ANTMINER S2 Discussion and Support Thread

[jelin1984]

what diff per worker must have ?
1024 or more?

[PsychoticBoy]

hmm.. i copied the SD files and formatted the card, it still says only 66.5Mb

when i try to boot up i do see the blue BBB leds flashing PLus a solid red led on the BBB ive never seen on any KnC rigs

but no matter what i try i cant access the GUI at all.

when i try to boot without the SD card in, i get a password confirmation box that wont accept root/root or root/admin.

All it does is reverts to asking for PW conf again & again & again. If i put the SD card back in i dont get that PW conf box and only 404 not found error

i was going to put your image onto the disc until i saw it only has 66.5MB.... im assuming now the SD card is fkd

You have to write the image to the SD card with Windisk32 (aka windiskimager).

Cheers

[googlemaster1]

corrupt SD cards.  
twice now, i've gotten corruption on the SD card on one machine or another.  If there's a power cut, i cross my fingers and hope for the best.  chances are, at least one machine will need it's SD card removed and re-imaged.  Big thanks to the guy who posted a link in this thread to a copy of his SD card.  Although Bitmaintech has now posted updates to the firmware, they are in the format needed to update via the web gui - not directly image the SD card.

this problem is particularly concerning as there is no "shutdown" option in the GUI or button on the case.  just the power switch.  So each time you shut it off, you have a 50/50 change of buggering the software.... yikes.

If anyone has a step-by-step on how to image the SD card using Win32 Disk Imager and the downloadable "initramfs.bin.SD-20140410.tar" from Bitmaintech's new support page, it would be VERY helpful.  I'm using an image file someone posted much earlier in this thread, but it's the old firmware version.  

You're welcome (from earlier) and I've updated the file to be an image of the latest firmware, IP of 192.168.1.99

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16075357/bitmain.img.zip

Link is the same, so using the other posted link will grab the new firmware. It has my mining info in it, so be a gent and let it mine for a bit! lol

Sorry, but newb question, i have gone out and purchased a class 10 spare, but i havent the slightest clue on how to image that SD card and have it ready in case the one from Bitmain croaks. Can  anyone give me the procedure ? 111 Thanks so much for making a new image !

You'll want to download win32diskimager. Unzip the image file, then select it in diskimager, then choose your SD card (you'll want to get a micro SD usb card reader) then click "write device" it then writes the whole image to the microsd card and there ya go, drop it back in the S2

I imaged this with your image, but I can't see it grabbing an IP on my network now... any ideas?

Edit:  For whatever reason all I needed to do was reset it.  If you run into this problem, hold down the bottom left button with a safety pin or something for 3 seconds!

[dalenorman2005]

hmm.. i copied the SD files and formatted the card, it still says only 66.5Mb

when i try to boot up i do see the blue BBB leds flashing PLus a solid red led on the BBB ive never seen on any KnC rigs

but no matter what i try i cant access the GUI at all.

when i try to boot without the SD card in, i get a password confirmation box that wont accept root/root or root/admin.

All it does is reverts to asking for PW conf again & again & again. If i put the SD card back in i dont get that PW conf box and only 404 not found error

i was going to put your image onto the disc until i saw it only has 66.5MB.... im assuming now the SD card is fkd

You have to write the image to the SD card with Windisk32 (aka windiskimager).

Cheers

thx. but the image is 1.8Gb and the SD card while having 2Gb printed on it, IS ONLY 66.5Mb...



Thx for the pics u posted l1l1l1l1, i saw what i wanted to there but im now pretty certain this SD card is fkd

The SD card is not 66.5Mb.  The first PARTITION is 66.5mb.  You need to wipe out all 3 partitions, freeing up all 2gb of space, THEN write the image.
Quite honestly, I did it with a Mac using Disk Utility.  I'm sure the process is quite similar using the volume manger of Windows.  But if you just reference the drive letter of the first partition, you will only see 66.5mb

[dalenorman2005]

corrupt SD cards. 
twice now, i've gotten corruption on the SD card on one machine or another.  If there's a power cut, i cross my fingers and hope for the best.  chances are, at least one machine will need it's SD card removed and re-imaged.  Big thanks to the guy who posted a link in this thread to a copy of his SD card.  Although Bitmaintech has now posted updates to the firmware, they are in the format needed to update via the web gui - not directly image the SD card.

this problem is particularly concerning as there is no "shutdown" option in the GUI or button on the case.  just the power switch.  So each time you shut it off, you have a 50/50 change of buggering the software.... yikes.

If anyone has a step-by-step on how to image the SD card using Win32 Disk Imager and the downloadable "initramfs.bin.SD-20140410.tar" from Bitmaintech's new support page, it would be VERY helpful.  I'm using an image file someone posted much earlier in this thread, but it's the old firmware version. 

You're welcome (from earlier) and I've updated the file to be an image of the latest firmware, IP of 192.168.1.99

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16075357/bitmain.img.zip

Link is the same, so using the other posted link will grab the new firmware. It has my mining info in it, so be a gent and let it mine for a bit! lol

Sorry, but newb question, i have gone out and purchased a class 10 spare, but i havent the slightest clue on how to image that SD card and have it ready in case the one from Bitmain croaks. Can  anyone give me the procedure ? 111 Thanks so much for making a new image !

You'll want to download win32diskimager. Unzip the image file, then select it in diskimager, then choose your SD card (you'll want to get a micro SD usb card reader) then click "write device" it then writes the whole image to the microsd card and there ya go, drop it back in the S2

I imaged this with your image, but I can't see it grabbing an IP on my network now... any ideas?

It is assigned a static ip of 192.168.1.99.  It does not grab an IP via DHCP, so you won't see it in your router's DHCP table until you successfully connect to the S2's web gui and change it to DHCP.  Apologies if this sounds overly basic, but just to be clear, you can't access 192.168.1.99 unless the rest of your LAN is in the 192.168.1.x subnet.  Is that the case?

[imar2014]

hmm.. i copied the SD files and formatted the card, it still says only 66.5Mb

when i try to boot up i do see the blue BBB leds flashing PLus a solid red led on the BBB ive never seen on any KnC rigs

but no matter what i try i cant access the GUI at all.

when i try to boot without the SD card in, i get a password confirmation box that wont accept root/root or root/admin.

All it does is reverts to asking for PW conf again & again & again. If i put the SD card back in i dont get that PW conf box and only 404 not found error

i was going to put your image onto the disc until i saw it only has 66.5MB.... im assuming now the SD card is fkd

You have to write the image to the SD card with Windisk32 (aka windiskimager).

Cheers

thx. but the image is 1.8Gb and the SD card while having 2Gb printed on it, IS ONLY 66.5Mb...



Thx for the pics u posted l1l1l1l1, i saw what i wanted to there but im now pretty certain this SD card is fkd

I think you should give the re-image as suggested a try. SD card is NOT only 66.5mb, as someone else has mentioned the device gets partitioned up and what you are seeing is one of the partitions, i see the same thing too in windows for some reason, it only shows me the 60-something partition. If your on windows look at the disk manager on your laptop with the SD card in to see what im referring to, you will see all of the partitions . I purchased a brand new card which was initially showing 16gb free. After flashing it as per 111's instructions i can see it got partitioned up and windows will only show you the 66.5 size when viewing it after. Please give it a try.

[ElGabo]

If you see only 60Mb use SDFormatter.

It will help.

[googlemaster1]

So just as a recap, the steps you need to take if your SD card gets corrupted and a simple reset on the front control panel won't resolve it:

1) Power off your Antminer
2) Take out the control board.  On the back of where the ethernet cable plugs into you will see a MicroSD card, remove it.
3) Take MicroSD card out and put it in a SD card adapter to insert into a laptop or 5-in-1 card reader
4) Download The bitmain.img from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16075357/bitmain.img.zip  (Courtesy of l1l1l1l1) as well as Win32DiskImager-0.
5) Use Win32DiskImager-0.exe to mount SD cards as an "image-able" device.  SD cards do not inherently accept images with default Imager software.
6) Image the Bitmain.img to image to your SD card.
7) Once done, plug it into your miner, make sure your ribbon cable is plugged into the main board nice and snug, and fire it up!

You should be done short of re-configuring your miner.  Remember that this resets it back to 192.168.1.99.  The image used does not work for me by default, so I had to "reset to default" with the front bottom-left button and reconfigure my settings.

If anyone wants a video demo of this I would be happy to make one if someone thinks it would help.  Cheers!

[imar2014]

corrupt SD cards. 
twice now, i've gotten corruption on the SD card on one machine or another.  If there's a power cut, i cross my fingers and hope for the best.  chances are, at least one machine will need it's SD card removed and re-imaged.  Big thanks to the guy who posted a link in this thread to a copy of his SD card.  Although Bitmaintech has now posted updates to the firmware, they are in the format needed to update via the web gui - not directly image the SD card.

this problem is particularly concerning as there is no "shutdown" option in the GUI or button on the case.  just the power switch.  So each time you shut it off, you have a 50/50 change of buggering the software.... yikes.

If anyone has a step-by-step on how to image the SD card using Win32 Disk Imager and the downloadable "initramfs.bin.SD-20140410.tar" from Bitmaintech's new support page, it would be VERY helpful.  I'm using an image file someone posted much earlier in this thread, but it's the old firmware version. 

You're welcome (from earlier) and I've updated the file to be an image of the latest firmware, IP of 192.168.1.99

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16075357/bitmain.img.zip

Link is the same, so using the other posted link will grab the new firmware. It has my mining info in it, so be a gent and let it mine for a bit! lol

Sorry, but newb question, i have gone out and purchased a class 10 spare, but i havent the slightest clue on how to image that SD card and have it ready in case the one from Bitmain croaks. Can  anyone give me the procedure ? 111 Thanks so much for making a new image !

You'll want to download win32diskimager. Unzip the image file, then select it in diskimager, then choose your SD card (you'll want to get a micro SD usb card reader) then click "write device" it then writes the whole image to the microsd card and there ya go, drop it back in the S2

Thanks for your support !

[dalenorman2005]

can you ping it by the ip shown on its screen?

if not, perhaps the problem is the little ethernet pigtail inside the box connecting the BBB board to the case outlet. 

Try bypassing it - plug the BBB directly into your ethernet switch.

[dalenorman2005]

pings with 0% loss.

i've never had an S2 boot up with blue lights on the BBB board and ip showing on it's LCD, and then NOT be able to ping it.  seems contradictory. 

Are you sure you've eliminated the physical reasons that may cause this?  for example, if you disconnect the ethernet cable and your S2 will continue to display it's IP as 192.168.1.99.  Its up to you to confirm your switch, ethernet cabling and LAN are in working order.

Does the BBB ethernet activity lights light up?  how about the ethernet switch?

[kendog77]

I'm so glad the S1 doesn't have the problem of corruption and a bricked miner after a power recycle. What a pain.

Please fix this in future batches of the S2, Bitmain!

[InvalidSnack]

Question for people with Batch 2 units: 

{{Edit: Turns out this is not a question so much as a series of questions, statements, and then a vague request for your input near the end.  Just fyi.}}

Earlier in the thread it seems like a lot of Batch 1 owners were reporting issues with the unit losing all (or some) config data upon reboot.  (I think the gist was that some people just had EVERYTHING overwritten/reset, and others were just losing specific parts of their customizations, like IPs and changes to initscripts or passwords, etc.)  Are Batch 2 units showing this same problem?  If not, then do we know if that's because the new firmware fixed the problem...or if it's just magic...or if it's just that not enough Batch 2 units are out there yet to know for sure?


The reason I ask, is I was looking at the Beagle Bone Black (the embedded device that's always exactly 1 slip of the tongue away from like, 3-4 different probable titles for porn films, but I digress) wiki and I found something that *might* be germane to the discussion:

Known Issues / Software
1) The microSD card cannot be used as a storage device when booting from microSD in the 3.8 kernel.
...

I don't have one of these in front of me to toy with, but going by what others were saying I got the impression that the -- how should I phrase this -- "the cost-reduced, simplified BBB version" being used by Bitmain in the S2 units lacks any eMMC/internal memory...so it doesn't have any choice but to boot off the SD card each time...so if it's running the 3.8 kernel, could this be the reason why people are having trouble getting certain changes to "stick?"

Just an educated guess, here, but following the same logic -- could this also explain perhaps why a number of people have reported success fixing various problems, by replacing the (Bitmain) S2 BBB with their own spare/OEM/Official version --  ie, one that has all the parts one would expect a BBB to have, including internal memory...?   

Apologies if this is just way off course and not useful to anyone troubleshooting the matter; I was just trying to "think aloud" on what might or might not be causing that issue...  Perhaps replacing the cheaper/stock BBB with a standard/OEM BBB might be a potential "upgrade" worth considering for people with special needs, like those who *know* they are going to run stuff on a different subnet and use SSH keys and ...I don't know, need the system to play Ms Pac Man on the display or something. :)

And I think I just realized -- there are either 8 questions in there, or none...  Not quite the "one question for Batch 2 owners" that I advertised above.  Sorry about that...  Need more caffeine, talking a bit too much in "stream of consciousness" format, I'm afraid!

So I'll cheat and use the generic question: 

          "So, Batch 2 owners:  Any thoughts regarding any of this?" 

haha, there, I've condensed everything to one question vague enough that anyone can "interpret it for themselves" and answer it in some form or fashion.  :)



PS,  just so this post adds some actual 'value' to the discussion instead of just vague questions about things I may or may not actually know anything about, for the people discussing the SD card image and its filesystem/partition structure (around 5-8 posts ago), here's the breakdown/sizes of the 3 partitions (with thanks to the kind individual who provided the image):

Code:

/tmp$ file bitmain.img

bitmain.img: x86 boot sector; partition 1: ID=0xc, active, starthead 1, startsector 63, 144522 sectors; partition 2: ID=0xc, starthead 0, startsector 160650, 144585 sectors; partition 3: ID=0x83, starthead 0, startsector 305235, 3534300 sectors, code offset 0x0

/tmp$ fdisk bitmain.img

Command (m for help): p

Disk bitmain.img: 1965 MB, 1965841920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 239 cylinders, total 3839535 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
bitmain.img1   *          63      144584       72261    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
bitmain.img2          160650      305234       72292+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
bitmain.img3          305235     3839534     1767150   83  Linux

/tmp$ cfdisk bitmain.img

                                                  cfdisk (util-linux 2.20.1)

                                                       Disk Drive: bitmain.img
                                                   Size: 1965841920 bytes, 1965 MB
                                         Heads: 255   Sectors per Track: 63   Cylinders: 239

      Name                Flags              Part Type         FS Type                     [Label]                 Size (MB)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      bitmain.img1        Boot                Primary          vfat                        [BtmBoot]                   74.03          
                                              Pri/Log          Free Space                                               8.23
      bitmain.img2                            Primary          vfat                        [BtmBootBak]                74.03
      bitmain.img3                            Primary          ext4                        [Config]                  1809.57


Partition Table for bitmain.img

         ---Starting----      ----Ending-----    Start     Number of
 # Flags Head Sect  Cyl   ID  Head Sect  Cyl     Sector    Sectors
-- ----- ---- ---- ----- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----------- -----------
 1  0x80    1    1     0 0x0C  254   63     8          63      144522
 2  0x00    0    1    10 0x0C  254   63    18      160650      144585
 3  0x00    0    1    19 0x83  254   63   238      305235     3534300
 4  0x00    0    0     0 0x00    0    0     0           0           0

Anyway, ... for those who were asking what sizes and how many partitions to look for on their SD cards, ... um...there you go!

Note, for your convenience, all readers and posters to this thread have automatically been invoiced for the 407 hours it took me to generate the data, above.  You're welcome.  And no worries: I bill out WELL BELOW any competitor's price (at a mere $49.9999998051 an hour) so I'm basically just giving it all way for free, you lucky freeloading helpful-as-hell community of bastards! :)

[dalenorman2005]

Note, for your convenience, all readers and posters to this thread have automatically been invoiced for the 407 hours it took me to generate the data, above.  You're welcome.  And no worries: I bill out WELL BELOW any competitor's price (at a mere $49.9999998051 an hour) so I'm basically just giving it all way for free, you lucky freeloading helpful-as-hell community of bastards!

In light of newfound competition, i'm happy to announce my Customer Loyalty Program.  Buy 10 hours of support, get one free.  That's right - 11 hours of Skype where you're forced to look at my face.  A bargain.

[imar2014]

I have a batch 2 and has been running for 14 hours however i havent had to reboot or turn it off yet, its been hashing fine without any out of the box problems other than some loose cards on arrival which i reseated prior to turning it on. I should say i replaced the standard PSU with a ax1200i immediately so i cant comment about the PSU issues either.

Temps are 50-52c on the hottest card (all the rest are 48-49c). Only thing i notice is a high discard rate of 856653 after 14 hours, 164 rejects. Will report back when i encounter my first reboot requirement.

[1l1l11ll1l]

Hrm, got Rev 3 it seems:

[jelin1984]

Is gold psu and not platinum

[1l1l11ll1l]

Is gold psu and not platinum

The platinum seemed to be only in Batch 1, as they couldn't get anough Gold to fill all the orders (hence some used gold supplies)

[jelin1984]

Yes you think more watt per wall at gold psu s2 or not?

[imar2014]

Hrm, got Rev 3 it seems:


https://i.imgur.com/g6qH3WR.jpg

Did you put that hole in the side for the PSU fan ? Or is that a late batch 2 case ? My B2 does not have that case..