T17/S17 malfunction: cases, solutions, remedies, RMA history

[mikeywith]

Take it easy, we all have lost many gears, the failure rate on these 17 series is much more than you can imagine, I would have been more than happy if I got 6 months of all my 17 series gears, so you are not in the worst situation one can be.

Recap:

1- I assume the T17 is done with and you are going to try and solder the heatsinks?
2- You have 2*T17+ , one is fine another one has a bad control board, when you try them on a working control board you get the errors you posted in the last post? is that the case or am I missing something?

If I am on the right track, you should know that mixing hash boards from different miners will cause many issues, so while you are trying to fix all this please keep track of the different hash boards and to which control board they belong.

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[favebook]

[...]

Sadly, as of 2020 I cannot seem to find any reliable resellers here in Europe for parts. I had to order anything I need from Bitmain when they had it in stock and from some resellers I found on random websites and in random telegram chats. Shipping anything was more expensive than the parts I was ordering. It was NOT worth it. Any broken hardware that I have right now will be RMA-ed as that is the best cost-effective move I can do right now. Others might know more or have better luck, but this is my experience.

For example, I have Innosilicon T2TZ with burnt PSU and fully operational hashboards (tested on other unit). Ordering new PSU would cost 110 USD and shipping for it would be 130 USD. While I bought the whole unit (used at that time) for 500 euro.

[...]

eFuse line seems to be normal thing during auto-tune and sometimes during reboot of miner. I've noticed on a lot of different WORKING units which were running Vnish firmware.

As for pool connection failed, I'd advise to try different network as yours might be blocking some ports like devfee pool ones and that would make the unit stop mining (I've experienced this first hand with my home network on thierry4wd's firmware, even though the unit works fine on the network which I use for miners only).

If that is not the case, then mikey's advice to check pool settings and asicboost should be the things to look at.

[mikeywith]

Sadly, as of 2020 I cannot seem to find any reliable resellers here in Europe for parts.

I think Zeusbtc have a branch in Poland, not sure if it's just a workshop where they only repair your miners or they actually do sell stuff, it might be worth looking into it, perhaps you or mikxxy should get in touch with them, if you don't get an answer I'll reach out to someone from Zeusbtc.

[mikxxy]

Status is now 1-T17 about to solder the poped heat sink, the other 2 cards seem to work ok! But before it used to drop another board after been mining for a wihle. So there migth be another bad soldered Heat sink missbehaving when heating up a bit, standing i the farm?. Been knocking around with a pen, I ordered a fixture, so we will see.
2-T17+ the original 'dead one', is now working fine, after it received' a working control board
3- T17+ (the control board donor) Seem to have 2 boards working ok, and the third one not startng due to problem with pic processor. i'll will try to change around hash board cables to isolate problem. The control board came from the 'dead' T17+, so i migth have some issues. It came up with a connection error last night, so i'll check if it remains.

Update: After identifying a bad ribbon cable the other T17+ also works fully, the connection issue was becuase of some instability caused by the faulty hashboard connection!

[favebook]

I think Zeusbtc have a branch in Poland, not sure if it's just a workshop where they only repair your miners or they actually do sell stuff, it might be worth looking into it, perhaps you or mikxxy should get in touch with them, if you don't get an answer I'll reach out to someone from Zeusbtc.

I'd wager that it's only repair shop in Poland, as their website sells everything over WhatsApp orders and they seem to have their warehouse in China (Hong Kong?). If you have someone from Poland branch, feel free to give me his contact or ask him if they have any warehouses in Europe.

Otherwise, I will try to contact their support to see if I can get in contact with someone from Poland.

[mikeywith]

But before it used to drop another board after been mining for a wihle. So there migth be another bad soldered Heat sink missbehaving when heating up

Yes, that is exactly the cause, one or more heatsink are not glued perfectly, sometimes they will contact and read and sometimes they don't, I have a few boards that behave this way, just mine with it until it longer functions, the bad heatsink will eventually fall off or at least becomes so loose that you can identify it with your bare eyes/hands.

I will try to contact their support to see if I can get in contact with someone from Poland.

go to this page > https://www.zeusbtc.com/Repair.asp, scroll down and you will see a list of some cities/countries, looks like you have to keep your contact information and they should contact you.

The site also mentions

Attention: The miner repair points shown on the map below are independent individuals. This site only offers a free display. Please contact the maintenance point for specific matters. If there is any dispute, please resolve it by negotiation. Any consequences will not be related to this site.

So it doesn't seem like they are a branch of Zuesbtc, but I can only assume that Zeusbtc must have done at least a basic check on these guys to confirm their integrity, some of them might have got some training in China from Zeusbtc, I tend to think that they can be trusted, but I would still. deal with caution

[mikxxy]

Regarding Antminer spares.  https://www.antminerdistribution.com/ is EU based and reliable (bougth a miner back in 2019), more expensive then most of asian sites, but if you do your purchase trough a company they will deduct the VAT. They have both miners and spares availble, mostly on request though. I dont know if tare  afiliated with Bitmain, or not.

[favebook]

Regarding Antminer spares.  https://www.antminerdistribution.com/ is EU based and reliable (bougth a miner back in 2019), more expensive then most of asian sites, but if you do your purchase trough a company they will deduct the VAT. They have both miners and spares availble, mostly on request though. I dont know if tare  afiliated with Bitmain, or not.

Would you care to provide proof of payment or some sort of proof that you successfully bought miners from them? They are not affiliated with Bitmain and they always seemed like a scam to me. Sometimes they had better prices than Bitmain themselves.

[...]

I'll check with them, they might have something I need.

[mikeywith]

I dont know if tare  afiliated with Bitmain, or not.

They are not, also their website looks scammy but the prices seem legit and more to the upside than the opposite.

Seems like mining in EU is dying, if not already dead (power cost-related issue for the most part), and not so many Europeans discuss suppliers, EU tax, and all the stuff that are related to EU, unlike how the U.S folks here do, maybe one of you should start a topic dedicated to EU miners so you all can share resources, news and anything else that you might find useful, there are probably at least 5-6 EU based miners around this board.

[mikxxy]

Ok i'll find something. Another reliable shop is Prominerz in Switzerland. I bougth some miners there to in 2019, i donnu their ability in spares, maybe on reguest as service?

[mikeywith]

Ok i'll find something. Another reliable shop is Prominerz in Switzerland. I bougth some miners there to in 2019, i donnu their ability in spares, maybe on reguest as service?

You lose nothing if you contact them, it's just doesn't line up perfectly, Switzerland and mining don't seem to blend well, I mean who on earth would start a mining business in that expensive country? were prices near the reasonable back in 2019 when you bought the gears? I think what you should look for is a supplier in Eastern Europe, mining there is a thing and probably the supplier's option is much better on that side of the continent.

[mikxxy]

I agree that Switcherland is a odd place for a Crypto miner outlet, but on the other hand crypto have no borders no time zones. Back then it was one of the few reliable outlets in Europe. They mainly profited on antminer customers, that either missed out on ordering or got to few from Bitmains batches,and saw crypto prices surge. I think prices then was like 25% higher compared to Bitmain, but i was able to buy excl. VAT. got some z11 there. From my point of veiw, ordering, paying in advance, from a Swiss company, on wich i could get info on the net and so on, contra an Asian company (ex Bitmain) was no brainer.

But idont agree on that eastern europe, should be a more reliable and/or convient, chances to be scammed is in my opion higher in east EU. In general (not crypto bussinessin particular) It still carries a shady reputation from the past. Corruption is higher (maybee not everyone will agree with but lif its out of topic i'll remove it) But on the other han eastern europe is expirienced regarding crypto, land got a larger crypto community then in west, mainly becuase of the historical mistrust towards gowerments, insitutions and banks. In some west Eu countries, like Sweden, knowledge about crypto, in mainstream population is almost non existing.

Sorry for massive of typos, but tired lika dog, becuase of a rough day, tuning all the miners to a maximum. Unfortianly i went one step to high in the auto tunning, and in the end i blow the main fuses, 4x80amps, supplying the farm, then i just threw in the towel and went home.

[mikeywith]

But idont agree on that eastern europe, should be a more reliable and/or convient...

Just to be crystal clear here, my main objective was related to price and availability only, I assumed because east Europe has more mining operation then mining-related stuff would be cheaper and easier to find, but as far as integrity, or lack thereof, I am sure you know much better than I do.

... tuning all the miners to a maximum. Unfortianly i went one step to high in the auto tunning, and in the end i blow the main fuses...

1 - PLEASE don't overclock these gears, they are very very sensitive, they barely run for long enough at stock settings, overclocking them is extremely risky.
2 - The fact that some overclocking was enough to blow those fuses, you might actually be pushing them the max anyway, the same thing would have happened if you had a sudden drop in voltage and your gears needed to draw more amps, so be careful.

[mikxxy]

[...]

I dont now if  anyone noticed the "freezer trick" in this video posted above, https://youtu.be/F6L9hCQ4OhY ,I had some parts of it tranlated by i russian speking friend, and it turned that some hashboard problems can be detected by freezing the board, and there after run it.

I took the hash board board (0) from the T17, that droped off or didn't start, that on irregular bases, (in awesom showing ...4 of 30 asic...) and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, and it felt stable there after, now on day 2, been minning normal and also starts normal on multible power cycles.

I dont know the exact mechanism for this phenomena, as the dude couldn't explain to well, but as its known that bad quality of solder composition/flux, migth be affected by prolonged heat exposure, resulting in bad solder joints due to  crystallic changes in the solderit self. The process of freezing migth some how mediate some  transformation the solder.  Let see how long this fix will hold... Worth trying on such boards.

To the other board [1] i attached the heat sink with thermal glue but to no awail, still showing (..24 of 30 ASICS..) freezing did not help on this one.

[mikeywith]

So how is the frozen hashboard doing now? I know the freezing trick works on weakening the adhesive and make the heatsink easier to remove, not exactly sure how it would help to make it stick harder!! I would love to hear more from other members, NFW and wndsnb can perhaps shed some light on the subject.

[wndsnb]

Well ... Can't argue with results but I doubt it will be a very permanent fix. I'm also curious if it is still running.

My only guess would be that the issue was a bad solder joint and the thermal cycle expansion/contraction moved the bad connection enough to make contact. Or maybe the residual flux that may be keeping some stray solder balls in place that leaked out during heatsink application gets brittle enough to flake off when cold.

[Moeter81]

I sent my defective S17 + 67 to Bitmain for repair on October 29th (out of warranty). After several inquiries about the status of my order, I received an email from Bitmain yesterday:

Dear customer

Miner type & Quantity:1
Antminer S17+ (67T)

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 , our overseas warehouses( HK，CA, Netherlands) have stopped shipments. Due to the temporary shutdown of the warehouses, we cannot get the machines from the warehouse.
In order to be able to solve this problem in a timely manner and minimize customer losses, we provide you with the following solutions. Please check it out. If you can accept this solution, we will be grateful.
Thank you for your understanding and strong support.

1. We will apply for equal coupon compensation for you based on the current market value of the second hands miners; the coupon value is 1127usd
2. If your product is out of warranty, scrapped, or mixed, we regret that we cannot directly return it for you, and we can only apply for coupon compensation for you based on the marketing price minus the repair quotation that needs to be paid;
3. Coupons can be used to purchase all products of our official website www.bitmain.com , which can be deducted 10% of the total order amount and have a one-year warranty;
4. We can also help you contact the buyer, and sell the coupons in your hand at 90% of the coupon price, so that you can get the corresponding USD or BTC;
5. This is buyout coupons, will not ship the products back to customer.

Thank you again for your strong support to our company, and hope to receive your reply.

Unfortunately, that was not the solution that I would have expected! after paying 50 € for shipping and 30 $ to Bitmain for the estimate.

Now I don't know what to do. and I wonder if the S19 I have ordered will arrive.

[wndsnb]

[...]

Wow ... so they want to keep your property and won't even compensate you in real $, but 10% max coupons instead! Unreal. The things people/companies/governments are doing using the COVID excuse are just awful.

[mikeywith]

1. We will apply for equal coupon compensation for you based on the current market value of the second hands miners; the coupon value is 1127usd

They are lying to you, used S17+ go for above $1500, for $1127 you can only get S17-56th.

4. We can also help you contact the buyer, and sell the coupons in your hand at 90% of the coupon price, so that you can get the corresponding USD or BTC;

Point number 4 is really funny, they want to persuade you to sell them the miner at a much cheaper rate, nobody is going to pay 90%, they will be that "buyer" so (1127-30$)*0.9 = $987.3, also expect a 5-10% less with an excuse of bitcoin price is lower on the exchange they use.

Sorry that this is happening to you man, Bitmain is indeed a terrible company to deal with.

[HagssFIN]

Bitmain doesn't really shame on their dirty ways of making money for the owners!