[GUIDE] GridSeed 5-Chip USB, Blade & Black Miner Support/Tuning

[dishwara]

Thanks Trollbox. I didn't know the answer to his question.
Have you tried the latest version of cgminer yet? 4.2.2 I think...
I'm curious to find out what cgminer users think of it.
Maybe you can go back to using it now. Looks like they've handled a lot of bugs and concerns etc.
Wolfey2014

The official cgminer by ckolivas, stopped scrypt algo support after version 3.7.2
With official version you cant mine litecoins now.
Others forked the cgminer from 3.7.2 & creating their own cgminer which supports scrypt mining.
For gridseed , now many variants of cgminer 3.7.2 available.

[rob1313]

wow that is brutal maybe i can make a bat file to create all the instances?

anyway here is my gridseed eye candy   http://imgur.com/tYtBAh6

Why are they pulsing? Are they some sort of cyborg gridseeds?

Camera was moving between pictures.

[rob1313]

Any one have know how to get more then 22 devices running on BFG miner windows. as soon as i go over 22 miners bfg will not run and crashes.


bfg version 3.10.0

Thanks i been trying to find a answer all day and had no luck.

[naimc3243]

Are GridSeeds really this fragile, I purchase 10 and 6 are defective do to a PSU short ? ( is this possible)

Hello Gridseed users.

I purchase a 10 unit GridSeed package that came with a Raspberry PI and 10 port USB hub and two 10A 120 to 12 VDC PSU'.

I connected all the 10 GridSeeds to a the USB hub and powered it up,  then I connected a 1 group of 5 gridseed to a 10A 12 PSU (XHY PV-12012000) using a fan out 1 to 5 power cable supplied with the kit. The other 5 GridSeeds were connected in the same way.  I powered up one group of 5, and when I plugged the second PSU I huge spark was seen on the 12 VD DC line of the 1 to 5 fanout cable all the fans started and then stopped.

I unpluged the PSU and tried it on only one GridSeed and the PSU was dead. It's green LED was no logner on and my voltmeter showed no 12 volt reading.  I then tested each of the 5 Gridseeds and not one would power on, Could they all have died, I though impossible but I got out a better quality 120 to 12V transformer made for CB radio and the 5 devices no longer powered on, and when directly conntected to a USB port no led.  The continuity tester on my volt meter shows a short on all of them !.   

So I powered-up the other 5 Gridseeds left the room for a few minitues, when I returned all of the units has stopped and the fans where vibrating a making a whining noise.  I noticed that the PSU's green LED was flickering.  So the second PSU was no longer able to power the load of 5 Gridseeds not even mining.  I later discovered that the second PSU was only have to operate a Gridseed for a few minutes before apparently dieing out. 

I purchase this kit from Zoomhash.com, and I opened a support ticket.  I've played with electrical gadgets for a while and have seen my fare share of cheap made in china power supplies die. But never have I seen damage on this scale occur so fast; Out of my 10 GridSeeds only 4 work after this "incident", 5 don't even power-on and the 6th powers on but the USB circuit appears dead and the internal LED never come on.

I am really regretting that I did not take the time to test each unit one at a time on my PC to determine that each was working properly as I was so excited to and wanted to get the devices working fast.

I'm still at a lose as to what might have cause this chain of events ?  Could a short in one of Gridseed has caused a leak of the 12V dc in the USB circuit and back in the USB Hub and back in the other GridSeed's ? The USB hub also is dead.
 

Picture of PSU that I suspect was the cause of all this destruction.
https://i.imgur.com/FzTRVaH.jpg

[wolfey2014]

Are GridSeeds really this fragile, I purchase 10 and 6 are defective do to a PSU short ? ( is this possible)

Hello Gridseed users.

I purchase a 10 unit GridSeed package that came with a Raspberry PI and 10 port USB hub and two 10A 120 to 12 VDC PSU'.

I connected all the 10 GridSeeds to a the USB hub and powered it up,  then I connected a 1 group of 5 gridseed to a 10A 12 PSU (XHY PV-12012000) using a fan out 1 to 5 power cable supplied with the kit. The other 5 GridSeeds were connected in the same way.  I powered up one group of 5, and when I plugged the second PSU I huge spark was seen on the 12 VD DC line of the 1 to 5 fanout cable all the fans started and then stopped.

I unpluged the PSU and tried it on only one GridSeed and the PSU was dead. It's green LED was no logner on and my voltmeter showed no 12 volt reading.  I then tested each of the 5 Gridseeds and not one would power on, Could they all have died, I though impossible but I got out a better quality 120 to 12V transformer made for CB radio and the 5 devices no longer powered on, and when directly conntected to a USB port no led.  The continuity tester on my volt meter shows a short on all of them !.   

So I powered-up the other 5 Gridseeds left the room for a few minitues, when I returned all of the units has stopped and the fans where vibrating a making a whining noise.  I noticed that the PSU's green LED was flickering.  So the second PSU was no longer able to power the load of 5 Gridseeds not even mining.  I later discovered that the second PSU was only have to operate a Gridseed for a few minutes before apparently dieing out. 

I purchase this kit from Zoomhash.com, and I opened a support ticket.  I've played with electrical gadgets for a while and have seen my fare share of cheap made in china power supplies die. But never have I seen damage on this scale occur so fast; Out of my 10 GridSeeds only 4 work after this "incident", 5 don't even power-on and the 6th powers on but the USB circuit appears dead and the internal LED never come on.

I am really regretting that I did not take the time to test each unit one at a time on my PC to determine that each was working properly as I was so excited to and wanted to get the devices working fast.

I'm still at a lose as to what might have cause this chain of events ?  Could a short in one of Gridseed has caused a leak of the 12V dc in the USB circuit and back in the USB Hub and back in the other GridSeed's ? The USB hub also is dead.
 

Picture of PSU that I suspect was the cause of all this destruction.

Wow! Major bummer! Sorry you got screwed so bad!
The original problem was most likely caused by a pinched red fan wire caught between where the two halves sandwich together. I and others have found this problem in our GS5 units but corrected it in time before it became a serious problem.
Most likely, if a short occurs between 12V+ fan wire and the casing which is ground 12V-, it will short out the driver circuit on the pcb and perhaps also back feed via the 5V USB power as well blowing out that circuit as well.
This could have then back fed the that cheapo power supply and fried everything else.
There should be a fuse inside the power brick but I don't know if the chinglers put those in there or not. Probably not. I know if they were made in the USA by a real ISO 9000 certified company, there would be a fuse in there or in line on the power cord so shit doesn't get fried before it blows the fuse.
The tip off is your description of seeing the sparks coming from the fan power feed wire.
So, that's most likely the culprit. Not your fault at all regardless of how you started them up.
You should have been able to confidently fire them all up at the same time just like you tried without such dire consequence!
You are owed a FULL refund including shipping and insurance costs or minimally a complete replacement of your system with a brand new, fully test run before shipping system!
I remember reading somewhere that one of these guys said that every unit is fully tested and okay'd before they ship out to the customer!
Make sure Zoomhash takes care of you ASAP - F*KN REPLACE THIS SHYT YESTERDAY! This crap has got to stop! It is totally not okay!
Let us know how it goes!
God speed my friend!
Wolfey2014

[primer10]

Are GridSeeds really this fragile, I purchase 10 and 6 are defective do to a PSU short ? ( is this possible)

Hello Gridseed users.

I purchase a 10 unit GridSeed package that came with a Raspberry PI and 10 port USB hub and two 10A 120 to 12 VDC PSU'.

I connected all the 10 GridSeeds to a the USB hub and powered it up,  then I connected a 1 group of 5 gridseed to a 10A 12 PSU (XHY PV-12012000) using a fan out 1 to 5 power cable supplied with the kit. The other 5 GridSeeds were connected in the same way.  I powered up one group of 5, and when I plugged the second PSU I huge spark was seen on the 12 VD DC line of the 1 to 5 fanout cable all the fans started and then stopped.

I unpluged the PSU and tried it on only one GridSeed and the PSU was dead. It's green LED was no logner on and my voltmeter showed no 12 volt reading.  I then tested each of the 5 Gridseeds and not one would power on, Could they all have died, I though impossible but I got out a better quality 120 to 12V transformer made for CB radio and the 5 devices no longer powered on, and when directly conntected to a USB port no led.  The continuity tester on my volt meter shows a short on all of them !.   

So I powered-up the other 5 Gridseeds left the room for a few minitues, when I returned all of the units has stopped and the fans where vibrating a making a whining noise.  I noticed that the PSU's green LED was flickering.  So the second PSU was no longer able to power the load of 5 Gridseeds not even mining.  I later discovered that the second PSU was only have to operate a Gridseed for a few minutes before apparently dieing out. 

I purchase this kit from Zoomhash.com, and I opened a support ticket.  I've played with electrical gadgets for a while and have seen my fare share of cheap made in china power supplies die. But never have I seen damage on this scale occur so fast; Out of my 10 GridSeeds only 4 work after this "incident", 5 don't even power-on and the 6th powers on but the USB circuit appears dead and the internal LED never come on.

I am really regretting that I did not take the time to test each unit one at a time on my PC to determine that each was working properly as I was so excited to and wanted to get the devices working fast.

I'm still at a lose as to what might have cause this chain of events ?  Could a short in one of Gridseed has caused a leak of the 12V dc in the USB circuit and back in the USB Hub and back in the other GridSeed's ? The USB hub also is dead.
 

Picture of PSU that I suspect was the cause of all this destruction.

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

[Pistachio]

I tried running some Gridseed miners with cgminer 3.7.2 on a raspberry pi for a few days and I was disappointed with the results. With 20 miners it went from 7.2Kh to 6.2Kh in a few hours and stayed around 6.2-6.8Kh after that. Then I tried only 10 miners per pi and it was better but dropped to 3.0Kh at times and stayed mostly in the 3.3-3.6Kh range. I tested another set with a eeePC running cgminer on Win7 and had basically the same results as on a raspberry pi. I kept one set on a wiibox controller with 2.0.7 and it had a slightly lower hashrate / accepted shares. The kicker was the wiibox has 0.5% rejects while cgminer in linux or windows had 3.5% rejects. It looks like the wiibox is performing as well as cgminer but without the rejects. The occasional miner dropping off is still a problem with the wiibox. So, I am back to only using the wiibox controllers mining in dual mode.

Anyone else have a similar experience? I like the stability of the raspberry pi but not having dual mode and the increase in rejects is a problem.

[usao]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

[wolfey2014]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

Man!
I can't believe our government ever trusted them to produce our products for us in the first place! TRAITORS!
I also can't believe they are getting away with producing and selling this cheap crap that is risking life and limb of our consumers in this country! It's almost like a very covert war against the United States. Or maybe it's just lazy engineering and poor quality control and it's all just an accident! NOT!
Yeah, slightly off topic. Sue me!
Wolfey2014

[geetash]

i saw some guy posted a script to monitor usb ports on windows+cgminer and reset them if one of miner dropped. but i cant find the post now, someone please help me to find the post.
thanks.

[primer10]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

It is not difficult to make one yourself. Just need to find a molex cable that splits input to 2 output, then cut it and attached to the barrel plug..

[podizzle]

wow that is brutal maybe i can make a bat file to create all the instances?

anyway here is my gridseed eye candy   http://imgur.com/tYtBAh6

Why are they pulsing? Are they some sort of cyborg gridseeds?

oh i thought that was a feature? hehe its my camera it does animated gifs and only animates the moving parts

[thewarners777]

Don't bother with all of the Scripta bullshit...

Hashra doesn't require any of the nonsense to setup and is way easier to use.

I was one of the earlier Hashra customers (20 pack with accessories) - review --> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=524363.0

Tonight I was able to try the Hashra Controla flavor RasPI image.. very nice and easy to use.. (I also updated the firmware with ease just two clicks).  I think the only thing missing is some fail over pool options..

I also have been testing out the Zoomhash image on a couple test miners.. not really impressed, but it works. got to utilize heavy putty action tho -   I heart me some Web/GUI interface (Controla/Scripta types)..

My original 20 are running on two RasPIs with a scripta version from last week (10 each).. no issues... I tried to run all 20 (10 per hub both plugged into the pi) no joy.. about 4-6 miners would stop a random times and then the whole thing would freeze up.

I will be attempting the 20 count on the Hashra Controla when I have some more time.

Anyone try it yet?

(if Hashra would have given me the heads up I would have ordered their new 20 pack, but spent the extra 20 bucks and did it through ZH last night (w/coupon code).  I really want to test out the new Hashra shipping speeds...  (edit: looks like a $150 shipping charge is added... that doesn't beat my ZH deal after all)

Ive been running 20 gridseeds on a single Pi running Hashra Control set to 850mhz hashing at 352kh/s for the last week and only 2 hardware errors so far.

[Pistachio]

Don't bother with all of the Scripta bullshit...

Hashra doesn't require any of the nonsense to setup and is way easier to use.

I was one of the earlier Hashra customers (20 pack with accessories) - review --> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=524363.0

Tonight I was able to try the Hashra Controla flavor RasPI image.. very nice and easy to use.. (I also updated the firmware with ease just two clicks).  I think the only thing missing is some fail over pool options..

I also have been testing out the Zoomhash image on a couple test miners.. not really impressed, but it works. got to utilize heavy putty action tho -   I heart me some Web/GUI interface (Controla/Scripta types)..

My original 20 are running on two RasPIs with a scripta version from last week (10 each).. no issues... I tried to run all 20 (10 per hub both plugged into the pi) no joy.. about 4-6 miners would stop a random times and then the whole thing would freeze up.

I will be attempting the 20 count on the Hashra Controla when I have some more time.

Anyone try it yet?

(if Hashra would have given me the heads up I would have ordered their new 20 pack, but spent the extra 20 bucks and did it through ZH last night (w/coupon code).  I really want to test out the new Hashra shipping speeds...  (edit: looks like a $150 shipping charge is added... that doesn't beat my ZH deal after all)

Ive been running 20 gridseeds on a single Pi running Hashra Control set to 850mhz hashing at 352kh/s for the last week and only 2 hardware errors so far.

What kind of rejects are you getting pool side? I tried downloading their image from the website but it always says corrupted after the download finishes.

Edit: Does the Hashra image have a dual mining option?

[usao]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

It is not difficult to make one yourself. Just need to find a molex cable that splits input to 2 output, then cut it and attached to the barrel plug..

Im not having much luck finding the pcie mail sockets with crimp pins...
The molex sockets are easier to find, but still looking for the crimp pins.
I didn't really want to hack an existing cable and have a bunch of electrical tape, looks kinda crappy.

[primer10]

Im not having much luck finding the pcie mail sockets with crimp pins...
The molex sockets are easier to find, but still looking for the crimp pins.
I didn't really want to hack an existing cable and have a bunch of electrical tape, looks kinda crappy.

You prob do not need pci sockets.. I am doing fine with these:

1) Molex Y splitter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-IDE-Hard-Drive-Molex-4-pin-Power-Cable-Lead-Y-Splitter-/221252957084?pt=US_Power_Cables_Connectors&hash=item3383b4339c

2) Power barrel. Do not need to buy this if you buy from zoomhash. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-DC-5-5-x-2-1mm-Power-Male-Jack-Adapter-Cable-Plug-Connector-for-GRIDSEED-/151263192300?pt=US_Surveillance_Cables_Adapters_Connectors&hash=item2337fd24ec

just need to push out the yellow and black points from the 2 ends, cut it, plug into the barrel and screw tight.

EDIT: when u push out from the 2 end molex, the cables are crimped.. just need to cut off the thick ends.

[dishwara]

i saw some guy posted a script to monitor usb ports on windows+cgminer and reset them if one of miner dropped. but i cant find the post now, someone please help me to find the post.
thanks.

This .....?

For those of you running Windows and CGminer for Gridseed ASICs:

Long time lurker, but new member here.  I usually just sit back and read to solve my problems. I registered here today just to make this post.

I noticed when using Gridseed 5 chip miners with Windows/CGminer that miners would randomly drop off. When you close CGminer or reboot, this was especially true. The fix? Unplug the USB cable to your miner or hub and set hotplug to a higher number than 0 (most seem to like 5).

Great, but I have a job/life/kids/wife/car/hobbies/etc and can't always be next to the computer waiting to unplug/plug a USB connector.

I did a little experimenting and found out that disabling/enabling them in device manager brought them back without having to physically unplug them. This got me thinking...

I was able to use devcon.exe (from Microsoft) and write a quick batch file that enables/disables the miners. Then I scheduled the batch file to run ever 60 seconds (maybe overkill). The good part is that devcon.exe does not disable devices if they are in use, it waits for a reboot. So, your active miners never go down they just get "flagged" to be disabled on next boot and your inactive miners get disabled/enabled and start working again. This also requires hotplug to be greater than 0 (I used --hotplug=10)

It's quick and dirty and by no means a great solution. But it works. If someone wants to take this and expand on it, be my guest.

To make sure its working:
Run CGMiner, make sure it works and miners start.
Close CGMiner.
Run CGMiner, no miners (or less miners) are found.
Close CGMiner.
Run batch found below.
Run CGMiner, all miners working again.

You may need to edit the batch file to include match your miners hardware ID (*5740* is wildcard-part_of_hardware_ID-wildcard). I'm not sure if all hardware IDs are all the same, but all mine are. I just shoved it in the root of my C:\ drive. It's very basic and self explanatory.

Zip contains:
devcon.exe
resetusb.bat
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ih0eszwbf6bucl4/resetusb.zip

I hope this helps some usb plugging, nail-biting, BCTer get out and grab a little sunlight instead of hiding in the basement waiting for that inevitable USB failure.  

[suchmoon]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

http://lutro0-customs.com/products/gridseed-pci-e-modded-power-cables

Or just buy some 18-gauge wire, cannibalize a PCI-e or Molex extension cable and use these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111298364684 (this one's in China, you might want to find them closer to home)

[jamieb81]

this one is also selling nice items

http://www.bobsbitcoinsupply.com/addtocart.sc

[podizzle]

Never use psu (adapter) from China .. blown a few already.. use PC's psu.

Not sure what's the startup amp .. but your psu is 12v 10a? it can only support max 2 GS in dual mine mode.

Anyone know of a source for the ATX PCIe (and molex) to barrel plug adapters?
Seems CabelZ is no longer making them...

It is not difficult to make one yourself. Just need to find a molex cable that splits input to 2 output, then cut it and attached to the barrel plug..

Im not having much luck finding the pcie mail sockets with crimp pins...
The molex sockets are easier to find, but still looking for the crimp pins.
I didn't really want to hack an existing cable and have a bunch of electrical tape, looks kinda crappy.

i put all 18 of my splices in one location and put a large piece of shrink tube over all of them..... looks seemless.