Cairnsmore1 - Quad XC6SLX150 Board

[spiccioli]

I'm starting to think (I'm thinking loud here ) that the --icarus-timing parameter can be omitted without problems (I'm not using it) at least in the initial phase of testing.

Running without it makes cgminer request more work from the pool (not a real problem on p2pool which already has a 10 seconds on average share time) and throw away part of every getwork without hashing it.

Throwing away a part of a getwork does no harm to one's expected payouts.

But, in my tests, it works a lot better and hashing FPGAs have the yellow led always off, which means that they hash continously.

Every time the yellow led shines the FPGA is not hashing and this lowers the hashing speed reported by pools.

spiccioli

[testconpastas2]

I'm starting to think (I'm thinking loud here ) that the --icarus-timing parameter can be omitted without problems (I'm not using it) at least in the initial phase of testing.

spiccioli

I've only used it at the begining and seeing that speed was showing weirdy with and without it  I have not used it ever again.

yohan,

I'd say powered usb hubs are a must, I cannot attach more than three boards to my pc if not through a powered usb hub (if I try all kind of problems happen to the point that the whole pc freezes - btw, it's not a PC but an HP thin client, this could be part of my problem).

How much power (max power) does the board take from the usb port?

spiccioli.

I'm using two http://www.soyntec.com/en-en/item/nexoos_395_black and they are unpowered because i had problems trying to connect them at the same time.   Maybe it was because the lots of other (wireless keyboard and mouse, bluetooth...) usb devices connected. So it seems no power is needed for me.

now i have only 6 cairnsmore1 pluged on each usb hub and they are working from yesterday without any problem

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/2030/sinttuloqt.jpg

PS: I'd try  not to plug other devices to the usb hub where cm1's are plugged.

[chrisp]

Hello,

Please tell me which FPGA pin is used for the primary clock input and what frequency that clock input runs at.

Please email me the answer; I don't read this thread.

@eldentyrell: thanks for taking a look in here  

@yohan: please give eldentyrell that information!

Details sent.

Is it possible to have the schematics or pinout publicly documented?  I'd love to use the board for some other bitstream uses and it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[BCbitcoin]

Is it possible to have the schematics or pinout publicly documented?  I'd love to use the board for some other bitstream uses and it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

The chip pinout was intended to be a direct copy of Icarus which is publicly documented. ngzhang may have poisoned it though as he only published the hardware design after pressure from those who wrote his bitstream for free. It's still not clear whether the "coms error" problem was introduced when copying Icarus or whether it was in the public Icarus design.

[testconpastas2]

after about 24 hours one com port turn off according cgminer ( the one a have labeled as "malo" (bad). temp issue??  (its the lowest board)

turning off and on the boards, didnt solve anything. I had to uninstall both usb hubs and install them  after a reboot. This time all installed com ports were the 2 last of 4, I meant (22,23 26,27 30,31....... 67,68) usb issue??  ..( its the first time i get that conf) are you getting ordered coms??

looking forward to use up/down cables to eliminate usb factor.


I'm guessing all of you are having usb problems (ICAS off on cgminer) havent you?

[Isokivi]

Neither of the cgminer windows builds manages to even start up.  They are complaning about libcurl.dll missing.
[edit]
..Ok so Im going with ebereons dirty version, proceeding to flashing in the twintest, following the instructions in the pdf untill: Verify that the JTAG Device chain can be accessed as follows:
Type: xc3sprog –c cm1 –j <return>
All 4 Array devices should be visible as above.

There not, something is wrong. Please update the guide to include what to do.Disregard this.
And whilst Yohan will undoubtably relativley soon get that done, some kind soul could point me in to the right direction. I apologize if this bit has hallready been covered in the thread, I assure you I have read it several times, but in my mind it's a swirling vortex of chaos atm and a real how-to needs to emerge.
[edit2]
Apparrentley I unchecked the device in virtualbox, it was allready checked and I removed the checkmark.
edit3
The guide says "Mount the USB Device as follows:
Type: mount –t auto /dev/sdb /mnt "
This results in "mount: you must specify the filesystem type"

So, wtf do I do now... Enterpoint really needs to sort these kinks out, no point in making a guide if the odds of getting something done with it are this bad.
Looks like this is going to be a long night, but I wont be quitting untill I have atleast one valid submitted share
[edit4]

When I go to mount the USB drive in VirtualBox and use the command:

mount -t auto /dev/sdb /mnt

it returns:

mount: you must specify the file system type.

Not a linux guy so I'm sure this is supremely noobish.

Pipesnake,

it should be

mount -t auto /dev/sdb1 /mnt

which means mount the first partition of your device sdb.

then a

ls -l /mnt

should show you the content of your device (usb key).

spiccioli

Ok found the usefull bit in the thread, after quite some browsing.. we really need to organize a how to, If I get this working Im propably going to start a separate thread where we can work on the how to. I know it's not much but this is something my skillset allows me to contribute.
[edit5]
This works, but it's saying that utf8 is not a reccomended filesystem as it will be case sensitive, In hopes of getting to the how-to eventually I would like one of you mighty wizards of linux to post a spell that specifies a filesystem that wont be case sensitive.
[edit6]
"Type:
xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –I xc6lx150.bit shipping_test.bit <return>"  Im trying to do the permanent flash, typing this yields me a screen full of options about a software I know nothing about, of which I understand only a part of. Srsly, am I to expect a failure of some sort at every step of following your guide ?
[edit7]
Some browsing again and found this: "I have found MY problem

I don't know if it fixes your's also.

FIRST: Turn off the unit! Set the dip switches to the shipping configuration!
If you turn on the unit with other dip settings, the unit will not work! It will not work, no matter what you do.
Shipping configuration 50MHz:
SW1/6 all on
SW2 all on
SW3 134 on, 2 off
SW4 134 on, 2 off
SW5 all on"

I've now retried with 2 different swich settings, one from a pdf, one from an image in this thread. Atm it would be usefull for me to know am I even looking at an dip-swich issue here ? ...and I did power off the board in between.
[Edit8]
Yohan the capital I in your pdf in the "Type: xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –I xc6lx150.bit shipping_test.bit <return>" looks like a lowercase L
Figuring this out gets me to a point where the response from xc3sprog is :
Using libftdi,
JEDEC: ff ff 0xff 0xff
unknown JEDEC manufacturer: ff
ISF Bitfile propably not loaded
This response is virtually instant so it's safe to say it's not working. Once again I would like input on what I am doing wrong ?

On another note, I tried running the ebereons dirty version of cgminer with the shipping bitstream, but got a response (something like) cannot mine, all devices disabled. Is this because I have virtualbox open and the device in use there, or am I looking at something different here ?

[spiccioli]

This works, but it's saying that utf8 is not a reccomended filesystem as it will be case sensitive, In hopes of getting to the how-to eventually I would like one of you mighty wizards of linux to post a spell that specifies a filesystem that wont be case sensitive.

Isoviki,

it is just a warning, you only have to read from it so it should work.

You write the usb key from windows, then attach it to VirtualBox and do the mount spell from inside VirtualBox and then read from it.

spiccioli

[spiccioli]

--icarus-timing

I've seen serveral numbers, in this thread, for the --icarus-timing parameter, but most of them seem wrong when used with twin_test.bit.

Cgminer sees each hashing FPGA as a full icarus board; a real icarus board splits the nonce range between the two FPGAs it has onboard, so, since in our case only one FPGA in each pair is active, our FPGAs are doing just half of the nonce range, the other half is thrown away (or sent to the disabled FPGA, I don't know).

Given that twin_test.bit hashes at 190MH/s every hash takes 1s/190MH or 5.2632 ns. so this is the first number.

How long does it take to scan the "full" nonce range? 4GH / 2 (because half nonce range is not hashed) / 190MH/s or 11.3 seconds.

So, the second number should be 112, I've started mine with

Code:

--icarus-timining 5.2632=111 

I've used 111 to be on the safe side.

Sice I've started it this way the yellow led is always off, so FPGA utilization is full, but now the board speed is around 210-230 MH/s on cgminer with my pool reporting an hashing speed of 185 MH/s.

spiccioli

[ebereon]

...
[Edit8]
Yohan the capital I in your pdf in the "Type: xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –I xc6lx150.bit shipping_test.bit <return>" looks like a lowercase L
Figuring this out gets me to a point where the response from xc3sprog is :
Using libftdi,
JEDEC: ff ff 0xff 0xff
unknown JEDEC manufacturer: ff
ISF Bitfile propably not loaded
This response is virtually instant so it's safe to say it's not working. Once again I would like input on what I am doing wrong ?

On another note, I tried running the ebereons dirty version of cgminer with the shipping bitstream, but got a response (something like) cannot mine, all devices disabled. Is this because I have virtualbox open and the device in use there, or am I looking at something different here ?

I know it's hard to read all pages, I'm sure every page in this thread have informations that help to get it running, but to ask 56 pages is not a nice move.

So, first you have to make sure you connect the unit to the VM only when you want to programm the bitstream, if you do not then turn it off! The VM will take the unit automaticaly when you replug the usb cable. That's really bad and i had to fight with it to.

To programm the bitstream in tempoary mode use:

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 twin_test.bit

This takes a minute or so. Do not turn off the unit! If you do, the programming is lost, it's the temporary mode and saved only to the fpga ram.


To programm the bitstream in to SPI flash use:

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –Ixc6lx150.bit twin_test.bit

(there is no Blank betwen "-I" and "xc6lx150.bit"!) The PDF is wrong here.
This takes ~8 minutes! Just wait until you read "Verify: success!" You must turn off the unit to get the bitstream loaded into the fpga. I always turn off and unplug the usb.

Make sure you know what controller firmware you have! SN 62-0001 until 62-0026 have the old firmware and you have to update that first. The old firmware have other dip switch settings and they are not documented. So programming is a pain without to know what switch do what.

I hope it helps a bit to get your first accepted share  

[Isokivi]

...
[Edit8]
Yohan the capital I in your pdf in the "Type: xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –I xc6lx150.bit shipping_test.bit <return>" looks like a lowercase L
Figuring this out gets me to a point where the response from xc3sprog is :
Using libftdi,
JEDEC: ff ff 0xff 0xff
unknown JEDEC manufacturer: ff
ISF Bitfile propably not loaded
This response is virtually instant so it's safe to say it's not working. Once again I would like input on what I am doing wrong ?

On another note, I tried running the ebereons dirty version of cgminer with the shipping bitstream, but got a response (something like) cannot mine, all devices disabled. Is this because I have virtualbox open and the device in use there, or am I looking at something different here ?

I know it's hard to read all pages, I'm sure every page in this thread have informations that help to get it running, but to ask 56 pages is not a nice move.

So, first you have to make sure you connect the unit to the VM only when you want to programm the bitstream, if you do not then turn it off! The VM will take the unit automaticaly when you replug the usb cable. That's really bad and i had to fight with it to.

To programm the bitstream in tempoary mode use:

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 twin_test.bit

This takes a minute or so. Do not turn off the unit! If you do, the programming is lost, it's the temporary mode and saved only to the fpga ram.


To programm the bitstream in to SPI flash use:

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –Ixc6lx150.bit twin_test.bit

(there is no Blank betwen "-I" and "xc6lx150.bit"!) The PDF is wrong here.
This takes ~8 minutes! Just wait until you read "Verify: success!" You must turn off the unit to get the bitstream loaded into the fpga. I always turn off and unplug the usb.

Make sure you know what controller firmware you have! SN 62-0001 until 62-0026 have the old firmware and you have to update that first. The old firmware have other dip switch settings and they are not documented. So programming is a pain without to know what switch do what.

I hope it helps a bit to get your first accepted share  

First off, thank you for helping and more so thank you for being the hugest contributor in this thread and the huge amount of hours you've put in.
I assure you I have read every single post in this thread, on a daily basis since it started.
I find it odd that the typo in the pdf instructions hasnt yet been corrected, and apologize for asking this even tough I had read of it (multiple times) .. I just assumed it'd be corrected by now.

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 twin_test.bit

works.

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –Ixc6lx150.bit twin_test.bit

does not work, but this time it's complaning about a filename issue to me. My initial hunch is that since the board im punishing is #108 the firmware filename on it has changed along the way. I'll re-read up on this , of how I wsh the search function on this forum worked better .. but for now Im going with the temporary flash.

[yohan]

yohan,

I'd say powered usb hubs are a must, I cannot attach more than three boards to my pc if not through a powered usb hub (if I try all kind of problems happen to the point that the whole pc freezes - btw, it's not a PC but an HP thin client, this could be part of my problem).

How much power (max power) does the board take from the usb port?

spiccioli.

[/quote]

Ok the running power of the controller part does vary with the clock generator setup and the build in there but generally it is about 40-80mA from what I have seen. The on-board regulator will take it from the 12V if available. We don't think this running power is an issue. It's the initial surge that might be when we plug in the USB and 12V isn't up. It's also possible that there could be current spikes when running e.g. when the controller configures and maybe in a few other occasions.

To a degree this problem will probably go away when we move to supporting the up/down structure with a resultant more limited USB usage. That said we will do more investigative work to establish a more exact cause as that is good engineering practise to at least understand that much.

I am reading through some of the other posts (i'm still doing that) and I agree the thread is getting a lot of take in but when we move from the temporary setup it will start to get better albeit probably after a slightly worse period as we transition. Documentation and other things should get a lot better post bitstream release as we swing more resources into that side of thimgs and stuff stops changing significantly every day.

[ebereon]

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –Ixc6lx150.bit twin_test.bit

does not work, but this time it's complaning about a filename issue to me. My initial hunch is that since the board im punishing is #108 the firmware filename on it has changed along the way. I'll re-read up on this , of how I wsh the search function on this forum worked better .. but for now Im going with the temporary flash.

Strange...
When you type a "ls -l" do you see the files in the directory? And make sure you use the correct filename, the filename in UPPERCASE is XC6LX150.bit, I did a typo the first times, so I used xc61 (number one here! but it is a small "L")...

Here is my directory (ls -l) after copy the files from usb stick:


If you have the same, the commandline should work.

good luck!

[Isokivi]

Code:

xc3sprog –c cm1 –p 0 –Ixc6lx150.bit twin_test.bit

does not work, but this time it's complaning about a filename issue to me. My initial hunch is that since the board im punishing is #108 the firmware filename on it has changed along the way. I'll re-read up on this , of how I wsh the search function on this forum worked better .. but for now Im going with the temporary flash.

Strange...
When you type a "ls -l" do you see the files in the directory? And make sure you use the correct filename, the filename in UPPERCASE is XC6LX150.bit, I did a typo the first times, so I used xc61 (number one here! but it is a small "L")...

Here is my directory (ls -l) after copy the files from usb stick:


If you have the same, the commandline should work.

good luck!

I was in lowercases, thank you.
Meanwhile I managed to get the first board to hash I guess Im good for tonight, would of love to accomplish more but it seems that no amount of caffeine can help me out at this point.
While Im posting I should mention that I will be setting up a board for DrHaribo of bitminter to work on, once there is an actual working bitstream in exsistense, this should help noobs like me use the devices, as he's nifty java-miner is as simple as they get.

[ebereon]

Update on my hashrate with board#62-0015:

I don't know if my problems have something to do with my ambient temperature too.
The last days it was ~30°C when I had the problems to get twin_test working with SW6#1 off.

But today it's down to 26°C and it seems to work again with 278Mh/s for 1 hour average at the moment. The orange led turns on from time to time. I got a 15 minute break while the unit does nothing, orange led was always on in that time and after it, I did nothing it was start working and hashing again.

I have put a second Fan on the down side of the unit too.

[ebereon]

Update on my hashrate with board#62-0015:

I don't know if my problems have something to do with my ambient temperature too.
The last days it was ~30°C when I had the problems to get twin_test working with SW6#1 off.

But today it's down to 26°C and it seems to work again with 278Mh/s for 1 hour average at the moment. The orange led turns on from time to time. I got a 15 minute break while the unit does nothing, orange led was always on in that time and after it, I did nothing it was start working and hashing again.

I have put a second Fan on the down side of the unit too.

After power off and moving to a colder place, the unit don't work again with SW6#1 off ... I just do not understand how my board works...

[Isokivi]

After one night of hashing the single board I have plugged in with the twintest bitstream is reporting in at 411MHS, and 2200 shares of which 4 are rejected at poolside. Nothing special or noteworthy there, but for some reason the rejected shares are all from the bitcoin side and on the namecoin side there are none. This is unuasual for me at bitminter, the norm for gpu rigs is that rejects on namecoin side are about 12-47 times greater depending on the rig. Also the bitcoin side rejects seem lower than on gpu rigs 0,006% vs 0,03%.

[BCbitcoin]

Has anyone measured the power consumption of a board running the twin_test bitstream?

[Isokivi]

Request: a fool proof guide to installing the drivers in windows 7, including the dipswich configuration if necessary.
..needless to say at current I am inable to get either of the two remaining boards to even detect in virtualbox : / ...wonder what I did last night to get it going.

The problem I keep running in to is windows dosent detect the device properly when plugged in, when I install the drivers manually it says the drivers are fine and refuses to do anything. When I use the options "let me pick" and "have disk" I get something in, but after the installation completes the status of the device is "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" and it dosent show up in virtualbox.
[edit]
Looks like I found the problem: it requires an ubs-3 port for some reason, what's up with that ?

[yohan]

We found out why a few of you were having problems with DLLs missing on our version of CGminer. It's because we forgot to include them in the zip file. That's now fixed and updated on the support webpage.

Long term webpages are now up but temporary ones will remain for a while yet as they are faster to update.

[Isokivi]

We found out why a few of you were having problems with DLLs missing on our version of CGminer. It's because we forgot to include them in the zip file. That's now fixed and updated on the support webpage.

Long term webpages are now up but temporary ones will remain for a while yet as they are faster to update.

Thank you, giving the twintest a try right away, it's starting, hopefully I have more to report later
[edit]
Ok, it appears to be running at 1034 MHS reported at the pool... this is with 3 boards, Invalids are still nonexistent. The only improvement so far for me is that CM5, a core that would usually get one share and doze off, is doing slightly better: it's now up to 3 shares (0.27/m).