Antminer s9 firmware

[2alt]

Hi all,

I recently traded some kid a bike frame for an s9.

Out of the shipping box its working without issue. It works completely fine on something like ckpool, but on nicehash keep dropping to 0 hash from time to time. Submitted a ticket and they recommended I install the asic boost firmware.

To start, I am an idiot. Im a linux engineer by trade (or well everyone is an engineer these days, lets just say linux admin). And gunned through the upgrade.

I did take a screenshot of the current firmware that was installed prior.

Code:

Kernel Version	Linux 3.14.0-xilinx-g16220c3 #83 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 12 11:42:53 CST 2018
File System Version	Wed Jul 31 16:18:27 CST 2019

I could not SSH by default and did not copy the kernel log which was silly.

I removed the pool to stop mining as I figured a firmware upgrade while under load isnt the best idea, and went ahead with the upgrade. Got the message firmware upgraded, reboot in progress.

After the reboot, nothing changed. Did some searching and seems the 2019 firmwares are locked?. Came across an article that wanted me to install s9_fix_upgrade.gz. Went to install that, but got the no sig error.

It appears nothing changed, the miner is blocking the update or something. Had I saved the previous kernel log would of had more info on this.

What can I do in this situation? Am I stuck on this firmware? I did find plenty of threads here but many are old and some are conflicting.

If anyone can help, would be greatly appreciated. I do see on the miner the usb port had been accessed due to the rip on a sticker that was covering part of it.

But my 2nd question while not really important, what did this attempted upgrade do to the miner? It succeeded and rebooted which is odd.

Thanks!


Ok, so what I am gathering,

1) Use s9_fix_upgrade.gz via sd card. No sig checks done via sd card.
2) Update to latest firmware as normal

Does that sound right?

Will wait for someone to jump in before I try. No sending to bitmain of course, so if I brick it over a firmware update would be so mad at myself.

Thanks! Please help lol.

[mikeywith]

Out of the shipping box its working without issue. It works completely fine on something like ckpool, but on nicehash keep dropping to 0 hash from time to time. Submitted a ticket and they recommended I install the asic boost firmware.

That is pretty normal for a shitty support like nicehash, almost everyone and their grandmother use asic boost firmware by now, so they should have asked you about the firmware you were actually using, and that is July 2019 which is actually ASIC boost firmware.

as member supersonic mentioned before in this thread you might just want to use the following.

just use stratum+tcp://sha256asicboost.EU.nicehash.com:3368

kindly read the whole topic.

and a word of advice to you, don't mine on nicehash, it will screw your gear, find a proper pool.

Code:

Kernel Version	Linux 3.14.0-xilinx-g16220c3 #83 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jul 12 11:42:53 CST 2018
File System Version	Wed Jul 31 16:18:27 CST 2019

I could not SSH by default and did not copy the kernel log which was silly.

SSH access is disabled on all new firmware made by Bitmain.

I removed the pool to stop mining as I figured a firmware upgrade while under load isnt the best idea...

When you upgrade the firmware, all mining operations stop, no need to do any of that.

If anyone can help, would be greatly appreciated. I do see on the miner the usb port had been accessed due to the rip on a sticker that was covering part of it.

By USB you mean sdcard?

But my 2nd question while not really important, what did this attempted upgrade do to the miner? It succeeded and rebooted which is odd.

It did exactly what it says it did, you have the latest firmware installed ALREADY, you flashed the same version, it did go through, but nothing changed, that is pretty normal, if you try to downgrade the firmware or flash a non-bitmain firmware you will get Failed! signature not found.

TL;DR

you don't really have any problem, you got the latest firmware, your miner is up and running, you are just trying to mine to a bad "pool" with the wrong settings.

[philipma1957]

Stop stop stop


do not mine it at nice hash

if you want a steady payout  use viabtc pps+ payment option.

it will do 0.00001661 btc a th or 14 x 0.00001661 = 0.0002325 btc a day  it will pay out when you top 0.010 btc.



https://www.viabtc.com/


mine there it should work fine.

if you get bored waiting the 50 days to get paid.

you can take a stab here 1 day a month

http://solo.ckpool.org

all or nothing  so 1 full block or zero.

between the two pools you should be good



I would explain nicehash better but it will take too long to explain why you should not change the firmware and mine at that pool.

[mikeywith]

Sadly people mine at nicehash under the wrong impression that it pays more, I blame their calculators and the lack of accuracy and details in other mining profitability calculators, take a look here.

By using current profitability you get this:



whattomine.com

Nicehash > directly mining bitcoin.

take a look at this:



whattomine.com

Settings changed to 7 days profitability, mining to a pool > Nicehash.

But even with the assumption that nicehash is always slightly more profitable, the fact that it could very likely kill your gear plus so many other reasons, it makes no sense to use nicehash, if you want steady payouts use a proper pps+ pool and mine BITCOIN, don't give away your hash power to be used on some shitcoins you don't even know.

[2alt]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I meant SD card.

I was under the impression the newest firmwares have drop downs? And additional power modes. Or maybe those are older firmwares and the latest one just simplifies all the settings. My miner settings just have 3 pool options and a low powermode checkbox. But now looking at the bitmain site I see the firmware was published august 8th, with file date of July 31st. So has to be the latest. I swear I'm getting old and with a few drinks in me, my IQ goes to 0. Went right over my head.

Ok, no nicehash

Been on ckpool switching between solo and their pool, but I think the pool is no good, they found 1 block all year. I will certainly try the solo from time to time. I know this miner isn't profitable, but a good intro for me to asics. We'll see what BTC price is looking like end of summer. Lease ends in october, will make sure my next place is like a 2 flat where the building owner will let me upgrade the power and get s17 or s19. Pretty sure a dryer outlet would be able to handle those anyway. Will have to research down the line.

Would love to find a pool that is pplns and finds 3-5 blocks a week. I used to love mining on 2miners. The first day I mined there we hit 3 zec blocks. Same what flypool was paying for a month. I was psyched. There were certainly dry times though were it would take 1 week+ to find a block. So I guess it all averages out. But it was such a fun pool as we would totally celebrate when we found a block. And there, once you disconnect your shares will get pushed to 0 within 10 minutes max.

If anyone knows of a smallish pplns pool like that, feel free to pass it on. 3 day weekend for us at work so have plenty of time to try out all kinds of pools. Will check out the ones above as well, thanks for that.
 
The thing about pps is lets say a block takes 2 hours to find. A miner that mined for the 1st hour will still get a payout. I feel like once you disconnect from a pool, your shares should go to 0 within 10-15 minutes or so. That way the rewards are bigger for the active miners. I guess pps+ is pps for block reward, and pplns for tx fee.

Lots of fun to make enough BTC for a starbucks a day, and then shit your pants when electric bill comes.

[mikeywith]

he thing about pps is lets say a block takes 2 hours to find. A miner that mined for the 1st hour will still get a payout.

That is not how pps actually works, but without going into details i personally find pps pools to be the most profitable for my case, first reason is my internet connection reliability, second reason is the miners' stability, third reason, i treat mining like a business, i like to know exactly how much btc per day i am going to get regardless of the pool's luck, but again everyone has their own way of doing things, for pplns pools you have slushpool (large pool) abd ck and kano pools ( small pools) i am not aware of any mid-sized pools, but i am sure the others members might have a clue.

[2alt]

Can you go into more detail about pps?

I always thought those pay per every share regardless. They work great on pools that are constantly finding blocks. Or great to nicehash with low bids because you will get paid always. Make a very low bid so the hash comes here and there, but pps pays every share so no hash wasted.

There are no decent BTC pools. They are either massive, or so small you will be waiting years for blocks.

This s9 is not profitable by any means. Pointless to join a big pool to make $2 in BTC and pay $3 for electric. Might as well just buy the btc and throw the miner out the window or sell it for $50 on ebay.

Now had a profitable farm, definitely would be on a standard pool. But to

Going to solo. Soloing DGB now. But will rotate probably daily between DGB, SRV, BCH, and BTC. Solomining.io and ckpool look the best. And paying $3 a day for a lottery ticket basically if I want to turn it on.

If you can explain about pps that would be cool. The other thing is I dont think the estimates include TX fees so pool mining is possibly more profitable, pps+ sounds cool since it appears you get paid for every share, and then the tx fees get split up between the latest miners. Probably really profitable if you have a good hash (not 13.5 lol).

[thierry4wd]

hi, i agree with all member here, nicehash is poor stability ! So ... if you don't know, nicehash have 2 pool SHA256 ! (SHA256 and SHA256AsicBoost) and you need select the correct...

After, i suggest to you, don't install 2019 firmware version ! is locked and don't allow you to downgrade or remove this ! if you are interessed, my mod is available for free, no fee, is version with AsicBoost (ON/OFF) and full control your miner

[mikeywith]

Can you go into more detail about pps?

This will be off-topic, there are a dozen resources online about how PPS actually works, but I can tell you what I think you don't understand based on what you wrote.

he thing about pps is lets say a block takes 2 hours to find. A miner that mined for the 1st hour will still get a payout.

I always thought those pay per every share regardless. They work great on pools that are constantly finding blocks.

It does not matter if the pool finds a block or not, as a miner that is none of your concern, you get paid for every accepted share even if the pool fails to find a block, in other words, every share has a "price", you submit the share you get paid regardless of anything else.

Probably really profitable if you have a good hash (not 13.5 lol).

A share is a share, it doesn't matter how many you submit, the only problem would be the minimum payout, which is 0.001BTC for most PPS pools, or 4.5 days at current base, which actually is not that bad after all, pools like viabtc do PPS+, the block rewards are PPS and the block fees are based on PPLNS, and that comes at 4% pool fees which is quite high for some.

[2alt]

I see, that makes sense.

All the PPS pools are super busy and can swing that. They appear to be making their money from TX fees, while pps+ is looking like 4% fees.

Totally was the confusion.

Will add a pps / pps+ (not 4% for sure lol) pool to my rotation. Will be nice to be able to mine for a day and not have to worry about a block find. Or shutting down mid round.

Thanks again!

[mikeywith]

Will add a pps / pps+ (not 4% for sure lol)

While 4% may seem like a lot, from the pool point of view I think it's only fair, the risk it takes for you to guarantee a "fixed" payment to every share is HUGE, and they need a ton of money reserved to not go bankrupt.

According to Analysis of Bitcoin Pooled Mining Reward Systems by Meni Rosenfeld which was brought to my intention by Kano's post in another thread.

The forum for reserve needs to be



with ln(1000) = 6.9077552789821

This means to run a PPS pool at 4% you need 1079 BTC in reserve for your chance of going bankrupt to be only 0.1%, and that is about 7 million dollars in bitcoin which many investors consider a risky asset, so really running a PPS pool is not an easy thing to do, I think F2pool has lower fees than viabtc, I have been planning on trying it, will probably switch some gears to that pool and compare.

[Artemis3]

I see, that makes sense.

All the PPS pools are super busy and can swing that. They appear to be making their money from TX fees, while pps+ is looking like 4% fees.

Totally was the confusion.

Will add a pps / pps+ (not 4% for sure lol) pool to my rotation. Will be nice to be able to mine for a day and not have to worry about a block find. Or shutting down mid round.

Thanks again!

All PPS pools charge more because their model is so risky (they act like a bank) so a 4% fee is common. From them, viabtc as mentioned can take a long time for a payout due to the minimum withdrawal, which most of those pools set at 0.01₿, except Poolin which is half that.

The other PPLNS pool is also taking months for payments, but there is in fact one that does find many blocks very often: Slushpool.

This pplns+ pool takes 2%, and with 6 Exa hashes per second, its finding about 10 blocks per DAY. So yeah, ramping up and averaging is instant, PPS like with half the fees... Min withdrawal is still 0.01₿ (unless you are willing to lose an extra 0.0001₿ per withdraw).

The + thing usually means they don't keep the tx (miner) fees to themselves, this is what most pools (except Antpool) do nowdays.

Bitmain's firmware from 2019 onwards, removes SSH access. Since you have Linux experience, you should already know how bad this is.

[2alt]

Yeah, now I understand. If a pool that is finding just a few blocks a year went to PPS, they would bankrupt in a week.

viabtc is the best pool. Checked them all. Very nice pool.

Oddly their 4% fee is probably a huge money maker for them as they know a block is always right around the corner.

Outside of that, awesome pool features. Thanks to the people that pointed me at it. Using PPLNS. Will try pps+ one day this week and compare.

This s9 is just a toy. Will see how the next weeks go, and then will get something better. I trade stocks, but not coins. I just buy them on nasty dumps and hold, but also only into a small amount of alts. BTC is 80% of my coin holdings. We'll see how the next weeks go. Couple alts catching my attention.

[mikeywith]

Yeah, now I understand. If a pool that is finding just a few blocks a year went to PPS, they would bankrupt in a week.

Not really, it depends on their "reserves" and the fees they charge, if they only find a few blocks a year, it simply means they have to pay a very small amount of rewards based on the fact that they don't have many mines which is the reason for not finding blocks in the first place, so as long as their reserves and fees follow the formula above, they won't go "bankrupt in a week.".

viabtc is the best pool. Checked them all. Very nice pool.

F2pool has 2.5% and it's PPS+, they are the largest pool tho, which we should avoid giving them more "power".