L3+/L3++s plus one other. Mine stopped hashing with the errors in my OP within the first 15 minutes or so, but it never came back. Once the error came up I never got it to hash again. Starting for an little bit and then dropping - is that maybe a temp, fan speed, or PSU issue? Over temps will obviously stop them from hashing. Fans that are not reporting (dead or bad tach feeds making them look dead). PSU's putting out a bit too small a voltage causing them to fail after a little. Do you have these PIC errors near the bottom of your kernel log?

[menindorf]

I am super slow.

As per your advice, I just got around to creating a support ticket with Bitmain, rather than proactively swapping out the control board without "permission."   

Wishing you luck on your RMA experience!  I will keep my experience posted here as well!~

~Sean

[tofra]

I have the same issue, blank hardware version and bmminer version. Also version S9i_VTest (which doesn't seems right to me)

Does anyone have version Tue Mar 13 10:15:18 CST 2018? S9i_V2.05   This one is currently running on my other miners without a problem.

[joowick]

I just started experiencing the same problem as well.

I've tried all of the following and still zero hashing:


1. Flashing my s9i with s9i firmware downloaded from Bitmain website
2. Flashing my s9i to latest s9 firmware
3. Flashing my s9i to older s9 firmware


Seems there is just no fix for this right now.

[tim-bc]

This issue has been bugging me for some time...

I finally fixed one (by chance?) today. What I did was unplug the chain/board giving the error, flashed the same firmware through the web "Upgrade" page, let it boot, then plugged the board back in and rebooted. Full hash now.

So strange

[graymatter]

This issue has been bugging me for some time...

I finally fixed one (by chance?) today. What I did was unplug the chain/board giving the error, flashed the same firmware through the web "Upgrade" page, let it boot, then plugged the board back in and rebooted. Full hash now.

So strange

This worked for me on 2 units.  Unplugged all but one board then reflashed the firmware.  plugged boards back in and worked.

[tim-bc]

This worked for me on 2 units.  Unplugged all but one board then reflashed the firmware.  plugged boards back in and worked.

I'm so glad that we could finally figure out this issue. It seems like this solution is reliable for fixing the PIC flash issue on both S9i and S9j.

[skullsoul]

Hello guys i had the (chain[5] PIC need restore ... ) error and fixed it by using the IP Reporter Firmware restore, you can find it in Bitmain's Forum but i leave it here for all of you

IP Reporter Restore (The miner will automatically revert to factory default firmware)

This method is only applicable to the miner as below. (The SD card slot of the miner should be on the left of Ethernet interface.

Usage: Please power off the miner, then hold down the IP Reporter and don’t release it. At the same time, please power on the miner. Releasing the IP Reporter after 5 seconds, the machine will automatically restore factory settings.

NOTE: This method is not applicable to the miner which has a SD card on the right of the Ethernet interface.

After i did that the pesky PIC error just went away.

[BitMaxz]

Hello guys i had the (chain[5] PIC need restore ... ) error and fixed it by using the IP Reporter Firmware restore, you can find it in Bitmain's Forum but i leave it here for all of you

IP Reporter Restore (The miner will automatically revert to factory default firmware)

This method is only applicable to the miner as below. (The SD card slot of the miner should be on the left of Ethernet interface.

Usage: Please power off the miner, then hold down the IP Reporter and don’t release it. At the same time, please power on the miner. Releasing the IP Reporter after 5 seconds, the machine will automatically restore factory settings.

NOTE: This method is not applicable to the miner which has a SD card on the right of the Ethernet interface.

After i did that the pesky PIC error just went away.

This is just a method to do a factory reset this sometimes works but not all and you are just copy pasted the guide from bitmain support without credit.
Anyway, you can find this method from here "How to reset miner to factory settings " credited to bitmain.

This is just a basic solution but if the restore factory reset doesn't work you can try the method below.

The method to fix this issue if you have PIC error is to flashing it with PICKit 3 which is tested by some miners out there.
You can find this method from here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5032987.0

[tim-bc]

The method to fix this issue if you have PIC error is to flashing it with PICKit 3 which is tested by some miners out there.
You can find this method from here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5032987.0

Be very careful with that HEX file. It is only supposed to be used on the T9+. See quote below from that thread:

Also beware, my HEX file is ONLY for the T9+ ! it is equipped with a PIC32 while all other antminer are equipped with PIC16 !!!

Again, like I mentioned earlier, if you can't use the April firmware to fix your issue, you should unplug the chain/board giving the error, flash the same firmware through the web "Upgrade" page, let it boot, then plug the board back in and reboot. Seems to work consistently.