GekkoScience NewPac / Terminus R606 (BM1387) Official Support Thread

[mstrozier]

Autotuning is still a work in progress but the idea follows simple logic...

Thanks 419Mining  That makes sense.   Appreciate the help everyone.  So the r606 appears to be working as intended.  I need to look more into my newpac and moonlander's now.    I've now isolated that portion down to freq.  325Mhz seems to be the sweet spot at stock settings.  I haven't done any bumps in voltage.  At 350Mhz it'll crash cgminer.    I believe I'm going to leave them at 325Mhz as they are pulling in close to 72Gh/s per stick.

[vh]

@mstrozier

Check if it can settle at a higher frequency when connected to a tested pool supporting AB.   (bottom of this post)

the quick way:  add --gekko-r606-freq 700 to a copy of the original test_mining.bat, and run it for a little bit as is.

[mstrozier]

Ok I believe the pool where I am mining Litecoin Cash  does not fully support AB.  As I created a test run on Kano per the thread you linked me.  And I'm getting 942Gh/s currently at 700 Mhz at 98% and best share 1.03M.  And in cgminer where it shows the freq speeds, it's listing it as 700/700/646

So, guess my next route is trying to find a supported pool that'll mine LCC.   Otherwise I'll have to leave this on magnificent pool and lower the freq to about 450.

Thanks vh, greatly appreciated.

[sidehack]

Trust VH to catch that detail. I missed from the pictures that it wasn't running AB. Because of how work is handled internally by the chips in ASICBoost mode the USB throughput is more efficient. On my system it maxes out around 575MHz, which is why I set the "stock speed" at 550MHz - because 750GH is a nice round number than should be attainable without AB. Probably your controller has a bit less efficient USB path or something and that bottlenecked it more.

Good to know it's not the machine.

If anyone's wondering, it's issues like this that I haven't opened up international sales on the R606 yet. I want a better picture of what could go wrong and that's easier to do when shipping times are short and the customer speaks English. These have been moving for a couple weeks now and there haven't been any real concerns yet so that's great.

[gt_addict]

So the potential 1Th is only obtainable with AB enabled?

EDIT: Should’ve known better and read the first post of the thread. The chart makes sense now. Hopefully I can figure out why AB doesn't work on my win10 pc

[mstrozier]

Trust VH to catch that detail. I missed from the pictures that it wasn't running AB. Because of how work is handled internally by the chips in ASICBoost mode the USB throughput is more efficient. On my system it maxes out around 575MHz, which is why I set the "stock speed" at 550MHz - because 750GH is a nice round number than should be attainable without AB. Probably your controller has a bit less efficient USB path or something and that bottlenecked it more.

Good to know it's not the machine.

If anyone's wondering, it's issues like this that I haven't opened up international sales on the R606 yet. I want a better picture of what could go wrong and that's easier to do when shipping times are short and the customer speaks English. These have been moving for a couple weeks now and there haven't been any real concerns yet so that's great.

Yup that was it.  I assume the + beside BM1387:12 stands for AB enabled?  I am testing out one Litecoin Cash site that I've found that states they support Asic Boost.  I'll update later after I let this run for a bit to be sure.  The site is https://lcc.multipools.club if anyone else wants to test.

[mstrozier]

Ok for anyone looking to mine Litecoin Cash (LCC) with a mining pool that supports Asic Boost, this one from multipools works. (https://lcc.multipools.club)  I am also able to run all 4 of my newpacs and the 2 moonlanders as well.   Now the only downside to this site, is that I couldn't run all 4 newpacs and the r606 in the same instance.  I had to actually break them down into 3 separate instances.  The r606 by itself and then group the newpacs in groups of two.  As when I originally ran the  4 newpacs as an instance themselves, only 3 would get accepted jobs, the 4th stick showed 98% however after 45 minutes of running, never accepted a job.

After splitting them out this way, they are all working nicely.

For the r606 I had to bump it back up to volt setting 5 in order to run 700 for the Freq, otherwise cgminer would crash back to the command line.  Below are some screen shots.  The newpacs are running at 325Mhz.  And the Moonlanders are running at 648.  I did have them up to 720 however their little fans started sounding like a bunch of high pitched angry bee's.  So dialed them back down.  The Mh/s difference just isn't enough to justify it. With each stick running about 3.6 Mh/s instead of 4.02 +/- Mh/s.  So my little rig running nicely.

Thanks to everyone that helped me.  Greatly appreciated.  Now time to order 3 more  

https://ibb.co/9gWvXPw <-- screen shot of r606 and one set of newpacs.

https://ibb.co/CPZP8y4 <--- screen shot of 2nd set of newpacs and 2 moonlanders.

[419mining]

Thank you for the research!

[rockmoney]

Thanks 419Mining  That makes sense.   Appreciate the help everyone.  So the r606 appears to be working as intended.  I need to look more into my newpac and moonlander's now.    I've now isolated that portion down to freq.  325Mhz seems to be the sweet spot at stock settings.  I haven't done any bumps in voltage.  At 350Mhz it'll crash cgminer.    I believe I'm going to leave them at 325Mhz as they are pulling in close to 72Gh/s per stick.

You could always try running separate instances of cgminer for each device type. I generally run the R606 pod miners in separate instances, and have had best results using the December 13 version of cgminer for the NewPac sticks, and the latest April 30 version for the R606.

Hope that might help!  

[mstrozier]

Well I am back with more questions this morning.   After my last post, the R606 ran for a few hours and then it dropped out back to command line again.  cgminer gave the summary like it would when you press Q to quit.  Not sure what is causing the miner to stop.  I tested lowering the voltage to 4 and dropping the freq to 550.  Ran for 4 hours and again dropped.

So I assumed, with the moonlanders and newpacs also running on this same Ubuntu Linux box then maybe there is some communication traffic issues that is causing it.  So this morning I moved it to the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and it is the only device running on this SBC.

Bumped the voltage to setting 6 as with settings 4 and 5, with Freq set to 700 it kept down tuning to mid 400s.  I now added a line --gekko-tune-down 90  just to test around at.   And now noticing quite a few of these messages:

Asic Plateau (1/3) 583.33 Mhz
Missing Nonces from chip (0) -- 589.58 Mhz
then the usual reset messages and it continues hashing.

Then another one as Asic Plateau (2/3)   and nonces from chip (1)  -- 572.92 Mhz.   Then it resets the chip and continues on.

Is this normal?

[sidehack]

I would expect more than 600MHz from volt 6. Must have a pretty borderline chip in the string.

I know miners like to be cool, but make sure it's not too cold. I noticed yestereve that my shop was getting a bit chilly, and every R606 on the tester had a - for chip 0 status; chip 0 is right in front of the fan.

[mstrozier]

Interesting.  That could be it as well then.  I have switched it back over to Kano pool to test with since I know it was working as expected there.   And it was cool this morning.  I have this rig in our bedroom which also doubles as my office (work remote) and it's near a window.  We had them open last night and it's a cool 66 Degrees F outside in these Kentucky Mountains   And the miner was started from a cold start as last night after it randomly stopped on the Ubuntu box, I just unplugged it and left it off until this morning to try again.


**edit**

Same results on Kano pool as the LCC pool I'm mining on.  So I've switched it back over to mine LCC, set the voltage down to 5 and set the freq down to 550.  Going to let it run for a while hopefully warm up the chips before I bump it back up to 700.  As right now it's never breaking 620 without resetting and starting all over due to chip 0.

Ok I'm at a loss.   I am still getting errors on chip 0.   I have lowered voltage to setting 4.  Ran at 550 Mhz and the errors occurred only a couple of times but then seemed to kind of leveled off?  I have increased the  freq to 600, and set auto tune down to 0 so that it'll be disabled.   I recorded a video which I can post up at a later time where at 600 for freq seemed to have been working great.  But then a while into it I started receiving Asic Plateau and nonces on chip 0.  Followed by a Peak Adjust when the work was at 98% from 600 to 593.75.  I had no errors when this portion went through.  Then another plateau error / nonce on chip 0 and downtuned from 593.75 to 587.50.

Screen shot: https://ibb.co/P5LfBn3

Any ideas?  Is there a breakdown on the voltage setting per freq?  Or still just trial and error?   And could this be related to a voltage or something wrong with my chip 0?   Right now at time of this posting it seems to have leveled off at 588 Mhz.  Still at 98% and with --gekko-tune-down 0.


**edit**

no leveling off, still down tuning, 581 Mhz now by the peak adjust.   Each time, being 98% or above.

Another screen shot.  Volt setting 5.  Set at 800 and this time autotune in place so I knew it would down clock it.  However still nonces on chip 0.

https://ibb.co/sKKzpxX


*Edit again*

Could this be simply voltage?  Did another trial.  Left autotune on it's default of 95%.  Lowered the voltage to setting 1.  Set the Freq to 600 (I know it'll downtune it, just wanted to see about the nonces and asic plateau's).   And after 15 minutes of running I got a nonces error however this time, chip 7  instead of 0.   I'm going to stop the miner.  Change to Volt setting 2 and try again with this setting.


** Hopefully last edit **

I'm going to assume voltage was my issue for the nonces.  Too much voltage or too little voltage.  As now, I have it on volt setting 3.  Freq set to 600.   It's working at 97 - 99 %.  And so far not a single Asic Plateau granted it's only ran for 20 minutes so far.   It was giving those notifications just shortly after starting before.  Will let this run for a few hours and report back the findings.  Right now  freq in cgminer is showing 600/600/572.   Staying about 96%.  With 5 second hashing of 802Gh/s.  Average currently 681.5 Gh/s.   See what it looks like after a few hours.


***  Bah  ***

I about give up.  Came back to check on it.  And again, plateauing, then it down clocks due to nonces on chip 0.  It's now running at 581 Mhz.  Pulling about 780 Gh/s.   Will leave it be. Don't know what else to do it.  If it remains 500Mhz or above I'll be happy with it.  Wanted a bit more, just not sure what's causing the issue unless I have a weak chip.

[kingofhammers]

I've restarted everything to track for the next 24 hours, as I've had some issues that need isolating.

Upon restart, 2 of the four units are flashing all three vcore adjustment indicators at me now. I read something about flashing lights being an overtemp indicator, its 71 degF in the room. The units in question seem to be hashing away with no discernible issues.  But, is this something I should worry about?

The miners also seem to be ignoring the custom frequency settings that I'm designating at startup [--gekko-r606-freq 700] yet the target freq is 550Mhz. I know that the autotune finds the optimal frequency for the chips at a given voltage so its no big deal. But if I want to push them a little harder, how do I get past that? <-- figured this out

I'm running on a raspberry pi with raspbian and the most recent version of the modified cgminer. My power supply is a Bitmain AWP7. Right now the target freq is 550Mhz, despite my inputs, 700Mhz at volt setting 3 4.

Edit: Back to 550Mhz, volt setting 5. Just had a nonce error and a retarget to 506Mhz, this is one of the two units with the flashing lights room temp is 72degF.

[mstrozier]

I've restarted everything to track for the next 24 hours, as I've had some issues that need isolating...

Was waiting to see if one of the more knowledgeable would chime in.   The only thing I can think to check is the heat sinks on your chips.  Make sure one of them didn't come loose during shipment.  I believe if the volt setting lights are flashing then it's an over heating indicator.   And if you put your hand on the exhaust side of the miner, is the fan blowing out really hot air?   Mine has been running now for just over 4 hours on volt setting 3 and 581 Mhz and it's barely warm air coming out of it.

I'm also getting the nonce errors but on chip 0.   However now at the current settings, it's not happening as often as it was.

[philipma1957]

You need a cheap heat meter. Amazon has them.

You point the gun at the units and get the temps.

Let me find a link.

https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Lasergrip-774-Non-contact-Thermometer/dp/B00837ZGRY

this one is 15.99  you can get an idea if they are really hot.

If the gun shows  normal temps  there is an issue.  Bad temp meter etc

If the gun shows high temps there is a different issue.  poor heat sink paste bad solder poor chip ?

[kingofhammers]

Was waiting to see if one of the more knowledgeable would chime in.   The only thing I can think to check is the heat sinks on your chips.  Make sure one of them didn't come loose during shipment.  I believe if the volt setting lights are flashing then it's an over heating indicator.   And if you put your hand on the exhaust side of the miner, is the fan blowing out really hot air?   Mine has been running now for just over 4 hours on volt setting 3 and 581 Mhz and it's barely warm air coming out of it.

I'm also getting the nonce errors but on chip 0.   However now at the current settings, it's not happening as often as it was.

The exhaust side is plenty cool and none of the miners seem even the slightest bit warm to the touch. If I start to notice a significant drop in performance I'll break out my meter and start probing around.

Here's what I'm working with now on voltage setting 5 and target freq set to 550Mhz: https://imgur.com/imYNFcL

The units with the flashing lights are: 10040020 & 10040022

[os2sam]

A couple R606 questions:

Does CGMiner show the temperatures of the unit?  I don't see the temps anywhere and when I go in the the USB menu check the device summary the temp is listed as 0.0.

Is this a USB 3.0 only device?  I initially connected to my PC via a USB 2.1 hub and it wouldn't go over around 200Mhz.  I unplugged my hub and went directly to the USB 3.0 port and it seems to be doing better.

[sidehack]

Could be an issue with the temp sensor. It's weird that I've tested seventy of these things and not seen any problem and you've got two of them doing the same thing. Usually when multiple anomalies coincide I start to question the user before I do the hardware.

I'm guessing you power-cycled the miners and the issue persisted, otherwise it'd be barely worth mentioning.

mstrozier - there's no such thing as "too much voltage" unless you're getting too much heat. Set the voltage and let the auto-tune do its thing. If it's not where you want it, step up the voltage and start over. Don't freak out that it's not perfect in ten minutes. Auto-tune can take a couple hours to flatten out.

The USB bus is not connected to the temp sensor at all. That's also why there's no software voltage control. Maybe on the next one.
This is a USB2.0 device but because of the timings and data throughputs required it's fairly sensitive to busy lines, especially without ASICBoost, as has been stated a couple times already.

[sidehack]

No that was a response for the guy a few steps above that's having an issue with the temp sensor. Your question popped up while I was typing advice for the two guys before you, so your answers are at the bottom.

[os2sam]

No that was a response for the guy a few steps above that's having an issue with the temp sensor. Your question popped up while I was typing advice for the two guys before you, so your answers are at the bottom.

Yep, I finally figured that out.
Thanks