ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[MyRig]

At least we may sound like just a lip service, but we will look into this.

[1713482296]

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[1713482296]

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[Cyper_BLC]

You are the man PRELUDE ! you know i cant speak well thanks again

At least we may sound like just a lip service, but we will look into this.

I think you cant look anything, because you are very busy with the make a profit on us.

Cyper_BLC, Sorry but this is really hard to explain if you don't know linux, if you want i can make  modifications upon your request. I really don't want to offend you.

thanks Smith, i want to learn and make that shit better on my freetimes   ( i start reading angstrom-manual.pdf )

[sloopy]

Voltage and Frequency Control is set at the Advertised Specification to avoid damaging the hardware.  Wrong value in these area can stop the miner from operating or damage the parts or even becomes the FIRE HAZARD.  

Voltage used to be unlocked before the Jan 29th firmware. Bitmain intentionally disabled voltage modifications because they were dealing with too many blown PSUs. I understand why Bitmain locked it, but it's unfair to those of us who know what we're doing, the power users. I'd understand blocking it from going higher, but lower is completely stupid. Lowering voltage will only make your PSUs last longer before they die

S4 power draw is about 1380W when the PSU is 1400W.  When you overclock the S4, the power draw will be higher than the PSU may be able to handle.  The fans are implemented with RPM control to keep the miner cold enough to operate, when it is over clocked the heat management will more than likely not able to keep up and highly likely result in a damaged parts inside or the fans end up spinning at the max speed and shortening the life of the fan.

The PSU is actually 1440w, not 1400w. 1380w is AC AT THE WALL, not DC being pulled from the PSU. I would not recommenced overclocking with the stock PSU. In fact, I wouldn't recommend overclocking at all unless you know what you're doing and have replaced the PSU.. Underclocking and undervolting, however, is safer than running stock.

Under-volting option may or may not be available in the future but it is an item that is constantly looked into by the engineers in Beijing and Shenzhen. (S4 was not advertised to be able to under-volt at the time of the sales)

This is complete bullshit, sorry BitmainWarranty. The engineers are not looking into ANYTHING, voltage control was intentionally locked out, disabled, whatever you want to call it. This is a fact, with proof to back my statement.

Further more, the S4 was in fact advertised as being a great underclockable and undervoltable miner if you'll just look at BITMAIN's orginal post in this very thread. Take a look here:



That clearly shows that the S4 was sold as a product capable of achieving 0.48w/GH at the wall when underclocked to 100MHz and undervolted to 0.60v (0600v) while running at 1TH/s.  

Awesome post Prelude.

Thank you for your time and money spent to this point. Whether S4 users get anything from it or they don't, you have made this particular issue clear enough. You included the appropriate details so everyone can understand and no one can deny or question the facts. That is hard to do in a short summary, but you did it well.

[MyRig]

BITMAIN is a FOR-PROFIT Company!  

But the point is, the username BitmainWarranty will catch the slack if your request or communications via China goes no where or cultural differences causing misunderstanding in communications.

Issues we hear from the international community be addressed but we are not the fix-all-group.  Some we may not be able to make you happy...


Currently servicing in English, Spanish, Serbian, Russian, Ukraine and  Filipino languages. (Other than English, availability time varies during the day but these languages are supported natively via support@bitmain.zendesk.com.)

Telephone calls in above language can be requested via support@bitmain.zendesk.com or if someone is available, the call be transfer to the support staff who speaks the language.

[Digitalmocking]

Cyper_BLC, Sorry but this is really hard to explain if you don't know linux, if you want i can make  modifications upon your request. I really don't want to offend you.

Smit, I'm curious, you're really knowledgable with the bitmain products, is there anything to this s4 firmware stuff, or is it just angry people on the internet blowing something out of proportion.

The reason I ask is I have a chance to purchase around 20 S4s from a mining operation that's lost their lease, but if the products are truly bugged and draw more power than is safe for them to be reliable, I'm not sure its worth it even at the low price.

Firmware is really broken, and best way to fix it - complete rework. But voltage can be fixed. I don't even see them(S4), but weak point is psu no doubt. If you can swap them to dps-2000bb this would be a great upgrade. If you plan to underclock them, the original psu is fine, but i'm not sure how reliable it is

I was planning on running two of them per the IBM 2880 server PSU, should work out just fine.  I may slightly underclock during the summer depending on heat in the data center.

[Prelude]

To be clear: I'm saw this device only from software side, didn't saw or touched in real life, so my thoughts about psu based on other owners replies(here and our local forum). I try to make my best to improve firmware, but i don't have control board to experiment with. I don't want my miners to be idle while i'm messing with bootloader.

Bitmain, it would be a great idea for you to send this man an S4 to tinker with. He has already solved many problems with it, much quicker than you have. If smit is interested, he could contribute to improving your firmware. You know as well as we all do that that is where you need the most help. Send the man an S3+, S4, S4+, S5, and everything else you release in the future. Give him access to your closed source drivers after he signs a NDA if needed. It would cost you peanuts, and your community of buyers will be very thankful for it when we get the software support we need. It goes without saying that you should be sending CK and Kano one of each miner also to help with development. CK helped the S4 very much with his custom 4.6.1 cgminer.

[Prelude]

Awesome post Prelude.

Thank you for your time and money spent to this point. Whether S4 users get anything from it or they don't, you have made this particular issue clear enough. You included the appropriate details so everyone can understand and no one can deny or question the facts. That is hard to do in a short summary, but you did it well.

Thanks. I really appreciated both of your posts on the subject, seems like most people aren't willing to speak out. People need to see that I'm not just a sole "angry person on the internet blowing something out of proportion lunatic complaining about these issues" so to speak..

I really don't mean to dig into BITMAIN, I want them to be better. It wouldn't take much to turn their company around. The hardware (let's ignore PSUs....) is alright. The effort to provide good customer support through agents like BitmainWarranty is good. You have to respect the fact that they mostly sell hardware from stock, often shipped earlier than promised. The only real issue is their software/firmware. People like smit could be contracted to help if they don't have the talent in house, or if they are unwilling to spend time and money on improving the hardware once it's out the door. I'm not going to accuse BITMAIN of outright lying to us through BitmainWarranty about the voltage lock-down since their internal communication seems really horrible. A case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand does? Who knows. What is clear, is the issue is out there now. I think (hope?) we've made enough noise for BITMAIN to notice and take action. Their reputation has taken a hit, but it is never too late to make things right.

[Prelude]

BITMAIN is a FOR-PROFIT Company!  

But the point is, the username BitmainWarranty will catch the slack if your request or communications via China goes no where or cultural differences causing misunderstanding in communications.

Issues we hear from the international community be addressed but we are not the fix-all-group.  Some we may not be able to make you happy...


Currently servicing in English, Spanish, Serbian, Russian, Ukraine and  Filipino languages. (Other than English, availability time varies during the day but these languages are supported natively via support@bitmain.zendesk.com.)

Telephone calls in above language can be requested via support@bitmain.zendesk.com or if someone is available, the call be transfer to the support staff who speaks the language.

Nothing wrong with being for profit, but if a company continually shits on their customers for short term profits, they will be long term fucked. It catches up to any company. BITMAIN used to be the king of ASIC manufactures, what happened? That crown firmly sits on Spondoolies head now. It's not impossible to reclaim it from them, and I hope BITMAIN will try to. Competition is needed and healthy. If Spondoolies comes out with hardware priced similarly to BITMAIN next gen, BITMAIN will be in for a world of pain just because of the reputation SP has built for themselves by being honest with their customers and supporting their products. When they say something, they follow through. On the other hand, we have BITMAIN lying to customers and removing capabilities from their miners to protect a poor choice in PSUs. Hell, BITMAIN promised all batch 1 S4 owners who had a PSU die a 10 day mining loss compensation. I never received it, even after asking Yoshi multiple times for it. All I ever got out of that from him is, and I quote, "let me look into it" several times. I doubt I'll ever see that 0.35BTC or so I was promised. SP would have paid me it plus interest I'm sure, if they were late with them compensation.

Come on BITMAIN, become a good guy again.

[Prelude]

Sorry for the consecutive posts, but I'm on my mobile.. Posting is a pain in the ass right now.

As for the unlocked firmware that smit1237 was kind enough to look into for me, and find a solution to... It will be posted by the author when he is ready to do so. Encourage him to release it quickly by donating to smit1237's BTC address in his signature. Don't be a cheap asshole and wait for it to be public, anyone can afford a dollar or two to thank him for doing what BITMAIN has so far refused to do. Donating to him for the time he puts into these custom firmwares can only benefit yourself as he will be more willing to put work into future releases.

His BTC address is: 19NvsvA9UzFLNaWp7rWuNTEG1v7PCYc86j

I'm the only one running the firmware right now since he doesn't own an S4, and I can confirm that it works perfectly and the voltage control is now re-enabled. J7 remains uncontrollable, that is an issue with the S4's controller. If the drivers were open source, I strongly suspect smit would be able to fix J7.

Please do right by him, show that you appreciate the work he has put into making our S4s work better than the sorry broken state they are currently in.

[sloopy]

BITMAIN is a FOR-PROFIT Company!  

But the point is, the username BitmainWarranty will catch the slack if your request or communications via China goes no where or cultural differences causing misunderstanding in communications.

Issues we hear from the international community be addressed but we are not the fix-all-group.  Some we may not be able to make you happy...


Currently servicing in English, Spanish, Serbian, Russian, Ukraine and  Filipino languages. (Other than English, availability time varies during the day but these languages are supported natively via support@bitmain.zendesk.com.)

Telephone calls in above language can be requested via support@bitmain.zendesk.com or if someone is available, the call be transfer to the support staff who speaks the language.

Nothing wrong with being for profit, but if a company continually shits on their customers for short term profits, they will be long term fucked. It catches up to any company. BITMAIN used to be the king of ASIC manufactures, what happened? That crown firmly sits on Spondoolies head now. It's not impossible to reclaim it from them, and I hope BITMAIN will try to. Competition is needed and healthy. If Spondoolies comes out with hardware priced similarly to BITMAIN next gen, BITMAIN will be in for a world of pain just because of the reputation SP has built for themselves by being honest with their customers and supporting their products. When they say something, they follow through. On the other hand, we have BITMAIN lying to customers and removing capabilities from their miners to protect a poor choice in PSUs. Hell, BITMAIN promised all batch 1 S4 owners who had a PSU die a 10 day mining loss compensation. I never received it, even after asking Yoshi multiple times for it. All I ever got out of that from him is, and I quote, "let me look into it" several times. I doubt I'll ever see that 0.35BTC or so I was promised. SP would have paid me it plus interest I'm sure, if they were late with them compensation.

Come on BITMAIN, become a good guy again.

This has been my exact sentiment, up until they kept on, and kept on telling me things which never came true, and then I gave up on them turning it around. All mining companies are for profit, but you can be for profit without screwing people over.

I sincerely hope they do turn things around Prelude. It would be great for the community, but as you said SPtech did and do true customer service. It isn't some magic trick, or even that hard to do. Simply take care of people and don't gouge them, don't lie in their face over and over, and don't, truly DO NOT tell them you will do something and not do it. That is a straight out lie. Mistakes are one thing. Miscalculating something happens. Mistakes truly happen, but stand up like a MAN and take care of it. BITSTAIN have so many opportunities to make things right yet they continue to spit in the face of their customers, IE Yoshi telling us he will do something and never doing it.

I think the BITMAIN Warranty account is shared between multiple people. I know there are good people working at BITSTAIN, and there are people who truly care about helping. There will come a time in this company when they release another miner which has major issues. They can continue the same old same old, OR, they can realize there are better ways. I know us home miners are a very small part of any mining companies business, but we are also the ones who will test, give great feedback, spread good word, post about how amazing someone is, and give the type of good karma you need for people to hear.

I echo the same sentiment, Bitmain be a company people talk about the right way and if people have issues, people point out obvious flaws, etc be humble enough to recognize those things and show progress to correct them.
I would be personally ashamed if I was responsible for the January firmware for the S3. It is crap on hashing rates and no Vcore control. The S4 you fix some of the hashrate but again destroy the ability to underclock. The S5s peopel are receiving now are reporting various different versions of firmware, but I do not own one of them so will not claim it for a fact. But, I do own the others, and have owned many S4s which I dropped at almost nothing because I felt bad for someone else dealing with them.

Customer service begins with honesty. If you cannot be honest and maintain communication with your customers you may make millions of dollars but eventually things always catch up. You can only do so much for so long before more people decide to come out and tell their story.

If every n00b to bitcoin read this entire thread they would never buy a product you sell from the sheer audacity you have taken in ripping people with pricing on the S5, ripping people witht he PSUs, Fans, and firmware on S4s, and the constant lack of attention to any past product. They will realize you are a sell it and forget it company. Just like Yoshi saying he will check on something or get back with someone and engineering is looking into it. You can only hear those things so many times before you are fed up.

If BITSTAIN decides they really want to provide customer service I can point you to several companies to model after.
But, I fear the first comment we saw in that last post is the only thing BITSTAIN cares about:
"BITMAIN is a FOR-PROFIT Company!"
That is the only thing that matters to BITSTAIN, and what they've yet to realize is the best profit is being mature enough to understand you are making money while making happy customers.
and it isn't even that hard to do. I do it everyday. You listen, and realize most customers simply want what they paid for, a functioning product without the games.

[Speedster1978]

One of my S4 died today and won't power back on.

I'm taking it apart tomorrow to see what is going on but assume the PSU fried...

It is past the 90 day warranty barely, so what are my options?

[mdude77]

One of my S4 died today and won't power back on.

I'm taking it apart tomorrow to see what is going on but assume the PSU fried...

It is past the 90 day warranty barely, so what are my options?

That's precisely what just happened to me.  Bitmain's response to me: "find a PSU in your local market".

I chose to sell my S4s instead and I have no intent of ever spending another penny on Bitmain.  90 day warranty on a PSU is horrid. 

BUYER BEWARE.

M

[MyRig]

@sloopy,

Next time, please purchase hardware directly from the manufacture.  

BITMAIN is not responsible for customers purchasing the used miner from a third party.  (Our techs may be able to assist you to guide you to resolve some technical difficulties you may be experiencing, however, if the part is broken/dead/damaged, parts will not be given out for free.

For a full service, please ONLY purchase Antminer Product directly from http://www.bitmaintech.com


Thank you

[MyRig]

FOR S4 PSU ISSUES:

If you own Antminer S4 with expired warranty/non-qualifying unit and experiencing the dead S4 PSU with the following LED ERROR STATUS, we may be able to provide the service for  you

Please include the $25 USD Money Order per returning S4 PSU with a PRINTED RETURN ADDRESS.  This DOES NOT GUARANTEE the RESTORED PSU, however, highly likely we can send you the replacement PSU.

If the PSU is damaged to the point that it will not power on any ERROR LED, this service will not work for you.

MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO: "BITMAIN"

Bitmain Warranty
3700 Quebec Street
Unit 100-239
Denver, Colorado 80207

Tel; 844-248-6246


Applies to the non-working PSU showing these LED conditions

One of my S4 died today and won't power back on.

I'm taking it apart tomorrow to see what is going on but assume the PSU fried...

It is past the 90 day warranty barely, so what are my options?

[charles2k]

If you own Antminer S4 with expired warranty/non-qualifying unit and experiencing the dead S4 PSU with the following LED ERROR STATUS, we may be able to provide the service for  you

An what dead S4 fans after warranty? I have 4 fans dead (in Europe).

[Speedster1978]

FOR S4 PSU ISSUES:

If you own Antminer S4 with expired warranty/non-qualifying unit and experiencing the dead S4 PSU with the following LED ERROR STATUS, we may be able to provide the service for  you

Please include the $25 USD Money Order per returning S4 PSU with a PRINTED RETURN ADDRESS.  This DOES NOT GUARANTEE the RESTORED PSU, however, highly likely we can send you the replacement PSU.

If the PSU is damaged to the point that it will not power on any ERROR LED, this service will not work for you.

MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO: "BITMAIN"

Bitmain Warranty
3700 Quebec Street
Unit 100-239
Denver, Colorado 80207

Tel; 844-248-6246


Applies to the non-working PSU showing these LED conditions

One of my S4 died today and won't power back on.

I'm taking it apart tomorrow to see what is going on but assume the PSU fried...

It is past the 90 day warranty barely, so what are my options?

So those of us who have a PSU that doesn't show any error lights are just out of luck?

I'm sorry, but spending as much as I did on my S4s and having them die this quickly with no real recourse to fix them is quite sad...

I'll be buying only Spondoolies hardware from now on, only warranting something for 90 days is horrible!

[sloopy]

@sloopy,

Next time, please purchase hardware directly from the manufacture.  

BITMAIN is not responsible for customers purchasing the used miner from a third party.  (Our techs may be able to assist you to guide you to resolve some technical difficulties you may be experiencing, however, if the part is broken/dead/damaged, parts will not be given out for free.

For a full service, please ONLY purchase Antminer Product directly from http://www.bitmaintech.com


Thank you

Sorry Yoshi, nice try.
*IF* someone purchases your product through Amazon and they ask you about it and are up front with you with every single piece of documentation AND YOU decide then that it is a "third party" but that YOU will help them then you keep your word.
I worked with MANY people at your place who TRIED to help but COULDNT because of your design FLAWS. You lack of intelligent replies no longer leaves me in awe, it is well known.

*IF* you wanted me to go back to ZoomHash through Amazon you should have said so at the start you idiot. You said you would help AND miserably failed, as both a liar and a "for profit" business. BITSTAIN has now turned to SHITSTAIN.
You are only saying so now because it is all you can think of to defend yourself.

FIX the problem. My miner shipped to ME from the factory in CHINA.

YOU have just proven the point. You are a POS, and one day I will see you at a conference and light you up.
You and Josh Garza have many things in common, the only major difference is he has already been caught, and you haven't.

*IF* you want me to start posting every single piece of documentation I have keep running your mouth. It is not nice to piss off, pissed off customers more with your sideways insults.

I bought new in the box S4 miners shipped from the SHITSTAIN Factory to my door through YOUR distributor.
You are right about one thing, *IF* I ever bought another piece of shit product it would be through your crappy factory.
How much child labor are you using there?
How good are your people's wages who work in that factory?
Maybe some real US media should check out the place where these GREAT products are made.

Keep messing with me and diverting from the true issues, which are you put out products with HUGE issues and run to the next one without providing proper customer service.

[sloopy]

FOR S4 PSU ISSUES:

If you own Antminer S4 with expired warranty/non-qualifying unit and experiencing the dead S4 PSU with the following LED ERROR STATUS, we may be able to provide the service for  you

Please include the $25 USD Money Order per returning S4 PSU with a PRINTED RETURN ADDRESS.  This DOES NOT GUARANTEE the RESTORED PSU, however, highly likely we can send you the replacement PSU.

If the PSU is damaged to the point that it will not power on any ERROR LED, this service will not work for you.

MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO: "BITMAIN"

Bitmain Warranty
3700 Quebec Street
Unit 100-239
Denver, Colorado 80207

Tel; 844-248-6246


Applies to the non-working PSU showing these LED conditions

One of my S4 died today and won't power back on.

I'm taking it apart tomorrow to see what is going on but assume the PSU fried...

It is past the 90 day warranty barely, so what are my options?

So those of us who have a PSU that doesn't show any error lights are just out of luck?

I'm sorry, but spending as much as I did on my S4s and having them die this quickly with no real recourse to fix them is quite sad...

I'll be buying only Spondoolies hardware from now on, only warranting something for 90 days is horrible!

This is their "for profit" model.
They sell crap and then tell you to F OFF.

I will help you. PM me with details. I have sources for parts.

[MyRig]

S4 PSU, please DO NOT try to open it and fix it on your own.  As others mentioned here many times, it could harm you or even KILL you if the wrong part of the internal parts being touched.

Also, PSU out of the factory meets the standard of self-extinguishing fire within so many seconds, but once you break the case open, and make modification on your own, that part may not be sustainable and could be a fire hazard. 

S4 PSU alternate solution be please find a PSU that is stronger than 1500W 80+ Gold or better or Server PSU.  Older S4 that had more trouble some PSU uses PCI-E plugs times 5.  So any PSU with enough PCI-E connectors with strong enough power can power up the S4 in that version

The recent S4 PSU use ring style connectors which is a custom made PSU and you will not find it in the market.  May be someone may be selling the PSU out of their S4 units.

[mdude77]

S4 PSU, please DO NOT try to open it and fix it on your own.  As others mentioned here many times, it could harm you or even KILL you if the wrong part of the internal parts being touched.

Also, PSU out of the factory meets the standard of self-extinguishing fire within so many seconds, but once you break the case open, and make modification on your own, that part may not be sustainable and could be a fire hazard. 

S4 PSU alternate solution be please find a PSU that is stronger than 1500W 80+ Gold or better or Server PSU.  Older S4 that had more trouble some PSU uses PCI-E plugs times 5.  So any PSU with enough PCI-E connectors with strong enough power can power up the S4 in that version

The recent S4 PSU use ring style connectors which is a custom made PSU and you will not find it in the market.  May be someone may be selling the PSU out of their S4 units.

Why would you use a custom PSU?

And why would Bitmain support on the website say "get one from your local market"?

I simply don't understand.  Epic fail.

M