GekkoScience NewPac / Terminus R606 (BM1387) Official Support Thread

[JohnDon87]

OK cool, its one of those things some people don't think about.

Can you tell us what ports your running the newpacs in, honestly, a picture of your setup would be good too.

https://i.imgur.com/8qPVG6U.jpg

[1714044260]

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[philipma1957]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035R

this is the power supply in the rig.  only other things running is a old gtx 560, the mb and a harddive

edit

pulled one miner off the hub, and ran 2 at 450mhz and it got pretty stable (running dec18 build), anything lower than that i get resets and missing nonce
i guess i need more power to run 3...

it is a low quality psu.  or at best medium quality  it has 2 rails  for 12 volts.  each are 22 amps  so  you could have the pcie jack pulling on a 22 amp rail along with the mobo using that rail.  which  would mean  you do not get a full 22 amps to pull on.. 22 x 12 = 264 watts  which seems enough  but if the mobo and the  pcie jack share a rail

and the cpu pulls on the other 12 volt rail using the  cpu cable. in both case you are pulling on limited power amp wise

ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V
80 PLUS BRONZE Certified
100 - 240 V 47 - 63 Hz
+3.3V@24A, +5V@24A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@22A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A

so one rail send say 12 amps to the mobo  and the other rail send 12 amps to the cpu cable

this means at best  there is only 10 amps left on either rail for your gear.

this gear is  a much better fit for you

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139244

only 69.99 after rebate  silver vs bronze  will save a few dollars every month  and it has power to spare  5 year warranty

It will be a better choice then the bronze you are using.

[goldsounds]

before i spend money on another PSU, if i pulled out the GTX card and used onboard video (which is fine for me, im not doing anything with it other than this), i bet i could get some more power out of the PCIe rail.

i really appreciate the help with this team!
I'm never expecting to mine to make myself rich, i just find it fascinating and a fun hobby project.  the Gekko team has really made it easy to learn about mining, and to get it going!  and support so far has been great.  You guys taking care of the n00bs is what makes me want to continue to purchase these items.  Now I need some Gekko vinyl stickers to put on my car!

Mainboard: M5A88-V EVO - ASUS
CPU: AMD FX-4100
(core voltage is running about about 1.0V right now)

(this compy was originally built to be my media center DVR.  picked up a fire recast for OTA recording, so needed to do something with the rig)

[JohnDon87]

https://i.imgur.com/8qPVG6U.jpg

I figured it out, still not enough power running the hub.

[419mining]

I figured it out, still not enough power running the hub

That sucks, but glad to hear you found a solution! Thanks for letting us know.

[goldsounds]

Team,

i have two more n00b questions.

Is there anyway to make each miner its own worker in my pool through CG miner?
or do all of them together become one worker, technically?

i.e..

Code:

us-east.stratum.slushpool.com:3333 -Gekko-newpac-GSH:0 -o username.worker1 -p x   --gekko-newpac-GSH:1 -o username.worker2 -p x

[K21000]

What would be a safe frequency to run these miners if your using a usb 3 port with passive cooling? Trying to figure out how much i can push these sticks before i need external cooling....

[gt_addict]

Team,

i have two more n00b questions.

Is there anyway to make each miner its own worker in my pool through CG miner?
or do all of them together become one worker, technically?

i.e..

Code:

us-east.stratum.slushpool.com:3333 -Gekko-newpac-GSH:0 -o username.worker1 -p x   --gekko-newpac-GSH:1 -o username.worker2 -p x

You can run an instance of cgminer for each stick and have a worker name set for each one. Although there isnt really much point with the sticks as the hashrate isnt much to worry about if one drops out.

What would be a safe frequency to run these miners if your using a usb 3 port with passive cooling? Trying to figure out how much i can push these sticks before i need external cooling....

It says on the first page of the thread   But incase you missed it. Its 125m for passive cooling.

[419mining]

What would be a safe frequency to run these miners if your using a usb 3 port with passive cooling? Trying to figure out how much i can push these sticks before i need external cooling....

419Mining, LLC states in all sales that active cooling is recommended even at stock speeds.

Bear in mind, a simple desk fan can be considered active cooling, most people even use something as simple as this USB fan: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254154810314.

[sidehack]

The BM1387 ASICs are very susceptible to thermal runaway. The difference between no cooling and even slight air movement can mean a halving of the power draw on the NewPac.

[Valnurat]

so you want to make a .sh file (shell script).

first line is always "#!/bin/sh"  (a.k.a hashbang then the script type.)
Then you include the command you would enter into the terminal on the next line.

obviously, it can get a lot more complicated, just like batch files, but that's the first step.

simple example:  run.sh

Code:

#!/bin/sh

cgminer -o stratum+tcp://pool.ckpool.org:3333 -u 1HpnRjN2ru4NhYFrZFsXe3JXCyJWW9fDeh.2pac -p x --suggest-diff 1  --gekko-2pac-freq 200

after you've made your .sh file, you need to make it executable.  the command for that is "chmod +x run.sh", or if you have a GUI, you can right click on it, and on one of the property pages you can select to make it executable.

then to run a shell script, you need to type in "./run.sh".  the dot slash is critical.

In connection with this, I would like to ask some n00b questions.
1st. What version of the Raspbian should I use?
2nd. Where do you save the run.sh?
3rd. How can you make the run.sh run at startup?
4th. How do you supervise your PI's?

[philipma1957]

before i spend money on another PSU, if i pulled out the GTX card and used onboard video (which is fine for me, im not doing anything with it other than this), i bet i could get some more power out of the PCIe rail.

i really appreciate the help with this team!
I'm never expecting to mine to make myself rich, i just find it fascinating and a fun hobby project.  the Gekko team has really made it easy to learn about mining, and to get it going!  and support so far has been great.  You guys taking care of the n00bs is what makes me want to continue to purchase these items.  Now I need some Gekko vinyl stickers to put on my car!

Mainboard: M5A88-V EVO - ASUS
CPU: AMD FX-4100
(core voltage is running about about 1.0V right now)

(this compy was originally built to be my media center DVR.  picked up a fire recast for OTA recording, so needed to do something with the rig)

maybe it would work  does the amd fx-4100  have a video chip?

it can pull up to 95 watts which is 7+ amps on one of the 2x 22amp rails so the rail feeding the cpu has under 15 amps left on it

Edit:

I checked the mobo and it has a video chip

you still may not fix your issue  

as I do not know how the 2x 22amp rails setup.

it is free to try it so why not give it a shot.

[goldsounds]

@phillip

thanks for the insight, i'll try!

i'll prob breakdown and get the PSU you suggested though

[philipma1957]

@phillip

thanks for the insight, i'll try!

i'll prob breakdown and get the PSU you suggested though

I know a tight budget is tough,  but it is a pretty good one for 69 after rebate.

[evade_57]

419Mining, LLC states in all sales that active cooling is recommended even at stock speeds.

Bear in mind, a simple desk fan can be considered active cooling, most people even use something as simple as this USB fan: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254154810314.

I use two of these on my GekkoScience hubs running 6 NewPacs at 200 Mhz

Overkill but if one fan fails, I'm still OK

Nice and cool & very quiet

[dashiva]

Hello all,
Just received a NewPac but can't seem to get cgminer 4.11.1 (installed via homebrew on Mac OS Sierra) to initialize the device. Runs 2pacs without issue. Tried using both the newpac-specific switches as well as no switches at all, and no luck.

This is the error:

Code:

 [2019-04-13 14:43:17.034] GekkoScience detect (20:30) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting
 [2019-04-13 14:43:17.035] No devices detected!
 [2019-04-13 14:43:17.035] Waiting for USB hotplug devices or press q to quit

Result of ./cgminer -n; ./cgminer --help | grep newpac-freq; sudo ./cgminer -n:

Code:

 [2019-04-13 14:34:21.596] USB all: found 13 devices - listing known devices
.USB dev 0: Bus 20 Device 30 ID: 0403:6015
  Manufacturer: 'GekkoScience'
  Product: 'NewPac Bitcoin Miner'                    
 [2019-04-13 14:34:21.596] 1 known USB devices                    
--gekko-newpac-freq <arg> Set GekkoScience NewPac BM1387 frequency in MHz, range 50-900 (default: 100)
 [2019-04-13 14:34:21.710] USB all: found 13 devices - listing known devices
.USB dev 0: Bus 20 Device 30 ID: 0403:6015
  Manufacturer: 'GekkoScience'
  Product: 'NewPac Bitcoin Miner'                    
 [2019-04-13 14:34:21.710] 1 known USB devices

Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

[gt_addict]

Not sure if its applicable but have you run Zadig for the newpac drivers?

[sidehack]

That's a good point. 2Pac and NewPac use a different USB chip so drivers wouldn't carry over.

[dfib]

In connection with this, I would like to ask some n00b questions.
1st. What version of the Raspbian should I use?
2nd. Where do you save the run.sh?
3rd. How can you make the run.sh run at startup?
4th. How do you supervise your PI's?

1. I'm currently running Raspian Stretch 9.8 with no issues.

2. You will likely want to save the run.sh file in the same folder as cgminer.

Another way to approach the issue, is  to run cgminer with the initial command line arguments, then use "s" > "w" ("Y" if asked to confirm overwrite) to write a config file.

Open another command prompt and (assuming you have a default instalation) navigate to and edit the config file with:

Code:

sudo su
cd /home/pi/.cgminer
nano cgminer.conf

You can now edit the cgminer config file.

Once you have it edited as desired, exit and save the cgminer.conf file with ctrl+x.

Now you can restart cgminer with "./cgminer" in the original window that cgminer was running in, and it will run with the updated config file settings. If you are switching settings often (maybe manually trying to hone in on a frequency) just leave the second command prompt window open so you can use one window for running cgminer and one for editing cgminer.conf.

3. I'll defer to someone else on this one, I'm just learning linux... (edit: This tutorial may have what you want for a cgminer auto run at start: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=233392.0).

4. For remote access I use VNC viewer.  You do have to sign up for a free account, but it's an easy process to get up and running. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-use-remote-desktop-on-the-raspberry-pi-with-vnc/all.

Hope that helps a bit.

[kano]

That's a good point. 2Pac and NewPac use a different USB chip so drivers wouldn't carry over.

The -n will show any devices that cgminer can see that are usable on USB

Zadig is Windows only and gives a USB connection to the USB devices that have a non-USB driver in Windows.

... though did he use 'sudo' to mine?