Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread

[TopMiningMiner]

Quick question; when hooking up the Apollos to the breakout board, does it matter which they are connected to? I'm assuming it doesn't, but I want to be sure before the Apollo
s arrive (next week hopefully)

PSU+Breakout board i have:
https://www.parallelminer.com/product/platinum-psu-kit-hp-1200-watt-x8-for-asic-gpu-miner/

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[highaltitude]

I haven't been on here in a while, and I'll read back too see if I can find info. I ordered one of the new power supplies for the Apollo a few months ago and haven't heard anything from Futurebit. Are they still coming?

[jstnryan]

when hooking up the Apollos to the breakout board, does it matter which they are connected to?

No. All connectors on the breakout board provide the same power.

[jstnryan]

I haven't been on here in a while, and I'll read back too see if I can find info. I ordered one of the new power supplies for the Apollo a few months ago and haven't heard anything from Futurebit. Are they still coming?

There is a post three spots above yours that explains that not only is this the wrong place to ask that question, but also has an explanation of shipping timeframes.

[mickeykool]

I skimmed thru the forum and didn't see the answer i was looking for.  Sorry if this is a repeat.  

I just got my Apollo today and will use my spare 550 PSU for now till i get futureBit PSU.  Anyway my question is that do i use 2 separate PCIE cables from PSU to Apollo or will i be fine w/ using 1 PCIE cable on both power terminals on Apollo?

One thing i noticed I'm seeing HW errors.  Is this normal? 

[147 accepted   1 rejected    108 HW error]       

[ejonathonw]

Hey everybody!

(just imagine that in Dr. Nick's voice, ha, now it's stuck there)

Just curious if anyone had experimented with auxiliary fans or ducting to move air out and away from your Apollo's.
I have a couple L3's that I've finally perfected some duct work with an exhaust fan and was thinking about trying to tie in the Apollo as well.
Be glad to hear thoughts, concerns, and suggestions on the build idea.
That being;
Removing the cover, side plates, and stock fan.
Putting a 120mm on the heat sink and attaching it...somehow.
Zip-ties are great.
Running that off a 12v power supply that is running my exhaust fans, which are also 120mm, and has an adjustable output to control the speed.
Attaching a 4" shroud to duct into the existing work.
One of my major concerns is that because the 120mm fan is a bit larger than the heat-sink, it will not pull enough air "through" the actual heat-sink because of its super sweet design and just pull air from the sides.
A possible fix for this would be mounting an fan with a shroud on both sides of the fan to restrict the air flow to the actual cutout of the existing fan exhaust on the cover plate.
jstefanop, is there a fan sensor safety like the L3 have or just the temp sensors?
Just to be clear, I have zero problem with the noise levels, its minimal anyway, or actual heat coming off of the Apollo.  This is just messing around.  I live in Austin so always tinkering with ideas during the summer time.
The next project will be taking on littleless's solar power setup.
Thanks y'all,
Happy Mining.

[jstnryan]

One thing i noticed I'm seeing HW errors.  Is this normal? 

[147 accepted   1 rejected    108 HW error]       

Yes. Stock settings (eco, balanced, turbo) all allowed for about 5% HW errors, if I recall correctly. It seems high (compared to other ASICs), but jstefanop insists it's normal for the chips he used.

[DeauxJoe]

Hello guys! As with a lot of people here I'm brand new to mining. In fact, the ease of the Apollos is what got me hooked. My question is more pool-related and not hardware related. I am pointed to nicehash as a primary and litecoinpool and a secondary. I find that my equipment fails over to litecoinpool just about daily. Is that normal?  Is that something on the pool side, or should I look at my hardware?

[jstefanop]

Hello guys! As with a lot of people here I'm brand new to mining. In fact, the ease of the Apollos is what got me hooked. My question is more pool-related and not hardware related. I am pointed to nicehash as a primary and litecoinpool and a secondary. I find that my equipment fails over to litecoinpool just about daily. Is that normal?  Is that something on the pool side, or should I look at my hardware?

Unfortunately you cant mix multipools with other pools on bfgminer . What happens is that bfgminer accepts block updates from even secondary pools connected to other coins, so it screws up the main pool while mining litecoin for example.

For secondary pools you have to make sure the backup pool is running the same coin your primary pool is running (ie if your running litecoin as your main pool dont have your backup pool connected to a mutipool or some other coin).

If you want to run on a mutlipool it has to be the only pool configured (ie no backup pool, and you have to run off donation pool) for it to work correctly.

[cosmiconion]

Thankyou for asking this question and answering.
Could not understand why I could not run a multi strategy or mine two different coin, like lite coin and block chain note NTBC
it seems it is one or the other

Hello guys! As with a lot of people here I'm brand new to mining. In fact, the ease of the Apollos is what got me hooked. My question is more pool-related and not hardware related. I am pointed to nicehash as a primary and litecoinpool and a secondary. I find that my equipment fails over to litecoinpool just about daily. Is that normal?  Is that something on the pool side, or should I look at my hardware?

Unfortunately you cant mix multipools with other pools on bfgminer . What happens is that bfgminer accepts block updates from even secondary pools connected to other coins, so it screws up the main pool while mining litecoin for example.

For secondary pools you have to make sure the backup pool is running the same coin your primary pool is running (ie if your running litecoin as your main pool dont have your backup pool connected to a mutipool or some other coin).

If you want to run on a mutlipool it has to be the only pool configured (ie no backup pool, and you have to run off donation pool) for it to work correctly.

[psycodad]

Hello guys! As with a lot of people here I'm brand new to mining. In fact, the ease of the Apollos is what got me hooked. My question is more pool-related and not hardware related. I am pointed to nicehash as a primary and litecoinpool and a secondary. I find that my equipment fails over to litecoinpool just about daily. Is that normal?  Is that something on the pool side, or should I look at my hardware?

Unfortunately you cant mix multipools with other pools on bfgminer . What happens is that bfgminer accepts block updates from even secondary pools connected to other coins, so it screws up the main pool while mining litecoin for example.

For secondary pools you have to make sure the backup pool is running the same coin your primary pool is running (ie if your running litecoin as your main pool dont have your backup pool connected to a mutipool or some other coin).

If you want to run on a mutlipool it has to be the only pool configured (ie no backup pool, and you have to run off donation pool) for it to work correctly.

I was in this exact same dilemma with my Apollos which I want to run on multipools and have backups configured for failover. I then decided to give https://github.com/Stratehm/stratum-proxy a try which does a great job for this purpose.

On a side note: One of my Apollos crashed regulary (every 4-7days) and I suspected it to be related with the pool going down or being unreachable for short moments (and refused to reflash it out of lazyness). Since I run it over the above proxy I've got zero crashes (right now it is a bit more than 4 weeks without any hiccups).

Also I can now just switch between configured pools with a mouse click, no restarts required. The only downside is that you need a separate machine for it (either a little VPS or something like a RPI), I don't think it can or should be run on an Apollo directly.

HTH

[jstefanop]

Hello guys! As with a lot of people here I'm brand new to mining. In fact, the ease of the Apollos is what got me hooked. My question is more pool-related and not hardware related. I am pointed to nicehash as a primary and litecoinpool and a secondary. I find that my equipment fails over to litecoinpool just about daily. Is that normal?  Is that something on the pool side, or should I look at my hardware?

Unfortunately you cant mix multipools with other pools on bfgminer . What happens is that bfgminer accepts block updates from even secondary pools connected to other coins, so it screws up the main pool while mining litecoin for example.

For secondary pools you have to make sure the backup pool is running the same coin your primary pool is running (ie if your running litecoin as your main pool dont have your backup pool connected to a mutipool or some other coin).

If you want to run on a mutlipool it has to be the only pool configured (ie no backup pool, and you have to run off donation pool) for it to work correctly.

I was in this exact same dilemma with my Apollos which I want to run on multipools and have backups configured for failover. I then decided to give https://github.com/Stratehm/stratum-proxy a try which does a great job for this purpose.

On a side note: One of my Apollos crashed regulary (every 4-7days) and I suspected it to be related with the pool going down or being unreachable for short moments (and refused to reflash it out of lazyness). Since I run it over the above proxy I've got zero crashes (right now it is a bit more than 4 weeks without any hiccups).

Also I can now just switch between configured pools with a mouse click, no restarts required. The only downside is that you need a separate machine for it (either a little VPS or something like a RPI), I don't think it can or should be run on an Apollo directly.

HTH

It can be run directly on the apollo, I actually thought about doing this for a temporary fix until I have time to fix bfgminer.

[TheRipler]

Got my batch 2 units on Friday, and have had them all running for over a day now. Really like the new cases, and curious where the wifi ant went. Batch 1 had them flapping in the breeze, so I see it as an improvement. Maybe the metal case facilitated this?

One minor miner issue: The first one I set up was working fine, but as I restarted the 3 units on the same PSU, that first one didn't have the amber LED at startup. Then I set up wifi, and restarted them again. It took a while for the green/red to start blinking. Now that unit has no front LED indication at all. Tried putting it back on wired ethernet, as well as reflashed the SD card for grins, but no change. Otherwise, it appears to be humming along just fine.

Q: Is there a connector that may have come loose, or could this be a harbinger of things to come for the board?

Thanks!

[jstefanop]

has anyone made any adjustments to the voltage or frequencies and wish to share them?
And also I seem to be getting a lot of HW Errors  is this normal?
I'm fairly new at this so any input will be appreciated

Yes this is normal. The number of hardware errors does not really matter, just keep an eye on the HW % on the top box.  Even the best units won’t have anything less than .5% errors. As long as it’s under 2% your fine.

[jchotz]

I recd my new PSU - thanks! But, I notice it only has one output plug whereas the Apollo has two plug receptacles. My off-the-shelf PSU had a cable with an extra head on the end and that worked fine. How should I plug in the new PSU to the Apollo unit?

[mickeykool]

Is there a way to reset dashboard password on the box or I need to re=flash the image again on SD card?  For some reason my password is not correct even thou i was able to access it before.

[jstefanop]

I recd my new PSU - thanks! But, I notice it only has one output plug whereas the Apollo has two plug receptacles. My off-the-shelf PSU had a cable with an extra head on the end and that worked fine. How should I plug in the new PSU to the Apollo unit?

Just plug it into the right port. Remember to never plug another PSU/PSU cable into the spare port, this will either blow up one of the PSUs or cause a fire.

[jstefanop]

Is there a way to reset dashboard password on the box or I need to re=flash the image again on SD card?  For some reason my password is not correct even thou i was able to access it before.

Unfortunately no, this is by design. You need to re-image the sd-card if you forget you password.

[TheRipler]

One minor miner issue: The first one I set up was working fine, but as I restarted the 3 units on the same PSU, that first one didn't have the amber LED at startup. Then I set up wifi, and restarted them again. It took a while for the green/red to start blinking. Now that unit has no front LED indication at all. Tried putting it back on wired ethernet, as well as reflashed the SD card for grins, but no change. Otherwise, it appears to be humming along just fine.

Q: Is there a connector that may have come loose, or could this be a harbinger of things to come for the board?

Thanks!

Just throwing this back out there since we're on a new page. Wondering if it is worth opening up.

[jstefanop]

One minor miner issue: The first one I set up was working fine, but as I restarted the 3 units on the same PSU, that first one didn't have the amber LED at startup. Then I set up wifi, and restarted them again. It took a while for the green/red to start blinking. Now that unit has no front LED indication at all. Tried putting it back on wired ethernet, as well as reflashed the SD card for grins, but no change. Otherwise, it appears to be humming along just fine.

Q: Is there a connector that may have come loose, or could this be a harbinger of things to come for the board?

Thanks!

Just throwing this back out there since we're on a new page. Wondering if it is worth opening up.

Thats weird, you could try lifting the controller board a bit out of its socket and re-set it in there and make sure its seated in there well.

If its still not working just shoot me a PM, could just be a bad LED module that need to be replaced.