My BFL Jalapeno Experience So Far

[Jackin Jill]

First I want say a quick 'hello' to everyone, it's been a long time since I posted, but I'm sure glad the forum is here when I need it.

So, getting down to business..

I received my little JillyJally back in late November, (mid-April order, sans upgrade) and to my dismay, it would never reach 5gh/s, it averaged about 4.7. Things were going well with it and it was hashing along fine for about 2 months without major issue. Valentines Day I noticed that the hashrate started to drop down to 4.5 (I love you too BFL), but I didn't think much of it at the time. Given that 4.5 is still within the 10% range of variance, I simply chalked it up to getting the bare minimum from my order. Yippee!!
For almost a month it had been running pretty smoothly at 4.5 and then over the past week I've noticed that it's dropped again and now sits around 4.25. All along the temps have been around 44C and HW errors around 5%, which from my research is about normal. And oh yes, from day 1 I have had the outer casing removed, but top and bottom plates are still on and switched the fan to blow downward, as per the research I did before my unit was shipped.
Today I was a little frustrated knowing that I was supposed to get a Jally with a 10% variance from 5gh/s and my unit is now more than 10%. Grrr.. So I decided to shut her down and check her out, given that I haven't touched her in a few months.
Even before I had her unplugged I noticed that my heatsink was loose and was like "WTF?" So I popped the feet off, grabbed a torx and took it apart to tighten it up. And Ughhhhh!!! 
The screws holding the PCB to the heatsink were completely loose. The thing wobbled like my grandmother behind the wheel. So, being curious if the chip(s) were damaged, I pulled out the screws and wanted to check it out.
Stupid ZAIRA (292 or 274) or whomever put my unit together didn't use any thermal paste. SRSLY WTF? Is this normal? Two chips. No paste. WTF?

I had some thermal paste leftover from building my Hackintosh, so I put a dab of paste on each and put her back together. But I still don't get close to my original 4.7gh/s. I didn't see any damage to the chips or anything else during my inspection. I do however get close to the previous 4.5gh/s with 4.41gh/s

As with the consensus, I'm very unimpressed with BFL. Does anyone have experience with RMA their sub-par Jallies?

[tuner]

i once bought 6ghs jalapeno, dissasembled it same day, the radiator was very loose, almost no thermal paste. so reaplied the paste, tightened the screws and it started hashing between 8ghs and 8,2ghs

[Jackin Jill]

i once bought 6ghs jalapeno, dissasembled it same day, the radiator was very loose, almost no thermal paste. so reaplied the paste, tightened the screws and it started hashing wetween 8ghs and 8,2ghs

I've read similar. This makes me wonder if there's something wrong with mine. Plus the fact that it doesn't hash at what it was rated to. 

[Photon939]

It's possible the chips may have been damaged from prolonged use with no thermal compound. I've had problems with some SMD capacitors going bad, but my Jalapenos get pretty good speeds

[Jackin Jill]

It's possible the chips may have been damaged from prolonged use with no thermal compound. I've had problems with some SMD capacitors going bad, but my Jalapenos get pretty good speeds

Wow, those hardware errors are all over the place. WTF is BFL doing when they assemble these things?

"One binned, one shite. One binned, one shite.."

[TrytoHex]

Doesn't BFL give a lifetime warranty? Maby worth trying to get a replacement?

[aurel57]

Doesn't BFL give a lifetime warranty? Maby worth trying to get a replacement?

your right but I think it's only lifetime or a year after they quit making that miner. But anyways I had a problem with one of my Singles and BFL was easy to deal with and had a miner replacing my bad one within a week of sending mine in. Then I had another one act up and once again BFL sent me a RMA but I checked and it was my BFL PSU went bad. I emailed them and said I would not need to send in the miner and they sent me a new PSU  right away. All my units were bought second hand and I never have bought direct from the company and they have been great on the warranty.

[HellDiverUK]

Both mine have been solid as a rock.  The 5GH one does a solid 5.3GH, and the 7GH one does 8.1GH.  Key to these things is run them off a decent PSU, and make sure they're stone cold when starting to mine, because they auto-tune at startup.

Yes, they're slow.  Yes, they're noisy, but they just keep on mining 24/7, no fuss, no bother.

[xstr8guy]

It's time to toss that junk in the trash.  Right now you can get 8GHs of hashing power for ~$30 at PBMining (referral link) for 5 years.

Yes, you read that right, $30/8GHs/5yrs.  You don't have to wait for hardware to be delivered.  You don't have to worry about noise and heat.  And best of all you don't pay for electricity

[dropt]

It's time to toss that junk in the trash.  Right now you can get 8GHs of hashing power for ~$30 at PBMining (referral link) for 5 years.

Yes, you read that right, $30/8GHs/5yrs.  You don't have to wait for hardware to be delivered.  You don't have to worry about noise and heat.  And best of all you don't pay for electricity

5 Years? 

[xstr8guy]

It's time to toss that junk in the trash.  Right now you can get 8GHs of hashing power for ~$30 at PBMining (referral link) for 5 years.

Yes, you read that right, $30/8GHs/5yrs.  You don't have to wait for hardware to be delivered.  You don't have to worry about noise and heat.  And best of all you don't pay for electricity

5 Years?  

Why is that funny?  Do you think Jalapenos will run for 5 years?  

[Equate]

Jalapenos are now just a toys.

[Jackin Jill]

Here's a good news update!

After adding some thermal paste and allowing it to cure, I've actually achieved speeds just over the rated 5ghs. So stoked! 
This is good news for anyone who has the same issue.

Now if only I could add a few more chips to it and run it off the same PSU.

http://eligius.st/~wizkid057/newstats/userstats.php/1JxGGxnttFdw3dK6FE1dohYmrXVjTFcQc4