Innosilicon releases A9 Zmaster 50ksol/s Equihash miner at 620W

[battbot]

Guys I just bought one, and started to mine.

I saw around 40-42 K/SOLS all the time, not reaching 50. (I currently use nanopool)

I changed the performance mode still the same. Current Firmware is b29+_20180706_032013
6th of July 2018 03:20 AM , I haven't updated to new one yet.

First and second cards are ok at rate of 14-15 Kslols but third one stuck at 10Klsos.

Do you have any idea ? Thanks in advance.

Silicon lottery.  Not much that you're able to do about that. 

[Solsichu]

Guys I just bought one, and started to mine.

I saw around 40-42 K/SOLS all the time, not reaching 50. (I currently use nanopool)

I changed the performance mode still the same. Current Firmware is b29+_20180706_032013
6th of July 2018 03:20 AM , I haven't updated to new one yet.

First and second cards are ok at rate of 14-15 Kslols but third one stuck at 10Klsos.

Do you have any idea ? Thanks in advance.

Silicon lottery.  Not much that you're able to do about that. 

I can tell you what hasn't worked.
I have a bad unit that does 12ksol/8ksol/7ksols.

I have:
Used different firmwares
Set fans 100%
Changed controller board
Changed Power supply
Inspected board for visual issues -none
Applied thermal paste
Overclocked

Overclocking has produced no noticeable gains. Under clocking works but does not reduce HW errors (only some firmware shows this). Tried 1250-1350mhz/VID 155-180 for overclock.

Gunna compare per chip voltages from reported to reality and between my good and bad unit this weekend.
Also trying to figure out how/if I can reduce the SPI speed.

Kinda think it's bad chips but innosilicon vaguely said they didn't think so. I'll post more if I find anything.

[Andartis]

Dont forward port 80 externally though, you will get eaten within short time by the bad internet.  
If you wish to do so, choose a random external port and forward it to port 80 internally. If you dont know what I mean, you probably dont want to do this at all.

I would recommend a VPN tunnel.

[ercueren]

Guys I just bought one, and started to mine.

I saw around 40-42 K/SOLS all the time, not reaching 50. (I currently use nanopool)

I changed the performance mode still the same. Current Firmware is b29+_20180706_032013
6th of July 2018 03:20 AM , I haven't updated to new one yet.

First and second cards are ok at rate of 14-15 Kslols but third one stuck at 10Klsos.

Do you have any idea ? Thanks in advance.

Silicon lottery.  Not much that you're able to do about that. 

I can tell you what hasn't worked.
I have a bad unit that does 12ksol/8ksol/7ksols.

I have:
Used different firmwares
Set fans 100%
Changed controller board
Changed Power supply
Inspected board for visual issues -none
Applied thermal paste
Overclocked

Overclocking has produced no noticeable gains. Under clocking works but does not reduce HW errors (only some firmware shows this). Tried 1250-1350mhz/VID 155-180 for overclock.

Gunna compare per chip voltages from reported to reality and between my good and bad unit this weekend.
Also trying to figure out how/if I can reduce the SPI speed.

Kinda think it's bad chips but innosilicon vaguely said they didn't think so. I'll post more if I find anything.

Sorry to hear, you suffered a lot, so in deed there is not much to complain comparing to yours situation.

[xpulse]

Dont forward port 80 externally though, you will get eaten within short time by the bad internet.  
If you wish to do so, choose a random external port and forward it to port 80 internally. If you dont know what I mean, you probably dont want to do this at all.

I would recommend a VPN tunnel.

VPN is way to go... No ssh/http port should be accessible over the internet.

[RapBTC1]

In my case, i have a RIG on place but you can try with a normal computer.

For see my A9 , i connect to Team Viewer and i can access easy to "192.168.1.X"

[masrobots]

I had two hashboards doing ~17 kSol/s each and one doing about 6.5 kSol/s. I contacted Innosilicon support via email with a screenshot of the summary page and they agreed that hashboard was bad. They gave me directions on how to send it back to them and said that when they received it, they would send me a new one. I followed their instructions on packing, took it to a DHL Express office, and sent it off. It's supposed to arrive to them in a couple of days. That shipping cost ~$100.

It's difficult to lose 6.5 kSol/s, but presuming I get a 17 kSol/s one back "soon," it will be worth it in the long run to take the hit of lost Sols+shipping cost now. The great thing about these ASIC boxes is that they can run without all of their cards (and interestingly, the controller board has more connectors so presumably one could add more boards to it). So it's at least still running at an avg 34-35 kSol/s which right now is getting me about 0.3 ZEC/day.

Whole situation just kind of stinks is all. Any hiccup has an opportunity cost (and with shipping, real cash costs too) so starting out with problems on an expensive box certainly takes some of the wind out of the sales. I feel for you guys with worse situations than this.

[thedude400]

Endless appreciation for this thread, thanks guys for all the excellent information. Going in for 2 of these.

Question, those that purchased right from Inno, it looks like aside from crypto, they only take wire transfers? Did you guys have to go into your bank, wasn't that awkward or is there another way to wire securely?

[minefarmbuy]

Coordinate with Inno and get their banking information and place your order with them. Then go to/call your bank to send the funds. Otherwise move money to exchange and buy the crypto and apy or you could even use our service if you like. Regardless you're looking at approx 5 business to move funds to inno from a ban no matter the route.

[thedude400]

Coordinate with Inno and get their banking information and place your order with them. Then go to/call your bank to send the funds. Otherwise move money to exchange and buy the crypto and apy or you could even use our service if you like. Regardless you're looking at approx 5 business to move funds to inno from a ban no matter the route.

Ok, thanks for info, I will just have to go into my bank. Can others vouch for legitimacy of Innosilicon.com, I know the company is obviously legit, but if those of us considering pulling the trigger, it would make us feel warm and fuzzy to hear a few others who bought direct (with their slightly unusual payment instructions), and can instill some confidence. 

[hawkfish007]

Coordinate with Inno and get their banking information and place your order with them. Then go to/call your bank to send the funds. Otherwise move money to exchange and buy the crypto and apy or you could even use our service if you like. Regardless you're looking at approx 5 business to move funds to inno from a ban no matter the route.

Ok, thanks for info, I will just have to go into my bank. Can others vouch for legitimacy of Innosilicon.com, I know the company is obviously legit, but if those of us considering pulling the trigger, it would make us feel warm and fuzzy to hear a few others who bought direct (with their slightly unusual payment instructions), and can instill some confidence. 

I have only bought 2 A9s from inno with BTC, but I know a first time buyer who bought 20 batch 1 (20x$10k) and paid by wire. No issues at both times.

[wKiV7378U]

Guys I just bought one, and started to mine.

I saw around 40-42 K/SOLS all the time, not reaching 50. (I currently use nanopool)

I changed the performance mode still the same. Current Firmware is b29+_20180706_032013
6th of July 2018 03:20 AM , I haven't updated to new one yet.

First and second cards are ok at rate of 14-15 Kslols but third one stuck at 10Klsos.

Do you have any idea ? Thanks in advance.

Silicon lottery.  Not much that you're able to do about that.  

I can tell you what hasn't worked.
I have a bad unit that does 12ksol/8ksol/7ksols.

I have:
Used different firmwares
Set fans 100%
Changed controller board
Changed Power supply
Inspected board for visual issues -none
Applied thermal paste
Overclocked

Overclocking has produced no noticeable gains. Under clocking works but does not reduce HW errors (only some firmware shows this). Tried 1250-1350mhz/VID 155-180 for overclock.

Gunna compare per chip voltages from reported to reality and between my good and bad unit this weekend.
Also trying to figure out how/if I can reduce the SPI speed.

Kinda think it's bad chips but innosilicon vaguely said they didn't think so. I'll post more if I find anything.

hey - based on the A9 chip datasheet, i think you are on the right track to debugging your slow cards.  I would definitely try to probe your core voltages for each individual ASIC to see where they really are.
https://i.imgur.com/mYYl9aI.png

You wont be able to probe directly at the chip because its surface mount, but look for some big capacitors and probe across them.  You should find some in the range of core voltage (0.8->0.9).  There will probably be a bunch of caps connected to the core voltage pad (VDD_CORE).  Its very large so it seems this is where the majority of the current sinks to.

If you get some numbers I would be super interested in hearing what kind of measurements you found on your good and bad cards.

Good luck and thanks in advance!

[wKiV7378U]

To help guide anyone a step further, based on the pictures the previous user showed, and the available chip footprint information (see my previous post), my best guess on where to probe VDD_CORE is right here

https://i.imgur.com/1B2gHqo.png

[minefarmbuy]

Coordinate with Inno and get their banking information and place your order with them. Then go to/call your bank to send the funds. Otherwise move money to exchange and buy the crypto and apy or you could even use our service if you like. Regardless you're looking at approx 5 business to move funds to inno from a ban no matter the route.

Ok, thanks for info, I will just have to go into my bank. Can others vouch for legitimacy of Innosilicon.com, I know the company is obviously legit, but if those of us considering pulling the trigger, it would make us feel warm and fuzzy to hear a few others who bought direct (with their slightly unusual payment instructions), and can instill some confidence. 

They're legit. innosilicon.com just make sure you're on their website not some other derivative.

[chinguyensg]

I had two hashboards doing ~17 kSol/s each and one doing about 6.5 kSol/s. I contacted Innosilicon support via email with a screenshot of the summary page and they agreed that hashboard was bad. They gave me directions on how to send it back to them and said that when they received it, they would send me a new one. I followed their instructions on packing, took it to a DHL Express office, and sent it off. It's supposed to arrive to them in a couple of days. That shipping cost ~$100.

It's difficult to lose 6.5 kSol/s, but presuming I get a 17 kSol/s one back "soon," it will be worth it in the long run to take the hit of lost Sols+shipping cost now. The great thing about these ASIC boxes is that they can run without all of their cards (and interestingly, the controller board has more connectors so presumably one could add more boards to it). So it's at least still running at an avg 34-35 kSol/s which right now is getting me about 0.3 ZEC/day.

Whole situation just kind of stinks is all. Any hiccup has an opportunity cost (and with shipping, real cash costs too) so starting out with problems on an expensive box certainly takes some of the wind out of the sales. I feel for you guys with worse situations than this.

My case is different, i didn't buy a9 directly from inno so i don't have any chances to change the bad hashboard. I have hoped that i can fix it by a new firmware but now, maybe it's not possible.
Anyway, congratulations to you.

[minefarmbuy]

My case is different, i didn't buy a9 directly from inno so i don't have any chances to change the bad hashboard. I have hoped that i can fix it by a new firmware but now, maybe it's not possible.
Anyway, congratulations to you.

Did you reach out to who you purchased from? If you have documentation Inno may help if their feeling generous. Otherwise I'd try to buy a new board/part from them. Could be quicker even, if they're able to send you a single hash board directly without waiting for them to receive one from you. Worth a shot I suppose before calling it quits. We order directly in our customers names to allow better service this way. Best of luck. 

[chinguyensg]

My case is different, i didn't buy a9 directly from inno so i don't have any chances to change the bad hashboard. I have hoped that i can fix it by a new firmware but now, maybe it's not possible.
Anyway, congratulations to you.

Did you reach out to who you purchased from? If you have documentation Inno may help if their feeling generous. Otherwise I'd try to buy a new board/part from them. Could be quicker even, if they're able to send you a single hash board directly without waiting for them to receive one from you. Worth a shot I suppose before calling it quits. We order directly in our customers names to allow better service this way. Best of luck. 

Thank you for your attention to my matter. Unfortunately, these asics are prohibited from importing in my country, even if Inno accept to change the bad hashboard for me (or i order the new one), I also can not get it. I contacted the local seller and he said that i have to give him my A9 and he (somehow) will send it to the manufacturer for warranty and of course, that's not good at all.

[blasto123]

Today I received my A9 unit and I've been experimenting with it. So I tried to set fan speed fixed to 30% and immediately temps went down from ~70C to ~50C. However the hash rate dropped as well.. from ~50 to ~40.. So I readjusted the fan speed to 20% and with 60C temperature hash rate raised back to ~55!

I thought with silicon chips cooler is better but in this case it does not correlate that way. Any ideas?

[panningforcoin]

Today I received my A9 unit and I've been experimenting with it. So I tried to set fan speed fixed to 30% and immediately temps went down from ~70C to ~50C. However the hash rate dropped as well.. from ~50 to ~40.. So I readjusted the fan speed to 20% and with 60C temperature hash rate raised back to ~55!

I thought with silicon chips cooler is better but in this case it does not correlate that way. Any ideas?

I noticed the same thing. At first I was happy to have the temps down but then saw a reduced hash rate.
But... If you give it time it will return to the normal hash rate. Here is the deal with mine...

I got lucky, still have original firmware and all boards function. I average about 47 hash. After I set the fan speed to 35% I noticed a reduced hash rate...But it eventually got back up to 47ish... It just takes it longer now.

Before I set the fan speed to 35% it would take the A9 maybe 25ish mins to reach full potential after changing pools, rebooting, etc... Now it takes the unit almost a hour to reach full potential with the increased fan speed. I don't know why but it's a fact with my unit. I'm guessing the chips like to run warmer but if you give it time, and your unit is like mine, you will get back to normal rates, it just takes longer with cooler chips. I'll take that because heat is the enemy and I don't change pools much. I do have to reboot about once a week because it just locks up... Maybe I should update the firmware but I'm kinda scared to mess with it... Ain't broke don't fix it kinda thing..

[chinguyensg]

Is there any one  please update me about Nicehash's matter

Since early morning, my a9 cannot work with Nicehash's pool, i have changed 3 pools: asia, eu and usa but it's the same. Some times, usa pool works fine but rarely. I have tried to ping all of pools but no response.

any information is appreciated. Thanks in advance.