Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread

[VictorGT]

@jstefanop

Hey, I don't know if this is an issue with the Apollo firmware or the way that Prohashing issues work and switches coins, but figured I'd give you a heads up in case you or anyone else had ideas on how to solve.

TL;DR: When using Prohashing and having an active and failover pool enabled in my Apollo dash, I get high error rate, reducing hashing, and hash power going to active and failover pools simultaneously.

This is what I posted on their support forums, just speculating:

You can only use two or more pools, if they are both mining the same coin. If you use multipools, use only one (no failover). This is a bfgminer known problem.

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[whiteogre]

Hi jstefanop, I have a gen 1 apollo and I want to be able to run a node on it. I was wondering if you are going to have the upgrade kits in stock soon. TIA Best J

If it's the MCU board you are missing, it's the 512MB version of Orange PI Zero (not "plus", not "2") with straight pins soldered in the expansion port.

[azereki]

You can only use two or more pools, if they are both mining the same coin. If you use multipools, use only one (no failover). This is a bfgminer known problem.

Thanks man, did not realize that the problem. Appreciate the answer!

[almartins]

One of my two apollo batch 1 after being shut down, it didn't work anymore. When turning it on, only the fan runs for 1-2 s and stops. The front led has no activity and the network card leds appear to have normal activity. I already cleaned it and tried to find any signs of damage but I can't find any.
What else can I try?

That front led is software controlled. It showing no activity suggests that the system doesn't boot at all or not correctly at least. In that situations your options are somewhat limited:

Option 1) Re-flash the sd card. In many cases that appears to help.

Option 2) Flash another sd card. The current one may be dead.

Option 3) The non-trivial option: Get a USB to TTL adapter and attach it to the uart of the mcu board. That will allow you to see what is happening during system boot and possibly give a clue what's wrong.

Thanks whiteogre,
Option 1 made everything light up. I thought that the front led would give some signal even with the card damaged but not. So my two 'apollos' continue to mine and soon reach 5 LTC.

[simonv1983]

Hi jstefanop, I have a gen 1 apollo and I want to be able to run a node on it. I was wondering if you are going to have the upgrade kits in stock soon. TIA Best J

If it's the MCU board you are missing, it's the 512MB version of Orange PI Zero (not "plus", not "2") with straight pins soldered in the expansion port.

Thanks for that info. I just ordered a 512MB Orange PI Zero and will attempt to do the upgrade. Also does anyone know of any suitable fan replacements? My batch 1 unit is perfectly fine at the moment just wondering if there are any better quieter options out there.

[whiteogre]

Also does anyone know of any suitable fan replacements? My batch 1 unit is perfectly fine at the moment just wondering if there are any better quieter options out there.

The fan specs and requirements have been mentioned in a older message: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5081750.msg48627834#msg48627834

[vegascoinpool]

Apologies 100% if this has been asked and answered... I did dig around through quite a few of these pages before posting.

Is there an issue with these units and Nicehash? I've tried unsuccessfully all day today to switch the pool to Nicehash, and it immediately goes to an inactive status. I can put it on any other pool and it immediately begins hashing (Sigmapool, Litecoinpool, etc.) with no issues.

Settings:

Server:  stratum+tcp://scrypt.usa-east.nicehash.com:3333

Worker: 3D***********kp.APOLLO

Pass:  x

Thanks in advance...

[jstefanop]

Apologies 100% if this has been asked and answered... I did dig around through quite a few of these pages before posting.

Is there an issue with these units and Nicehash? I've tried unsuccessfully all day today to switch the pool to Nicehash, and it immediately goes to an inactive status. I can put it on any other pool and it immediately begins hashing (Sigmapool, Litecoinpool, etc.) with no issues.

Settings:

Server:  stratum+tcp://scrypt.usa-east.nicehash.com:3333

Worker: 3D***********kp.APOLLO

Pass:  x

Thanks in advance...

Multipools cause issues based on how they send work data. For nicehash try putting #xnsub at the end of the url, and make sure ALL failover and donation pools are disabled.

[vegascoinpool]

Multipools cause issues based on how they send work data. For nicehash try putting #xnsub at the end of the url, and make sure ALL failover and donation pools are disabled.

Thanks for the suggestion. Didn't do the trick. When miner fires back up, I can't even get to dashboard... I've moved it back to the other pool for now. Its not a big deal if I can't get it to work with Nicehash, though I'd like to.

I scrolled back a bit and saw some of the previous negative commentary.

FWIW, I've been a big fan for years. Had several Moonlanders over time, and really love this Apollo LCT unit now. I missed the BTC offering, or I would have gladly jumped on that. I'd been wanting to see someone do something like that for years now.

Keep up the good work.

[05sonicblue]

Is it possible to enable RPC on a full node? I'm writing a program to monitor my balances and I'm wanting to call the JSON RPC to get the balance for a public address. Since I already have a full node apollo running, I'd like to use that instead of setting up a 2nd node and would definitely be beneficial on the BTC apollo that I have on order so I'm not running 2 BTC nodes as well.

[LatinSlovak]

Hello, I've had my FutureBit running consistently for almost a year now with pretty much no issues, but recently I've had some disruptions to my internet which has caused the miner to shut down  "red light " showing , since this event I've had unusual HW errors, sometimes really high even in ECO mode, and I am having a very difficult time connecting to the Apollo dashboard on my mobile or laptop computer ,  on my Net Analyzer app I show the future bit IP address listed, but when I pull up my routers IP address it does not list.  Currently my miner is mining but I can not access on dashboard or reconnect the full node , ive seen mention of reimaging the SD card, im not quite sure how to do this .  Any suggestions or support would be appreciated.  Fyi, I also have an Antminer L3+ that is running with no issues, but I would really like to get this bad boy up and fully functional again. 

[jstefanop]

Is it possible to enable RPC on a full node? I'm writing a program to monitor my balances and I'm wanting to call the JSON RPC to get the balance for a public address. Since I already have a full node apollo running, I'd like to use that instead of setting up a 2nd node and would definitely be beneficial on the BTC apollo that I have on order so I'm not running 2 BTC nodes as well.

Yes but it might be limited to localhost for security, if you want to edit the conf file for your own stuff its at /opt/litecoin.conf

[jstefanop]

Hello, I've had my FutureBit running consistently for almost a year now with pretty much no issues, but recently I've had some disruptions to my internet which has caused the miner to shut down  "red light " showing , since this event I've had unusual HW errors, sometimes really high even in ECO mode, and I am having a very difficult time connecting to the Apollo dashboard on my mobile or laptop computer ,  on my Net Analyzer app I show the future bit IP address listed, but when I pull up my routers IP address it does not list.  Currently my miner is mining but I can not access on dashboard or reconnect the full node , ive seen mention of reimaging the SD card, im not quite sure how to do this .  Any suggestions or support would be appreciated.  Fyi, I also have an Antminer L3+ that is running with no issues, but I would really like to get this bad boy up and fully functional again. 

Have you tried a power cycle, this usually clears any issues. Reflashing the SD card is easy, just download the image on the second post of this thread and use etcher to burn it.

[SterilLightUVC]

Hey I have 2 ltc batch 2 futurebit apollos. I was told to reflash one of my miners because it went off line out of no where. I followed the instructions on the first page of this thread and flashed the latest version onto the sd card. NOTHING! I literally went back and tried all the other/older updates. Nothing still! Now I went back and flashed the newest software on the card and it wont even boot up. HELP!!!

[jstefanop]

Hey I have 2 ltc batch 2 futurebit apollos. I was told to reflash one of my miners because it went off line out of no where. I followed the instructions on the first page of this thread and flashed the latest version onto the sd card. NOTHING! I literally went back and tried all the other/older updates. Nothing still! Now I went back and flashed the newest software on the card and it wont even boot up. HELP!!!

Do you see the ethernet lights flash in the back a few times when you power it on? If not it means you didn't flash correctly.

[SterilLightUVC]

I just turned it on and it flashed.

[devincrypt]

The way LTC has been moving I'm hoping FutureBit has an new more powerful Scrypt Apollo coming.....

[telrodt]

Futurebit Apollo - won't stay connected

So I can't get my apollo to hash, after it connects and disconnects a couple times I get the error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:4028

I have an l3+ hashing away with exactly the same settings on litecoinpool but cant seem to make the apollo work.

I reflashed the sd and it boots, I can get into the interface, it will show a connection for a few seconds then it drops eventually giving me the error.

[SterilLightUVC]

Same here! I reflashed the card and same issue still. I had to send it to futurebit for repairs

[dupdeedo]

Does anyone know a reliable script to set up a Moonlander to solo mine a doge wallet?

I know its a silly undertaking, I'm just trying to see if I can do it.

I have 3 moonlanders, a usb hub, and a Mac.

Any advice would be cool.
Thanks so much.