ANTMINER S2 Discussion and Support Thread

[nottm28]

i used a half grain of rice size on each chip and smear it with the syringe tip, then smoosh the heatsink in a tiny circular motion with pressure to spread it (hopefully) in all directions using the holes to see where im going.

i started on a btach 3 today and while the paste was applied better it has dried to a flaky version of itself.


what do people think about replacing the stock heat sink with 64 perfect sized ones? (apart from needing 640 per rig)

i imagine the increased airflow would be awesome but also have no experience using these little ones... are they as efficient as, or more so than the stock lump?

Not sure why all the issues with heat... But then again I have mine in a datacenter... Is it difficult to keep antminer s2 cool in a regular house?

This would be good info to know before I ever decide to ship them to my home.

Mine started to randomly shutdown when they went over 55 degrees C when we had really hot weather recently. Normally they run at around 49% for me - UK - so 6 degrees to play with is not much really. I drafted in extra large fans which kept them below 55 (just about). Plus they are quite loud to have in your home.

[Honeycutt22]

i used a half grain of rice size on each chip and smear it with the syringe tip, then smoosh the heatsink in a tiny circular motion with pressure to spread it (hopefully) in all directions using the holes to see where im going.

i started on a btach 3 today and while the paste was applied better it has dried to a flaky version of itself.


what do people think about replacing the stock heat sink with 64 perfect sized ones? (apart from needing 640 per rig)

i imagine the increased airflow would be awesome but also have no experience using these little ones... are they as efficient as, or more so than the stock lump?

Not sure why all the issues with heat... But then again I have mine in a datacenter... Is it difficult to keep antminer s2 cool in a regular house?

This would be good info to know before I ever decide to ship them to my home.

Mine started to randomly shutdown when they went over 55 degrees C when we had really hot weather recently. Normally they run at around 49% for me - UK - so 6 degrees to play with is not much really. I drafted in extra large fans which kept them below 55 (just about). Plus they are quite loud to have in your home.

Thanks! I haven't decided what to do with mine just yet... Want to wait and see what this upgrade will be.. Plus they should be profitable for a while..

But I pay $750 a month in hosting.. Which is really pissing me off. Looking for new hosting service if anyone knows.

Oh I meant to add... Can you look at putting them in a closed room with a fan exhaust dumping the heat out a window? Then buy a separate small AC unit for the room? That's what I would look into if I were to house my 5 miners at home...

[Iradium]

i started on a btach 3 today and while the paste was applied better it has dried to a flaky version of itself.


what do people think about replacing the stock heat sink with 64 perfect sized ones? (apart from needing 640 per rig)

i imagine the increased airflow would be awesome but also have no experience using these little ones... are they as efficient as, or more so than the stock lump?
[/quote]

Are you hashing in Thailand?  Heat is definitely a problem there for miner rigs.

[nottm28]

Thanks! I haven't decided what to do with mine just yet... Want to wait and see what this upgrade will be.. Plus they should be profitable for a while..

But I pay $750 a month in hosting.. Which is really pissing me off. Looking for new hosting service if anyone knows.

Oh I meant to add... Can you look at putting them in a closed room with a fan exhaust dumping the heat out a window? Then buy a separate small AC unit for the room? That's what I would look into if I were to house my 5 miners at home...

Ouch. $750 per month - blimey.

1 S2 only mines $465.5 per month - I assume you have several in there. The thought of paying all that money for hosting though - seems wrong. Then again electricity costs, cooling costs - I suppose it's much of a muchness.

[Honeycutt22]

Thanks! I haven't decided what to do with mine just yet... Want to wait and see what this upgrade will be.. Plus they should be profitable for a while..

But I pay $750 a month in hosting.. Which is really pissing me off. Looking for new hosting service if anyone knows.

Oh I meant to add... Can you look at putting them in a closed room with a fan exhaust dumping the heat out a window? Then buy a separate small AC unit for the room? That's what I would look into if I were to house my 5 miners at home...

Ouch. $750 per month - blimey.

1 S2 only mines $465.5 per month - I assume you have several in there. The thought of paying all that money for hosting though - seems wrong. Then again electricity costs, cooling costs - I suppose it's much of a muchness.

Yea I have 5. It's a tier 3 data center so has all the Bella and whistles. Thinkining if switching to a place that does it for 375 but it won't have uninterruptible power suph and things. Also a bit more down time. But half the cost so probably worth it.

[smesterj]

My S2 was working fine for a week in eligius, after a payment delay decide to try Ghash, coincidence or not the HW errors went to sky, any suggestion?

I figured it out. Put in on btcguild and see what happens.

btcguild will close in 3 or 4 month if the proposed regulations from the New York department of financial services are approved and no workaround. At least that is what it shows in the website news on July 19th.

[smesterj]

i used a half grain of rice size on each chip and smear it with the syringe tip, then smoosh the heatsink in a tiny circular motion with pressure to spread it (hopefully) in all directions using the holes to see where im going.





i started on a btach 3 today and while the paste was applied better it has dried to a flaky version of itself.


what do people think about replacing the stock heat sink with 64 perfect sized ones? (apart from needing 640 per rig)

i imagine the increased airflow would be awesome but also have no experience using these little ones... are they as efficient as, or more so than the stock lump?

Nice job, I have 2 cards 3-4 degrees over the others one is 56 already will try that.

[DebitMe]

I am having some trouble with an S2 unit that I have had running.  It has been running perfectly at 1 TH/s since I got it, but after some installation of S3's last night, it is now showing problems.

The LCD on the unit says that it is hashing at 1 TH/s and it looks to be OK inside the unit.  Everything is flashing normally and looking OK, but the pool is only showing about 100 GH/s hitting it from the unit.  Does anyone know why the two might be showing this discrepancy?

[Biodom]

I am having some trouble with an S2 unit that I have had running.  It has been running perfectly at 1 TH/s since I got it, but after some installation of S3's last night, it is now showing problems.

The LCD on the unit says that it is hashing at 1 TH/s and it looks to be OK inside the unit.  Everything is flashing normally and looking OK, but the pool is only showing about 100 GH/s hitting it from the unit.  Does anyone know why the two might be showing this discrepancy?

Interesting, does S3 show 1300GH instead? Are both units on the same ethernet hub or connected independently?
I had a freak occurrence when I unplugged S2 that was on the independent power strip and S3 that was nearby (and on a DIFFERENT power strip) switched off, then back on.
This is weird, I know.
I think that this is because S3 has some wi-fi capability which might have some interaction with the router or they somehow had some interaction through the ethernet hub. Anyway, it was spooky, but I double checked the fact that the units were on different power strips.

Does that 900 mH go anywhere where you can detect it or is it just gone?

[DebitMe]

I am having some trouble with an S2 unit that I have had running.  It has been running perfectly at 1 TH/s since I got it, but after some installation of S3's last night, it is now showing problems.

The LCD on the unit says that it is hashing at 1 TH/s and it looks to be OK inside the unit.  Everything is flashing normally and looking OK, but the pool is only showing about 100 GH/s hitting it from the unit.  Does anyone know why the two might be showing this discrepancy?

Interesting, does S3 show 1300GH instead? Are both units on the same ethernet hub or connected independently?
I had a freak occurrence when I unplugged S2 that was on the independent power strip and S3 that was nearby (and on a DIFFERENT power strip) switched off, then back on.
This is weird, I know.
I think that this is because S3 has some wi-fi capability which might have some interaction with the router or they somehow had some interaction through the ethernet hub. Anyway, it was spooky, but I double checked the fact that the units were on different power strips.

Does that 900 mH go anywhere where you can detect it or is it just gone?

I haven't been able to find it at all.  Everything else connected to my pool is accounted for as each unit has a different worker name and everything else it running fine. (Besides one pesky S3 that I will have to spend some time trying to get running properly tonight).  I can't imagine that one is causing problems for the other as there are 10 S3's, 5 or so S1's and 2 S2's running in parallel down there and this is the only issue.

[Biodom]

I am having some trouble with an S2 unit that I have had running.  It has been running perfectly at 1 TH/s since I got it, but after some installation of S3's last night, it is now showing problems.

The LCD on the unit says that it is hashing at 1 TH/s and it looks to be OK inside the unit.  Everything is flashing normally and looking OK, but the pool is only showing about 100 GH/s hitting it from the unit.  Does anyone know why the two might be showing this discrepancy?

Interesting, does S3 show 1300GH instead? Are both units on the same ethernet hub or connected independently?
I had a freak occurrence when I unplugged S2 that was on the independent power strip and S3 that was nearby (and on a DIFFERENT power strip) switched off, then back on.
This is weird, I know.
I think that this is because S3 has some wi-fi capability which might have some interaction with the router or they somehow had some interaction through the ethernet hub. Anyway, it was spooky, but I double checked the fact that the units were on different power strips.

Does that 900 mH go anywhere where you can detect it or is it just gone?

I haven't been able to find it at all.  Everything else connected to my pool is accounted for as each unit has a different worker name and everything else it running fine. (Besides one pesky S3 that I will have to spend some time trying to get running properly tonight).  I can't imagine that one is causing problems for the other as there are 10 S3's, 5 or so S1's and 2 S2's running in parallel down there and this is the only issue.

Perhaps, with a last miner you exceeded your downstream internet provider speed as you have so many. I assume that they are all on the same router.
Are they all on one hub or several? If several, maybe try mixing them up differently.
 

[Rabinovitch]

A short good news for the S2 buyer is that we will let the S2 to upgrade to 1.8TH/s or 2TH/s at very low cost which you can only image now in the August or September.

Well, are there any details (at least roughly) about this upgrade? What would it be and what will be the price?

[pawlo74]

A short good news for the S2 buyer is that we will let the S2 to upgrade to 1.8TH/s or 2TH/s at very low cost which you can only image now in the August or September.

Well, are there any details (at least roughly) about this upgrade? What would it be and what will be the price?

roughly - too little, too late & too expensive

+1

Sorry I lost so much on S2 that for me that is nothing.
Is Bitmaintech still waiting
Why ? What for ?
Don't know why everyone keep quiet ?
That is the biggest scam ever !
Imagine how many people lost their money that way.
Bitmaintech policy before meeting witch Spondoolies was no pre-ordes now everything changed they know how to deal with idiots as we  

Bitmain what you waiting for !  

[Honeycutt22]

A short good news for the S2 buyer is that we will let the S2 to upgrade to 1.8TH/s or 2TH/s at very low cost which you can only image now in the August or September.

Well, are there any details (at least roughly) about this upgrade? What would it be and what will be the price?

roughly - too little, too late & too expensive

+1

Sorry I lost so much on S2 that for me that is nothing.
Is Bitmaintech still waiting
Why ? What for ?
Don't know why everyone keep quiet ?
That is the biggest scam ever !
Imagine how many people lost their money that way.
Bitmaintech policy before meeting witch Spondoolies was no pre-ordes now everything changed they know how to deal with idiots as we  

Bitmain what you waiting for !  

Yea if that upgrade doesn't come through and isn't affordable a lotta people will get burnt on the s2. I might get 4-5k outta my 8.5k investment at this point.

[pawlo74]

A short good news for the S2 buyer is that we will let the S2 to upgrade to 1.8TH/s or 2TH/s at very low cost which you can only image now in the August or September.

Well, are there any details (at least roughly) about this upgrade? What would it be and what will be the price?

roughly - too little, too late & too expensive

+1

Sorry I lost so much on S2 that for me that is nothing.
Is Bitmaintech still waiting
Why ? What for ?
Don't know why everyone keep quiet ?
That is the biggest scam ever !
Imagine how many people lost their money that way.
Bitmaintech policy before meeting witch Spondoolies was no pre-ordes now everything changed they know how to deal with idiots as we 

Bitmain what you waiting for ! 

Yea if that upgrade doesn't come through and isn't affordable a lotta people will get burnt on the s2. I might get 4-5k outta my 8.5k investment at this point.

Right, guys let's be honest a lot of us don't want admit (that's embarrassing I know) but Spondoolies, Bitmain and others ripped us of.
I know this is Wild West Crypto World still and THEY know they can afford it but how long for yet ?
Someone MUST stop it.
My theory is THEY had those chips long, long time ago. THEY start selling when chips become not that profitable any-more otherwise why they selling ? THEY got huge bitcoin farms, well Bitmain has.
THEY probably already invented and mining with new ones.
Really guys I can not stand it, THEY not support Bitcoin network, they think just about their profits but what nasty way THEY do business ??
Honest business partner should think about future, before they start selling S3 they should start selling upgrade hasboards for S2.

If someone ask me, BITCOIN MINER never again

[dropt]

Right, guys let's be honest a lot of us don't want admit (that's embarrassing I know) but Spondoolies, Bitmain and others ripped us of.
I know this is Wild West Crypto World still and THEY know they can afford it but how long for yet ?
Someone MUST stop it.
My theory is THEY had those chips long, long time ago. THEY start selling when chips become not that profitable any-more otherwise why they selling ? THEY got huge bitcoin farms, well Bitmain has.
THEY probably already invented and mining with new ones.
Really guys I can not stand it, THEY not support Bitcoin network, they think just about their profits but what nasty way THEY do business ??
Honest business partner should think about future, before they start selling S3 they should start selling upgrade hasboards for S2.

If someone ask me, BITCOIN MINER never again

Yet YOU willingly gave them money.  They're a business, what do you expect?  I guess in reality none of them should retail sell HW, then people like YOU won't get sucked into the hype and buy HW without undersanding the business you're entering.

[pawlo74]

Right, guys let's be honest a lot of us don't want admit (that's embarrassing I know) but Spondoolies, Bitmain and others ripped us of.
I know this is Wild West Crypto World still and THEY know they can afford it but how long for yet ?
Someone MUST stop it.
My theory is THEY had those chips long, long time ago. THEY start selling when chips become not that profitable any-more otherwise why they selling ? THEY got huge bitcoin farms, well Bitmain has.
THEY probably already invented and mining with new ones.
Really guys I can not stand it, THEY not support Bitcoin network, they think just about their profits but what nasty way THEY do business ??
Honest business partner should think about future, before they start selling S3 they should start selling upgrade hasboards for S2.

If someone ask me, BITCOIN MINER never again

Yet YOU willingly gave them money.  They're a business, what do you expect?  I guess in reality none of them should retail sell HW, then people like YOU won't get sucked into the hype and buy HW without undersanding the business you're entering.

Sorry I called it business no that is not a business that is just a scam  

dropt and you probably involved in resell of that shit if yes good for you at least you will be better of than we, but make sure not to use PayPal otherwise people will claim refunds  

[freebit13]

I must say that it does seem like the S2's were rushed out to use up the old chips while they were already working on the S3, hence the stability issues that will probably never be addressed because now there's a better product out using newer chips.

The one thing that is bothering me the most is that Bitmain is doing their own thing with CGMiner and releases unstable hacked versions on their hardware with no support until Kano takes a look at it. It seems they are having the same issues with the S3 now and CK is getting a little annoyed with them.

I used to hold Bitmain in high esteem, but now I'm distancing myself from the idea that Bitmain is a professional business.

[pawlo74]

I must say that it does seem like the S2's were rushed out to use up the old chips while they were already working on the S3, hence the stability issues that will probably never be addressed because now there's a better product out using newer chips.

The one thing that is bothering me the most is that Bitmain is doing their own thing with CGMiner and releases unstable hacked versions on their hardware with no support until Kano takes a look at it. It seems they are having the same issues with the S3 now and CK is getting a little annoyed with them.

I used to hold Bitmain in high esteem, but now I'm distancing myself from the idea that Bitmain is a professional business.

+1000

Everything changed from that meeting

With new friends:

Yingfei Li, Bitmain
Xiang Liao ("Jack"), lightningasic CEO
Alex Kampl, Allied Control

Not in the picture:
David Fan, Bitquan ("AM") General Manager
Rock Xie and Alex Lam of RockMiner

Had a great time.

Guy

Small debt, pictures with Rock Xie of RockMiner:

Coincident

I say NO, that is because THEY have a deal Bitmain joined to "The Club" and can't decide by his own anymore 
THEY probably have time schedules already arranged.

DECENTRALIZATION !!! 

[pawlo74]

Wow success  
Bitmain released upgrade for S1.
Who knows they might do also for S2 soon.

Specifications:

Hash Rate: 453 GH/s±5% with great OC potential

Power Consumption: 355 Watt at the wall

Power Efficiency: 0.78 J/GH on wall

The price is 0.46 BTC.

It's a cool kit but VERY EXPENSIVE. I did some calculations at Bitcoin Wisdom and it will most likely make a tiny, tiny profit of 0.1 BTC or so.
And this is without taking into consideration that the S1 anyway would generate more than that if I leave it running underclocked and undervolted.

Will YOU buy the S1 Upgrade Kit? If so, what is your reasoning?

 

And you have to buy at least 2 kits