ANTMINER S2 Discussion and Support Thread

[d2dtk]

If you have to buy two kits that's .8 btc where you might only get .1 ROI...Hope they can do better for the S2 upgrade kit!

[1714692711]

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[1714692711]

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[IYFTech]

I'm copying this from the Bitmain S3 discussion thread in the hope that Bitmain will do the right thing, abide by the law & respect ckolivas request to release their code as stipulated by the Open Source License Agreement:

I do wish the BITMAIN would publish the device driver details so that a current version of cgminer could be attained. I know at least 2 releases in 4 had notes about queue improvements and one at least specifically stated it generated work much faster. Also one of the last 3's had an improvement about how work was loaded into devices. I know for sure 3.12 is very old and I am positive that many work generation improvements have been added since then.

Exactly. I don't understand why they don't work more closely with the cgminer devs - using such an old miner for this equipment is false economy. There have been many improvements & optimixations since this cgminer release, not to mention a very important fix for work redirection by a third party.

Can we just SSH in to it and compile CGMiner to a newer version ?

One would assume that we have access to their modified code and driver for cgminer which the cgminer license stipulates, however they have ignored our requests for making that code available. I am considering what direction to take now about that license violation.

Indeed, I saw your post requesting access to the code - ignoring it seems a very strange course of action by Bitmain, especially since agreeing & cooperating would not only benefit everyone - but would also stay within the legally binding license terms.......

I hope they realize their error & do the right thing - as well as live up to their claim of supporting the Bitcoin community.

@ckolivas: Is there anything we, the community, can do to help? Maybe if we all started mailing them they will take notice?

Hmmmm.......Sorry to quote myself, but the more I think about this - the more it doesn't make any sense. in fact, it smells.

Apart from the obvious legal obligations pointed out by ckolivas, one of the hardest working & well respected Bitcoin community members there is, I find myself wondering why on earth Bitmain won't release their code - are they trying to hide something? I mean, the third party redirect fix was a very important update - why on earth would Bitmain not want to implement it? There are also a multitude of other fixes & improvements which Kano (where is he by the way?) listed in a previous post regarding the S2, but are still relevent:

Because:
1) The version in there throws away valid blocks on p2pool
2) The version in there doesn't block the recent stratum redirect problem
3) The version in there passes all shares to the pool even if they are below target (I'm sure pools must hate the S2 due to the major increase in CPU requirements at the pool)
4) The version in there has the API set to W:0/0 so anyone with network access can change your settings/pool/username (and the web page doesn't let you fix that)
5) The version in there has a modified API with different field names to the standard API so anyone using other software that reads the API must get that software changed (or use a proper API version of cgminer in the S2 )
.
.
.

By not cooperating with the cgminer devs request to release the code as they are legally bound to do - and not updating cgminer to incorporate the very important security fixes, Bitmain are not only breaking the law - but they are also arousing suspicion amongst the Bitcoin community as to why they are refusing to do so. For a company that claims to respect & care deeply for the Bitcoin community, this makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Before anyone starts breaking my balls accusing me of stirring things up trying to discredit Bitmain - I am a customer who has Bitmain hardware & am quite happy with it. I am merely pointing out the legally binding obligations Bitmain are ignoring, as well as trying to highlight the contempt that Bitmain are showing towards ckolivas & kano - without who, mining & Bitcoin would not be what it is today. We, as a community owe it to the cgminer devs to make sure that all hardware manufacturers respect their requests to release their code as stated in the open source license agreement. If they refuse - we should all be concerned as to the reasons why.

Sorry to ramble, but I'm a great believer in Open Source & what the cgminer devs have done, and continue to do. We owe them 

[cathoderay]

Dear Community,

Our truly apologies for the mis-understanding reported in this Support Thread. We are very willing to share the cgminer code to the Community.
Just reviewed our internal resource again, there is a little mis-communicaton between Customer Service Team and R&D Department. We thought this task was done 3 weeks ago.. 
However, R&D Department is repacking the cgminer code and will upload it to GitHub.com in 3 hours.

Any advice from the Community and Global Customers is appreciated, feel free to contact us via PM or info@bitmaintech.com.

Thank you!

Cgminer 3.12.0 has been uploaded, https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer. The latest version will be updated in 2 weeks.

A belated thank you Bitmain - but as mentioned, uploading the code using outdated software with huge security holes is not the wisest solution. Please ensure that all repos (S1, S2, & S3(+)) contain the latest cgminer software that fix the security vulnerabilities - this is very important for both the miner & the network!

Thank you for listening to the community.

[masonbtc]

Is there a consensus on the best replacement PSU for the S2?   BOTH of mine conked out last night after a power outage.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Corsair AX1200...

[mitak64]

Mine "play dead" after power outage too.
But come to life, after I pull the U-shaped wire off the ATX plug for a minute or two.

[Easy2Mine]

Is there a consensus on the best replacement PSU for the S2?   BOTH of mine conked out last night after a power outage.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Corsair AX1200...

Better go for the EVGA G2 1300watt.
It is cheaper and all miners from different manufacturers also like the EVGA G2 1300 watt.
I replace the PSU's of Dragon 1T miners with EVGA G2 what I have left over from powering antminers S1 before and the Dragons loved them.

[masonbtc]

Mine "play dead" after power outage too.
But come to life, after I pull the U-shaped wire off the ATX plug for a minute or two.

Oh thanks for the tip!  I will try this when I get home.. hopefully that is all it is

[Buchi-88]

@Bitmain

Is a Antminer S4 in planning?

regards

[Finksy]

S2 upgrades kit will come first.  Come on 2TH+.  Hopefully they price them more competitively than the S1 upgrade path 

only BTC0.12 cheaper than buying an S3, only makes sense if you have a dead unit.

[PatMan]

Is there a consensus on the best replacement PSU for the S2?   BOTH of mine conked out last night after a power outage.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Corsair AX1200...

I'm running my S2 OC'd & 212 on a OCZ1250 Gold - sweet as a nut 

[Kexkey]

Is there a consensus on the best replacement PSU for the S2?   BOTH of mine conked out last night after a power outage.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Corsair AX1200...

I'm running my S2 OC'd & 212 on a OCZ1250 Gold - sweet as a nut 

Hey there PatMan, out of curiosity, what hashrate does your OC'ed S2 get?  I didn't overclock my S2's because I don't trust the builtin PSU and was wondering if it's worth changing it.

Thanks!

[PatMan]

Hey there PatMan, out of curiosity, what hashrate does your OC'ed S2 get?  I didn't overclock my S2's because I don't trust the builtin PSU and was wondering if it's worth changing it.

Thanks!

I'm getting ~950GH/s average. The hash rate is always slightly lower on p2pool, but it's worth it, luck has been crazy good lately. If I use it on a centralized pool I get ~1100GH/s using a slightly higher --queue size, but I found using 0 works best on my local node.

Peace  

EDIT: And yes, don't OC it with the standard PSU - it can't take it & you'll be waving bye-bye to it in no time 

[Kexkey]

Hey there PatMan, out of curiosity, what hashrate does your OC'ed S2 get?  I didn't overclock my S2's because I don't trust the builtin PSU and was wondering if it's worth changing it.

Thanks!

I'm getting ~950GH/s average. The hash rate is always slightly lower on p2pool, but it's worth it, luck has been crazy good lately. If I use it on a centralized pool I get ~1100GH/s using a slightly higher --queue size, but I found using 0 works best on my local node.

Peace  

EDIT: And yes, don't OC it with the standard PSU - it can't take it & you'll be waving bye-bye to it in no time 

I just bought an EVGA 1300 (using it for 2 S1's for now) and thought trying it on one of my S2's + overclocking. I currently get around 990 GH/s on average on Eligius but I'm not sure if getting 1100 GH/s is worth the trouble. Still, always curious about tuning everything to get the max out of all.

Thanks for the info and peace!

[whonesta]

Bitmain,  any updates on the S2 upgrade option as discussed? A lot of us have paid a high amount of BTC/GHs for these, (at least I) with the understanding we will have options to increase hashing power very soon.

Grow the Fuck UP!..  he never said soon, in fact outside of complete speculation the S2 upgrade is a fantasy.

[dropt]

Bitmain,  any updates on the S2 upgrade option as discussed? A lot of us have paid a high amount of BTC/GHs for these, (at least I) with the understanding we will have options to increase hashing power very soon.

Grow the Fuck UP!..  he never said soon, in fact outside of complete speculation the S2 upgrade is a fantasy.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not "complete speculation".  Bitmain, to the point, stated that they would be releasing an upgrade for the S2 in Aug/Sept.  So perhaps you should check your facts before you tell people to "Grow the Fuck UP!".

[Finksy]

This user is currently ignored.

Music to my eyes.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not "complete speculation".  Bitmain, to the point, stated that they would be releasing an upgrade for the S2 in Aug/Sept.  So perhaps you should check your facts before you tell people to "Grow the Fuck UP!".

He's just upset because I called him out on acting like a child in another thread.  But yes, Bitmain stated that they would release the S1 upgrade option shortly after the S3 was released, and the S2 upgrade shortly after that.  I have no reason to doubt them at this point.  It makes perfect sense from a production point of view, I just hope it's more affordable (or less ridiculous?) in price point than the S1 upgrade is.  At this point the S1 upgrade is only good if you have dead units collecting dust.

Edit: Don't take my word for it.

Reserved for updates and FAQ

3. Will there be S1/S2 upgrade kit and what is your plan?

Yes, there will be upgrade kit for both S1 and S2 customers. But we need some time to design and test it. After we have finished the homework, we will announce the plan publicly.

Reserved for Q&A and Updates

1. Will there be upgrade parts for S1 and S2?

Yes, there will be. But we still need to solve some production/testing problem before we finalize the plan and public it.

Upgradable
All AntMiner S2 and S2 kit will be adapted to the Hash Boards with next generation chips. Clients can freely choose the upgrade version Hash Boards to replace the ones in hands.

And finally

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. It still depends on many factors to let us achieve that and detailed plan needs to be drafted, But we are very confident that we can make it.

[Zelek Uther]

Is there a consensus on the best replacement PSU for the S2?   BOTH of mine conked out last night after a power outage.

I was thinking something along the lines of a Corsair AX1200...

Just to throw another opinion into the mix...

I replaced my S2 PSU with a Corsair AX1200i, and it has been running perfectly 24x7 ever since (months now).

The Corsair AX1200i is a great PSU IMHO, I even use them for my Neptune... but there is a catch! You need to have PCIe 2-to-1 splitters to use them with the Neptune because the AX1200i has Over-current Protection which kicks in and shuts the PSU down. I blame this on KnC, not the PSU, as the Neptune draws much more power across a single PCIe connector than the specification is designed for (that's why the safety features of the AX1200i kick in). Putting the PCIe 2-to-1 splitter cables on means that TWO PCIe ports on the PSU feed the SINGLE PCIe port on the Neptune module, so each PSU PCIe port is supplying power within the PCI specification (and doesn't trip the Over-current Protection).

[btckold24]

need help - I bought a used s2 and the led control panel on the front will not light up. Also I see no lose plugs or anything that could even plug into that plate. 

[dalenorman2005]

need help - I bought a used s2 and the led control panel on the front will not light up. Also I see no lose plugs or anything that could even plug into that plate. 

Hey friend, the LED display is pretty much useless.  what you really want to know is if the BBB controller is successfully booting from it's SD card.

-take off the lid
-turn it on
-does a really bright blue LED light up on the BBB? (beagle bone black - the mini pc controller in the center board)
  YES - good, it's booting.  now figure out the IP address and log into the web interface
  NO - might be back luck (try 2-3 times).  still no blue light?  remove the SD card and re-image it.

where do you live?  if you're near Toronto, i can help in person.

[Rabinovitch]

Anyone who knows where to get a full set of cables for stock PSU (Enermax Revolution87+ ERV1000EWT-G) please let me know. I've replaced it with Corsair AX1200i just like most of us I suppose, And I want to use this "free" PSU to power my 2 S3s...

Bitmain refused to send it to me for some reason, but they should have these spare cables from lots of these PSUs IMHO... I was ready even pay for shipment...