GRIDSEED G-BLADE Overclocking 7Mh/s, improvements and repair

[Elphamyto]

Thanks for your help. Here is a high-res photo of the pcb area behind the connector. I didn't mod it myself, I got it from Zoomhash and I'm under the impression that 7gnomes did the volt mod.
The clicking seems to come from the DC jack... I can sort of feel it vibrating the DC connector when I connect it to the pcb jack. Hopefully this photo reveals something. Thanks again.

[J4bberwock]

Thanks for your help. Here is a high-res photo of the pcb area behind the connector. I didn't mod it myself, I got it from Zoomhash and I'm under the impression that 7gnomes did the volt mod.
The clicking seems to come from the DC jack... I can sort of feel it vibrating the DC connector when I connect it to the pcb jack. Hopefully this photo reveals something. Thanks again.

If you have access to a multimeter, you can check a few things. I'll take your picture and add marks on it to tell you where to connect and what you should be reading.

nothing obvious on the picture except the solder job was done with a fine tip iron and isn't pretty, but it should do the job.
They also lack the heatsink on the mosfets and probably under the PCB.

If you have access to alternate power cables or power supply, try it, just in case the connectors were low grade and heated up to the point they damaged themselves.

[J4bberwock]

Thanks for your help. Here is a high-res photo of the pcb area behind the connector. I didn't mod it myself, I got it from Zoomhash and I'm under the impression that 7gnomes did the volt mod.
The clicking seems to come from the DC jack... I can sort of feel it vibrating the DC connector when I connect it to the pcb jack. Hopefully this photo reveals something. Thanks again.

Here is a step by step checking you can easily do with a multimeter.

Start with the panel unplugged from power.

Step 1
Check for resistance between the gate and drain from the upper mosfet.
Yours shouldn't be shorted since your ferrites are looking ok.
You can check this post for the test done on a pod
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6722468#msg6722468

Step 2
Check for what resistor they used for the voltmod.
Anything over 36k would have needed at the very least a dissipator under the panel to cool the power mosfets AQ6 AQ7 AQ8 an the choke AL2.
heatsinks over these parts would help too.
Secondary side fan is even better.

Connect the power plug to the panel.

Check if the coil and mowfets are getting warm/hot.
If they do, the chips should be warm too.
That means the panel should be able to hash, so something is wrong in the communication side. I haven't experimented that much on this yet.

If they stay cold, we will try to find out why in the next steps.

Step 3
Check voltage across any of the big yellow capacitors. They have positive and negative markings. It's what powers the gridseed chips for hashing.
Less than 1.2v means we have something wrong with the up1509 and related parts.

Step 4
check for +5v supply (output of the up1707Q)
This buck converter will feed the AME8805 (next step) and the up1509.

Step 5
Check for 3.3v supply (output of the AME8805AEFT chips, wrong spelling in the schematics from Gridseed)
3.3v supply to the mining chips.

[madmartyk]

So now are these the same g-blades that we all have or a new product?

http://zoomhash.com/collections/top-sellers/products/26-4mhs-of-overclocked-g-blades-at-your-door-within-5-business-days

[wolfey2014]

So now are these the same g-blades that we all have or a new product?

http://zoomhash.com/collections/top-sellers/products/26-4mhs-of-overclocked-g-blades-at-your-door-within-5-business-days

Sounds like a desperate attempt to sell over hyped modded blades for still TOO MUCH money per MHs!

[suzukii]

Does anyone have a good working bfgminer.conf or CGminer.conf they wish to share for stock G-blades that'll work under Windows?
Thanks.

[ZiG]

Does anyone have a good working bfgminer.conf or CGminer.conf they wish to share for stock G-blades that'll work under Windows?
Thanks.

I am using just plain ".bat" file ...like this...?

cgminer.exe --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://usa.wemineltc.com:3336 -u YOURUSER -p YOURPASS --gridseed-options=baud=230400 --gridseed-options per_chip_stats=1, freq=838,chips=40 --hotplug 5

Hope it helps...

ZiG

[suzukii]

Does anyone have a good working bfgminer.conf or CGminer.conf they wish to share for stock G-blades that'll work under Windows?
Thanks.

I am using just plain ".bat" file ...like this...?

cgminer.exe --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://usa.wemineltc.com:3336 -u YOURUSER -p YOURPASS --gridseed-options=baud=230400 --gridseed-options per_chip_stats=1, freq=838,chips=40 --hotplug 5

Hope it helps...

ZiG

Thanks but it didn't work.  What's the equivalent of that in BFGminer's .bat file?

I tried something similar, (displayed later in this response), but it fails with "Unexpected extra command line argument".
This is my failing batch file with BFGminer in a Windows CMD prompt with the following in a .bat file:
bfgminer.exe -S noauto -S gridseed:all --gridseed-options=baud=115200,freq=838,chips=40,modules=1 –-hotplug=5 --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://gridseed.wemineltc.com:3333 -u testworker.1 -p 123 --failover-only -o stratum+tcp://stratum.scryptguild.com:3333 -u testworker.1 -p 123.

BFGminer doesn't like the "--gridseed-options=baud=115200,freq=838,chips=40,modules=1 –-hotplug=5" portion.  It fails & terminates with with "Unexpected extra command line argument".

But this works in a .bat file:
bfgminer.exe -S noauto -S gridseed:all --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://gridseed.wemineltc.com:3333 -u testworker.1 -p 123 --failover-only -o stratum+tcp://stratum.scryptguild.com:3333 -u testworker.1 -p 123.  But this won't hash above 8MH/s.

My problem is that they don't go above 3.5MH/s with this string even though they are supposed to hit a minimum of 5.2MH/s.  Not seeing this.  Getting a top hashing of 6-7MH/s with both G-blades.

Under my Raspberry Pi Model-B I get 11-12Mh/s, minimal HW errors but the hashing on there last about 30 minutes before it all comes to a crawling 720KH/s.  Needless to say which is why I'm trying this under windows 7 SP1 now.  I tried getting them to work with Multiminer v3.2.2 but the best I got was also between 5-6MH/s.
So now I'm trying to get this to work from the Window CMD prompt.
Once I can past the basic stuff working stable, then I want to get to mod the crap out of these G-blades.


So that's why I was asking if I could get someone to display either their BFGminer.conf file, preferably under v4.2.0 or their CGminer.

[ZiG]

Just try cgminer...working fine for me...no problems...long term...

ZiG

[Blisk]

I had the same problem until i use old cpuminer, after that it works.
Before after that fev hours hashing drops to some Khash

[J4bberwock]

As requested, pictures of Frankenblade (copyright to me   ) have been stable at 3.1MH/s, 925Mhz per panel for a few days with very low HW errors.

Piggybacked gridseed pods to get their 1.5 and 5V outputs to the blade.
Taking the 1.2v from where the big yellow capacitor was, routing it to to the blade on 2 of the above AC42 AC45 AC47 AC46.
Taking the 5v at the output of the up1707Q, connected on the blade to 2 off the 5 AME8805 feeding each line of 8 GC3355 chips
voltmodded 56K resistor on the pods gave me stable 1.35V on the blade.
There is a huge voltage drop, maybe also caused by my 0.75mm² wires, so a stock pod won't give enough voltage to hash at full speed with the blade. You should get something around 0.7-0.88v on the blade with a pod that isn't voltmodded.

I'm currently working on a standalone powerboard to power any asic PCB up to 300 watt (150A from 0.8v to 2v)

Fans on the pods put on the other side to also directly cool the top of the mosfets

[Blisk]

ok 2,7 MH is default blade and you get 3,1 out of one board. Isn't cheapper to just buy another gridseed and get that 400Khash more?

[WheresWaldo]

Will anyone possibly link some of the parts you purchased to volt mod your g-blades in this thread?

Curious

Here we go for the list

Hardware and related used

I don't work with magnifying glasses, but with headlamp. If yo do need a lots of contrast like me, this one is really nice and throws loads of light and is cheap. Maybe cheaper on some other places.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290990217612&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

small tweezers will help for placing the smd too, something like these ones.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/6PCS-Brucelles-Pincette-Pince-Tweezers-Antistatique-Metal-Courbe-Rond-Droit-/121204738469?pt=FR_YO_MaisonJardin_Outils_OutilsaMain&hash=item1c385d89a5[/b]]http://www.ebay.fr/itm/6PCS-Brucelles-Pincette-Pince-Tweezers-Antistatique-Metal-Courbe-Rond-Droit-/121204738469?pt=FR_YO_MaisonJardin_Outils_OutilsaMain&hash=item1c385d89a5

Soldering paste ZJ-18 one of the best cheap ones I tried so far.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Welding-Soldering-Iron-Solder-Flux-Paste-ZJ-18-50g-Wax-/220645967363?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item335f864603

Soldering station
Aoyue 937+ very good not so expensive one

Hot air rework station
BAKKU 858D
Cheap, but does the job.
My settings aren't the best ones, but they do work:
450°C (I know, it's way too high, but it allows me to work very fast)
Don't run the fan too high. 1 or 2 is enough most of the time. 5 will blow the 0402 and most of the 0603 SMD components off the board. Did I say not to go up to 8?

Standard mod
Resistors 0603 size 39k recommended, 43k is hardcore and dangerous, I'm running 44.2k.
can be found at mouser, farnell...

Heatsinks for cooling the mosfets under the PCB
37x37x15mm
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261310293222&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
or 37x37x24mm (still waiting for them 5 weeks after puchase...)
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310945950478&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

small heatsinks for cooling the mosfets on the top side
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251251434021&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Optional improvements

Replace the power plug with a screw terminal, 5mm pitch
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400667113340&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
I had to slightly bend the pins of the terminal and drill the stock holes to 1.1mm

Replace ferrite beads with 0 ohm resistors, 1206 size
Axial ferrite beads might be better for safety, or resettable fuses. I ordered some and will test.

Replace Mosfets with new ones
Upper gate -> CSD16321Q5C one for each PCB unless you have the latest ones with an empty mosfet pad that you can populate.
http://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/CSD16321Q5C/?qs=/qzd9s%252bcLd6BJ6oSO2jYyA==
TO-220 package IRFB7437 will also work with a nice AAVID thermaloy HF20 heatsink
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360922735855&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Lower gate -> CSD17556Q5B you will need 2 of them on each PCB
http://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/CSD17556Q5B/?qs=%2fha2pyFadujmDrK04JvA9%2fUT5iDlW7l0ImBsWKDB2WI%3d

add heatsinks on the GC3355 chips will help getting lower HW errors.
same one used on the mosfets


Optional wide body mod

Scythe ultrakaze 130CFM fan
You will need to figure a way to attach it to the blade. I glued some 15mm M3 spacers at appropriate place to be able to screw it.

25mm PCB standoff / spacers to make the original ones higher
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281207608483&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Custom cut PVC cards to close the gap between the 2 halves of the blade size 220x120x3mm
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261480101060&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


My recommended power supply (I currently own 15 of those at home, counting a few spare ones)

Server power supply, 1300watt if powered with 220-230V

HP DL580 G3 / ML570 G3 power supply 364360-001 / 337867-001 337867-501 AA23530
Quite easy to mod, reliable, not too expensive, powerful, but loud as a vacuum cleaner.

thank you so much for sharing this information....
I didn't see your other post with pictures, I must check that out now  
is there any chance you will be doing a small how-to guide? i am sure quite a few of us would be glad to donate

[J4bberwock]

ok 2,7 MH is default blade and you get 3,1 out of one board. Isn't cheapper to just buy another gridseed and get that 400Khash more?

On one of the panels, the ferrites melted the tracks so much it was impossible to recover.
Without external power, it wouldn't hash at all.

[Blisk]

ok 2,7 MH is default blade and you get 3,1 out of one board. Isn't cheapper to just buy another gridseed and get that 400Khash more?

On one of the panels, the ferrites melted the tracks so much it was impossible to recover.
Without external power, it wouldn't hash at all.

I know, but if you have a new blade, is it worthed?

[J4bberwock]

ok 2,7 MH is default blade and you get 3,1 out of one board. Isn't cheapper to just buy another gridseed and get that 400Khash more?

On one of the panels, the ferrites melted the tracks so much it was impossible to recover.
Without external power, it wouldn't hash at all.

I know, but if you have a new blade, is it worthed?

voltmod with the resistor if you have a new one. and cool it correctly.
But external power supply is fun and can be used on other asics.
I can even power the Zeus Blizzard with a gridseed pod if I want.

[Blisk]

I have now IRFB 7437 and IRF 1404 for lower and upper gates.
Will it work If I use it and also change ferrites, did you test it?

[J4bberwock]

I have now IRFB 7437 and IRF 1404 for lower and upper gates.
Will it work If I use it and also change ferrites, did you test it?

Irfb 7437 works for upper gate. I still haven't tried the 1404
I noticed that when switching to the dualcool MOSFET, Gridseed also added a resistor on the board. Probably to boost the signal for switching the gates.
I'll add some pics later and finally try to use 7437/7430/1404 on a pod.

[Blisk]

ok thanks, let me know if it works so I will mod it my blade

[J4bberwock]

1404 also works as upper gate with 5300 as the lower. I'll try 7437 7430 and 1404 743x pairs later.
Higher rds on as upper gate.