ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[Anddos]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

[faetos]

I had an underperforming S3 B2 and I went through a battery of tests to prove that the blades (they only saw an issue with one) was underperforming.

First was to send them a screenshot of the webgui showing aforementioned slowness.
Second was to take off the heatsinks and clean off excess paste (none there - they did a good job on that)
Third was to unplug the right board (Ethernet port facing you) run it and take a screenshot. Then unplug the cable going to the left board and plug it into the right (only this cord carries enough voltage to power the blade). I had to twist it a little to get it to go.
Fourth was to take the controller from my working unit and plug it into the faulty unit. I swapped them both and got crap performance out of both miners.
Fifth was to send them my contact info so they can send me 1 blade to replace one of the faulty ones.

This took about a week due to the time lag between Texas and China. Kudos to Bitmain for supporting their products and not leaving me in the cold like others would.

[MoreBloodWine]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

That is actually an interesting point which is why I'm glad I can run four for $20 a month in all ;-)

I am curious as to others thoughts on your quote though because it is a valid point.

[heslo]

I had an underperforming S3 B2 and I went through a battery of tests to prove that the blades (they only saw an issue with one) was underperforming.

First was to send them a screenshot of the webgui showing aforementioned slowness.
Second was to take off the heatsinks and clean off excess paste (none there - they did a good job on that)
Third was to unplug the right board (Ethernet port facing you) run it and take a screenshot. Then unplug the cable going to the left board and plug it into the right (only this cord carries enough voltage to power the blade). I had to twist it a little to get it to go.
Fourth was to take the controller from my working unit and plug it into the faulty unit. I swapped them both and got crap performance out of both miners.
Fifth was to send them my contact info so they can send me 1 blade to replace one of the faulty ones.

This took about a week due to the time lag between Texas and China. Kudos to Bitmain for supporting their products and not leaving me in the cold like others would.

Essentially my experience apart from the fourth step. Went pretty painlessly

[grn]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

WOW! cost less than $0.50 a day here

[martijntje]

Anyone have experience with an S3 where chain #1 gets much hotter? I have a 40 degree temperature on chain #1 while chain #2 is only 32 degrees. The whole thing is a lot slower than the other S3 I have.

Have already tried removing all the thermal paste from the chips and applying arctic MX-2, but that didn't change anything. Does it also help to change the paste on the inside? What else is there to try?

[atledenin]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

WOW! cost less than $0.50 a day here

That's like $0.60 per Kwh!  Can't be right.

I'm in the UK and we're on a "cheap" tariff £0.12/$0.20 per Kwh (£0.97/$1.63) and I make about £4.60/$7.70 per day in total at the current BTC value.  But I do it because its an extension of my computing/electronics hobbies

[MoreBloodWine]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

WOW! cost less than $0.50 a day here

That's like $0.60 per Kwh!  Can't be right.

I'm in the UK and we're on a "cheap" tariff £0.12/$0.20 per Kwh (£0.97/$1.63) and I make about £4.60/$7.70 per day in total at the current BTC value.  But I do it because its an extension of my computing/electronics hobbies

My kWh I think is around 0.092 last I checked.

[Reynaldo]

Will shipping of antminer s3 B7 start at august 20?

[MoreBloodWine]

Will shipping of antminer s3 B7 start at august 20?

Supposed to last I saw / heard.

Edit: I forget but what's an acceptable HW % ? Anything under 1% ?

[aztecminer]

I am curious has anyone had any RMA issues with Bitmain ?  i have provided them with the order ID and I am still having the hardest time getting RMA information from them.  They have demanded I perform a test with something called a multimeter (which i do not own, i had to go purchase one)  so i could test the chains.  My s3 device pretty much bricked itself with a firmware upgrade.  I cannot access the UI, the ip is not found (never changed from default).  I used an ipsniffer, and still zilch....anyhow, i am curious to know how Bitmain has dealt with RMA requests from others.   Thanks

It took me 2 1/2 weeks of those emails back and fourth. I finally told them I would sell it for parts on Bitcointalk.org and tell everyone about them not honoring warranty. Then and only then did they sent a RMA form. I sent it(controller) off 3 weeks ago and still don't have a replacement. Good luck.

It would seem to be a safe statement to say that the S3's do not hold up to the quality shown and expected from the S1's and S2's.

Sad.

And unnecessary. And expensive for us, the customer.

Their reputation is taking many hits and they're not all good. It's the result of someone's active decisions and they weren't good for the short term and certainly not for the long term.

that is not entirely true. i think i am at two weeks or maybe is it three weeks now running my S3 ant farm @250 clock getting 495 - 500+ g/hs .
i don't have to reboot all the time. i only had one trouble unit and that one is running @237 clock 475 - 480 g/hs .
i don't know if they would have performed this way right out the box since i modded them before i ever powered them on .
i am not saying there isn't something to the reported problems which is probably why they have an S3+ addressing those problems .
i do not really know .. i do know though that ur statement is not entirely true because if it were my S3's would be under-performing instead of over-performing.
maybe it's something you are doing or not doing to get them to perform better .

[BennyTheBall]

wouldnt running 340 watts at the wall constantly 24/7 cost about $5 aday to run, which is what these are making at today difficulty so why bother?

WOW! cost less than $0.50 a day here

That's like $0.60 per Kwh!  Can't be right.

I'm in the UK and we're on a "cheap" tariff £0.12/$0.20 per Kwh (£0.97/$1.63) and I make about £4.60/$7.70 per day in total at the current BTC value.  But I do it because its an extension of my computing/electronics hobbies

My kWh I think is around 0.092 last I checked.

My Kwh is 0.1050533 and that includes both generation and transmission. I just take the entire electric bill and divide it by the Kwh used. So it costs me about 86 center per day for each S3. With 10 S3s running I make enough in 1 week to pay for the entire month of electricity used.

[dlasher]

... i performed a factory reset and have used an ip sniffer...so the controller card seems to have taken a bad flash..

That's what I'm in the middle of right now.. Did you ever find the "boot" IP address it uses? I'm hoping there's a tftp-push recovery mode I can use to try to get the device back up, like every *wrt router I've ever owned. If you made this work, do tell!

[aztecminer]

There are allready some S3+ on ebay ! ;-)

My S3's are S3 black editions . easily over-clocked and stable.

[aztecminer]

I am curious has anyone had any RMA issues with Bitmain ?  i have provided them with the order ID and I am still having the hardest time getting RMA information from them.  They have demanded I perform a test with something called a multimeter (which i do not own, i had to go purchase one)  so i could test the chains.  My s3 device pretty much bricked itself with a firmware upgrade.  I cannot access the UI, the ip is not found (never changed from default).  I used an ipsniffer, and still zilch....anyhow, i am curious to know how Bitmain has dealt with RMA requests from others.   Thanks

It took me 2 1/2 weeks of those emails back and fourth. I finally told them I would sell it for parts on Bitcointalk.org and tell everyone about them not honoring warranty. Then and only then did they sent a RMA form. I sent it(controller) off 3 weeks ago and still don't have a replacement. Good luck.

I have been exchanging emails with someone by the name of "Tim" from Bitmain.  He gave me a laundry list of things/diagnostic checks to perform.  I have done them all, he even forced me into buying a multimeter (which i am not familiar with).  He still will not give me RMA instructions.  It's clear as day to me that my s3 has a bad controller card.  i can't login to it, or find the ip.  This is something I would not expect from Bitmain.  I never had an issue with them before.  they asked me for my order # and when i provided it, i get an email that states "Hi there,
Should there be a carrier tracking number showing that this miner came from our factory, we can also provide RMA for your faulty parts."  that's the last communication i have received from Bitmain.  i am super disappointed to say the least

did you already try resetting the ant ?? i had to do that once when i forgot the ip of the S1 i configured and my pc i was connecting to it was still on a 192.168.1 vlan .

[Atomar]

Well. So the "black edition" costs $50.00 extra ?? ;-) How about an white one to ?? 

[aztecminer]

Well. So the "black edition" costs $50.00 extra ?? ;-) How about an white one to ??  

yeah if you live near me I will turn your S3's into 'black editions' for ya for  that price sure . 

[aztecminer]

I am curious has anyone had any RMA issues with Bitmain ?  i have provided them with the order ID and I am still having the hardest time getting RMA information from them.  They have demanded I perform a test with something called a multimeter (which i do not own, i had to go purchase one)  so i could test the chains.  My s3 device pretty much bricked itself with a firmware upgrade.  I cannot access the UI, the ip is not found (never changed from default).  I used an ipsniffer, and still zilch....anyhow, i am curious to know how Bitmain has dealt with RMA requests from others.   Thanks

It took me 2 1/2 weeks of those emails back and fourth. I finally told them I would sell it for parts on Bitcointalk.org and tell everyone about them not honoring warranty. Then and only then did they sent a RMA form. I sent it(controller) off 3 weeks ago and still don't have a replacement. Good luck.

What were your failure symptoms? I had one die today.. going to have to go down this road...

as of right now, the only thing that happens when i plug in power is the fan spins for a minute and stops.  and i get a flashing red light that blinks.  that's about it.  prior to that all worked fine.  i performed a firmware update and the thing went kaput.  it's been about 2 weeks now, and about a week's worth of email exchanges with someone by the name of "tim" from bitmain.  and now i am the proud owner for a diagnostic tool that i will never again use (multimeter). 

I agree with Billbangs approach, i am going to tell them i am going to sell it on Bitcointalk and leave them a bad review.   

maybe the update changed the ip of the ant back to stock .. try reset the ant and connecting pc to it using the 192.168.1 network. see if you can find it then . or is it 192.168.2 network. i forgot.. try both .

[eoakland]

... i performed a factory reset and have used an ip sniffer...so the controller card seems to have taken a bad flash..

That's what I'm in the middle of right now.. Did you ever find the "boot" IP address it uses? I'm hoping there's a tftp-push recovery mode I can use to try to get the device back up, like every *wrt router I've ever owned. If you made this work, do tell!

i have not been able to find the default IP.  it should be 192.268.1.99, the issue is something is screwy with the controller/network card.  there is a factory reset button on it, but that don't do jack shit for my case.  i have the blinking red light of death, fan spins at boot for a minute and stops...and that's about all the action i am going to get out of this expensive paperweight.  Bitmain is giving me the runaround. 

Bitmain customer service used to be pretty good, definitely not what i expected. 

if anyone has been able to recover from the Blinking Red Light of Death...please share.  Thanks

[R4v37]

... i performed a factory reset and have used an ip sniffer...so the controller card seems to have taken a bad flash..

That's what I'm in the middle of right now.. Did you ever find the "boot" IP address it uses? I'm hoping there's a tftp-push recovery mode I can use to try to get the device back up, like every *wrt router I've ever owned. If you made this work, do tell!

i have not been able to find the default IP.  it should be 192.268.1.99, the issue is something is screwy with the controller/network card.  there is a factory reset button on it, but that don't do jack shit for my case.  i have the blinking red light of death, fan spins at boot for a minute and stops...and that's about all the action i am going to get out of this expensive paperweight.  Bitmain is giving me the runaround. 

Bitmain customer service used to be pretty good, definitely not what i expected. 

if anyone has been able to recover from the Blinking Red Light of Death...please share.  Thanks

its 192.168.1.99 right?