ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[abracadabra]

I think I have found a good fan for dust;
https://www.megekko.nl/product/443/376142/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfhbUZ1CSOM

what do you think?

At 55CFM I don't think that fan moves anywhere near enough air to call it a replacement for the existing S4 fans.  Think you need something in the vicinity of 300 CFM.  And at $30USD I'd think you could do better by going with a Delta.  JMHO.

[abracadabra]

I have a problem with my S4, It stopped hashing, temp shows 0, but the miner is up and running. I reset, upgraded software again, but there seem to be some problem. Any help?


- Another problem with my miners is, when i change pool settings, 1 of my miners shuts down completely. Is this a common issue with new firmware? It wasnt the case before   

Can you SSH into it?

[MyRig]

Something must went wrong.  Can you try to reflash the firmware?

I have a problem with my S4, It stopped hashing, temp shows 0, but the miner is up and running. I reset, upgraded software again, but there seem to be some problem. Any help?


- Another problem with my miners is, when i change pool settings, 1 of my miners shuts down completely. Is this a common issue with new firmware? It wasnt the case before   

[Prelude]

Does anyone know where the temperature sensor is on an S4 hash board?

[Digitalmocking]

Will the S4 take 240V in?

[Cyper_BLC]

Does anyone know where the temperature sensor is on an S4 hash board?

there are 2 types of s4 hash board, which one is yours? put your board pic in here and i will show you temp.sensor is where. or you can find well with fine look LM75A 8pin SMD ic.

[Kexkey]

Speaking of dust, I bought 2 used S4s this week from someone local in Montreal who was running 16 S4s in a "data center". I've never seen more disgusting hardware in my life! Dirt was literally baked on everything, the picture doesn't really do it justice especially since the top of the hash boards were the cleanest part. Take a look:

Pre-cleaning (middle and bottom were much worse):

https://i.imgur.com/RUyQBlH.jpg

After cleaning and installing a proper replacement PSU:

https://i.imgur.com/e1xsEde.jpg

And now she's purring:

https://i.imgur.com/WgjcaKB.png

I wish I would have weighed the S4 before and after cleaning. No kidding, there must have been a pound of dirt and filth in there. I'd love to see where this person is running their machines.

This unit actually had a huge defect, BITMAIN used a wrong nut and one of the 12v connections on a lower hash board was completely loose. It barely even touched the bolt's threads, slipping right off when trying to tighten it. I've never seen this nut before in an S4, so some asshole at BITMAIN's assembly line was too fucking lazy to get off his ass and fetch a proper nut right before he finished his shift on a Friday night.   The wire's terminal was completely charred along with the nut and washer, the rubber insulation almost completely melted away, and the hash board looks damaged but works fine as far as I can tell. I don't know why I didn't take pics, but I still have the charred connector on the PSU if anyone wants a look. I'm putting the blame on BITMAIN since, judging by the sorry state the S4 was in when I got it, the previous owner had never bothered to open it up.

Amusingly, somehow both units PSUs still worked even though they were stuffed with dirt/dust. Pretty funny considering I run my other S4s in a clean environment with very little dust, and I've had 4 out of 5 PSUs die on me.  

Edit: Just noticed that you can see the charred washer in the second picture, beside the screw driver's handle.

Hi Prelude,

What is your PSU?  I have a few PSU's here but they have PCI-e connectors.  Do you know how I can convert the wires to connect to the screws in that series of S4?  Is it as simple as cutting the wire and screw it directly on the board?

Thanks!

[Prelude]

Will the S4 take 240V in?

Yes.

Does anyone know where the temperature sensor is on an S4 hash board?

there are 2 types of s4 hash board, which one is yours? put your board pic in here and i will show you temp.sensor is where. or you can find well with fine look LM75A 8pin SMD ic.

There's actually 3 that I know about, 1 is PCI-e version, next is nut/bolt version, and the last is a screw down terminal. I don't have pictures on hand, but thanks for telling me what to look for.

The reason I ask, is that I have reversed the fans in My S4s, so that exhaust is in front of the S4 (where the screen is) and now I'm probably over cooling the temperature chip and getting a false reading of the actual board temps. I'll have to do some testing to be sure, but I might have to put them back as they were originally and just have the S4s sitting backwards on my shelf.

Speaking of dust, I bought 2 used S4s this week from someone local in Montreal who was running 16 S4s in a "data center". I've never seen more disgusting hardware in my life! Dirt was literally baked on everything, the picture doesn't really do it justice especially since the top of the hash boards were the cleanest part. Take a look:

Pre-cleaning (middle and bottom were much worse):

https://i.imgur.com/RUyQBlH.jpg

After cleaning and installing a proper replacement PSU:

https://i.imgur.com/e1xsEde.jpg

And now she's purring:

https://i.imgur.com/WgjcaKB.png

I wish I would have weighed the S4 before and after cleaning. No kidding, there must have been a pound of dirt and filth in there. I'd love to see where this person is running their machines.

This unit actually had a huge defect, BITMAIN used a wrong nut and one of the 12v connections on a lower hash board was completely loose. It barely even touched the bolt's threads, slipping right off when trying to tighten it. I've never seen this nut before in an S4, so some asshole at BITMAIN's assembly line was too fucking lazy to get off his ass and fetch a proper nut right before he finished his shift on a Friday night.  The wire's terminal was completely charred along with the nut and washer, the rubber insulation almost completely melted away, and the hash board looks damaged but works fine as far as I can tell. I don't know why I didn't take pics, but I still have the charred connector on the PSU if anyone wants a look. I'm putting the blame on BITMAIN since, judging by the sorry state the S4 was in when I got it, the previous owner had never bothered to open it up.

Amusingly, somehow both units PSUs still worked even though they were stuffed with dirt/dust. Pretty funny considering I run my other S4s in a clean environment with very little dust, and I've had 4 out of 5 PSUs die on me. 

Edit: Just noticed that you can see the charred washer in the second picture, beside the screw driver's handle.

Hi Prelude,

What is your PSU?  I have a few PSU's here but they have PCI-e connectors.  Do you know how I can convert the wires to connect to the screws in that series of S4?  Is it as simple as cutting the wire and screw it directly on the board?

Thanks!

All of my S4s are powered by IBM 2000W server PSUs. Yes, you could cut your wires, but then forget about selling your PSUs down the line. Personally, I would find a quality PCI-e 6 pin to 8 pin GPU adapter with at least 3x 18AWG wires and cut that instead of cutting the PSU's wires.

[nokati]

I just got 4x of this fan;
Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM, 120mm

Very impressed with the noice and quality, but it cant cool down the S4. Temps went up by 12 degree.

Have anybody any good suggestion about a fan for replacment? 3 of my fans are dead and I need to replace them. I dont care about the noice, I just want some good fans. Specially if they come having extra long wires it would  be perfect.

thanks!

[Meech]

There is a rumor that S4+ will soon be available.

Dear BITMAIN, we want (and need) new chips. New miners. Not polished old hardware like S3++, S4+...

p.s. and please don't forget about S2 uprade kits. 

Any more details on this rumor?

Confirmed with Bitmain.   S4+ inbound   should be announced officially soon.

[vegasguy]

Have any idea on specs? Power draw? Hash speed? Noise?

Vegas

[vegasguy]

Well for those of you handy with repairing these..I just listed my antminer S4 on Ebay starting at $49 , no reserve. It is as-is. It powers on and lights the LED display , but led display is blank. Ethernet port flickers. Thats all I know. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL/PM ME WITH QUESTIONS, BECAUSE IF I KNEW MORE I WOULD BE ABLE TO FIX THIS! . Im looking to just sell. Not troubleshoot.

I have 100% feedback with 800+ transactions. Shipping inside usa ONLY!

Payment in bitcoin or paypal

Here it is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/281651706290?

Vegas

[MyRig]

Possible solution to the problem:

https://bitmain.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203545769-Blank-LCD-Screen

https://bitmain.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204339655-How-to-create-a-bootable-MicroSD-card-with-factory-setting-

Well for those of you handy with repairing these..I just listed my antminer S4 on Ebay starting at $49 , no reserve. It is as-is. It powers on and lights the LED display , but led display is blank. Ethernet port flickers. Thats all I know. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL/PM ME WITH QUESTIONS, BECAUSE IF I KNEW MORE I WOULD BE ABLE TO FIX THIS! . Im looking to just sell. Not troubleshoot.

I have 100% feedback with 800+ transactions. Shipping inside usa ONLY!

Payment in bitcoin or paypal

Here it is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/281651706290?

Vegas

[Prelude]

Bitmain, can you please fix the long outstanding bugs with the S4 before releasing an S4+? Worst bug of all being the J7 connected hash boards getting wayyyyy overvolted. I guarantee that contributed to a lot of dead PSUs. The S4 sucks a lot more power from the wall than it needs to because of that bug!!!

[mdude77]

Bitmain, can you please fix the long outstanding bugs with the S4 before releasing an S4+? Worst bug of all being the J7 connected hash boards getting wayyyyy overvolted. I guarantee that contributed to a lot of dead PSUs. The S4 sucks a lot more power from the wall than it needs to because of that bug!!!

Bitmain doesn't seem to care.

Furthermore, the hardware is junk.  They told me their supplier of PSUs only offers a 90 day warranty.  That's why they won't offer you and me more than 90 days on the PSU.

I'm done with Bitmain, and I advise everyone else to proceed with extreme caution with considering purchasing Bitmain hardware or services. 

They've lost their way, and they don't care.

M

[nokati]

only problem is that they do have one of the best machines as there is not much good alternative...
to be hunest If I was in there position I would probably also say take it or leave it. I dont care

[mdude77]

only problem is that they do have one of the best machines as there is not much good alternative...
to be hunest If I was in there position I would probably also say take it or leave it. I dont care

I hope your hardware doesn't meet an early demise like mine did.

M

[Prelude]

Bitmain, can you please fix the long outstanding bugs with the S4 before releasing an S4+? Worst bug of all being the J7 connected hash boards getting wayyyyy overvolted. I guarantee that contributed to a lot of dead PSUs. The S4 sucks a lot more power from the wall than it needs to because of that bug!!!

Bitmain doesn't seem to care.

Furthermore, the hardware is junk.  They told me their supplier of PSUs only offers a 90 day warranty.  That's why they won't offer you and me more than 90 days on the PSU.

I'm done with Bitmain, and I advise everyone else to proceed with extreme caution with considering purchasing Bitmain hardware or services.  

They've lost their way, and they don't care.

M

I know they don't care, in fact I've found out that the thing I've been whining about for the last month (voltage control not working in latest firmware) was done intentionally by BITMAIN, yet they (BitmainWarranty anyways, though he may be unaware) pretend their firmware developers are working on a fix.   This was done, undoubtedly, to protect themselves (and retards who don't know better) from dead PSUs from overclocking/overvolting.  Frequency was also supposed to be locked down in the Jan. 29th firmware, but their lock didn't work on that for some reason. I find it deplorable that BITMAIN is gimping our hardware intentionally. How the hell am I supposed to undervolt/underclock and stay competitive with a locked firmware, BITMAIN?!?

Anways, that's all I'll say on the subject for the moment. I've been fuming mad at BITMAIN since I found out how they're intentionally breaking our S4s and I'm working on a very revealing thread concerning S4s and BITMAIN's lovely practices.

About a week ago I asked for pledges/donations to get this fixed independently, and not a single person even offered to chip in. Well, I've footed the bill myself and all my S4s are fixed with working voltage adjustments working on the latest firmware. For this reason, I haven't been in any rush making my thread regarding BITMAIN and the S4 situation.

Now, it looks like I'll be waiting for the official S4+ thread to come along, should be a nice sister thread. I'll make sure it stays stuck to the S4+ thread until all these S4 "issues" are fixed. What do you think, BITMAIN? Do you want a shit load of negative publicity and lost S4+ sales from that thread, or would it be better to get off your asses, apologize to us, and fix our intentionally broken S4s once and for all?

By the way, here's a look at what proper, non-BITMAIN sabotaged S4s look like with real PSUs:



Your move, BITMAIN.

[Prelude]

only problem is that they do have one of the best machines as there is not much good alternative...
to be hunest If I was in there position I would probably also say take it or leave it. I dont care

BITMAIN's hardware is fine, the problem is the software is very lacking, and when they include a PSU with a miner it's never good enough. The S4's PSU is a joke, and should really not be run at any settings higher than stock. Stock is even too much for some of them. I never had an S2, but that was also an underpowered (though brand name) PSU.

Here's a free suggestion, BITMAIN: On your next big miner, also include external PCI-e connectors on the back of the unit so we can easily replace your PSU when it fails if it isn't a standard form factor PSU.

[Cyper_BLC]

Bitmain, can you please fix the long outstanding bugs with the S4 before releasing an S4+? Worst bug of all being the J7 connected hash boards getting wayyyyy overvolted. I guarantee that contributed to a lot of dead PSUs. The S4 sucks a lot more power from the wall than it needs to because of that bug!!!

i found that hardware problems and i fixed with cheating boards. but i dont know linux much well, i ask to smith that "how to rebuild initramfs" but he cant help me. if he show how to do that, i will fix that with bbb software, because i know this problems core. i am an 40 years old engineer, sorry for i am not linux guy. but also many thanks to PRELUDE,for to be my voice in this forum and for this biiiiiiiig problem.
DONT FORGET, BITMAIN IS CHEATING US
also we know cheap devices are pain in the ass but THIS IS NOT CHEAP ! THIS MUST TO BE PERFECT AS THEY SAID.