ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[notlist3d]

This is funny but some water splashed to one of my antminer s4s
all of the chains burned:
(removed images)
is it safe to run after this burned spot?
thanks,

I have to ask what did bitmain say to your ticket or email about it being safe?  I really want to hear response to it.

I think they will nicely say no on running, but wanted to hear.

Oh sorry,  I forgot to reply.
Yes they said that is not safe to run.
But it's running for almost a week and no problem. i put it in a safe palace and pointed to solo.ckpool !

When you say running what does the status screen look like?  If you are able to please post status sowing blades and chips.

I just had not seen one like this before.

I think you didn't see this line on my first post : "but one them still working(hashing)."
I just ran one blade with a little burn spot:





Others are completely useless.

I saw that one is working.  Just looking at damage - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=796839.msg12392384#msg12392384 I would not run it.

It seems dangerous as we don't know full damage.  I guess I am just safe as I don't want to have electrical fire or other bad things that could happen.  That machine is really really bad.  And I was thinking Bitmain also said don't run it.

[Prelude]

This is funny but some water splashed to one of my antminer s4s
all of the chains burned:
(removed images)
is it safe to run after this burned spot?
thanks,

I have to ask what did bitmain say to your ticket or email about it being safe?  I really want to hear response to it.

I think they will nicely say no on running, but wanted to hear.

Oh sorry,  I forgot to reply.
Yes they said that is not safe to run.
But it's running for almost a week and no problem. i put it in a safe palace and pointed to solo.ckpool !

When you say running what does the status screen look like?  If you are able to please post status sowing blades and chips.

I just had not seen one like this before.

I think you didn't see this line on my first post : "but one them still working(hashing)."
I just ran one blade with a little burn spot:





Others are completely useless.

I have 4 spare S4 hash boards if you'd like to repair your S4. Pm me if interested.

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

[VirosaGITS]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

I was kinda of hoping getting a bit extra hashrate than stock for a bit less power than stock settings but it look like i might have to pick between a bit more hash or a bit better power efficiency.

Another "quirk" is that the Fan4 is fried, i got the 2 stock fan he removed, Fan3 and Fan4, both doesn't seem to work but the PCB of the fan that was probably in Fan4 is fried, burnt to a crisp! So i'm guessing something shorted and it fried the Fan4 controller.

Right now if i plug it in, the Fan doesn't start if its on PWM and if i plug it as 2 pin it work at full speed but the RPM report goes haywire. So i'm guess i'll try to find a 3rd fan, since right now its running with some led fan you put in your computer case for show.



So even though it's sifting air strait from outside's 10C the temp are still high so this is obviously just a setup i can run during winter. But at least for now my ears are saved.

[notlist3d]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

snip

Which version is it on power?  There are the ones that use the pols and the pcie ones.   If pcie it's pretty easy to change out (other requires cutting and more time to do)

But it's a little bit more power then you need but if on 220/240 I would look at the bitmain server PSU's - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=000201505040743496917U7kGsCm0694 .  They are a little pricey but I have been impressed with them.

[VirosaGITS]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

snip

Which version is it on power?  There are the ones that use the pols and the pcie ones.   If pcie it's pretty easy to change out (other requires cutting and more time to do)

But it's a little bit more power then you need but if on 220/240 I would look at the bitmain server PSU's - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=000201505040743496917U7kGsCm0694 .  They are a little pricey but I have been impressed with them.

It's not PCI-e. But its not particularly hard to change out, basically the problem i have is i don't have any 240V outlets. And i'm not sure i want to start stripping my electric heating off and do the wiring myself to plug those wires in a 240 outlet because i have no experience with that, its not very necessary yet, i'm supposed to move soon etc. It is something i consider doing once i have moved however.

With the blunt fact that i paid 400$ for the S4, i don't really feel like paying 200$ to get 300 more GH from it...
Unless some nice deal fall on my lap, i don't think i will be changing the PSU. I'm planning on running it just under its max load of 1440W so hopefully it wont crap out before i'm done with it.

[notlist3d]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

snip

Which version is it on power?  There are the ones that use the pols and the pcie ones.   If pcie it's pretty easy to change out (other requires cutting and more time to do)

But it's a little bit more power then you need but if on 220/240 I would look at the bitmain server PSU's - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=000201505040743496917U7kGsCm0694 .  They are a little pricey but I have been impressed with them.

It's not PCI-e. But its not particularly hard to change out, basically the problem i have is i don't have any 240V outlets. And i'm not sure i want to start stripping my electric heating off and do the wiring myself to plug those wires in a 240 outlet because i have no experience with that, its not very necessary yet, i'm supposed to move soon etc. It is something i consider doing once i have moved however.

With the blunt fact that i paid 400$ for the S4, i don't really feel like paying 200$ to get 300 more GH from it...
Unless some nice deal fall on my lap, i don't think i will be changing the PSU. I'm planning on running it just under its max load of 1440W so hopefully it wont crap out before i'm done with it.

I would agree on your math.   If you paid 400 I would probley just let it run at current spec as any good PSU is probley cheapest 1/4 of the cost miner... and 25 percent for psu is pretty high.

I was hoping it was PCIe where you did not have to cut.  With the antminer one it could be cut... but not sure on replacement after it would probley lose a little value on psu.

On 240 if you have the power it is not as hard to do as i thought.  I owe phil a lot on helping me with parts.    But you would have to first look at your main and see how many amps if 100 chances are not really set up for it.   200 amps then chances are can handle another 240 install.   

[VirosaGITS]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

snip

Which version is it on power?  There are the ones that use the pols and the pcie ones.   If pcie it's pretty easy to change out (other requires cutting and more time to do)

But it's a little bit more power then you need but if on 220/240 I would look at the bitmain server PSU's - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=000201505040743496917U7kGsCm0694 .  They are a little pricey but I have been impressed with them.

It's not PCI-e. But its not particularly hard to change out, basically the problem i have is i don't have any 240V outlets. And i'm not sure i want to start stripping my electric heating off and do the wiring myself to plug those wires in a 240 outlet because i have no experience with that, its not very necessary yet, i'm supposed to move soon etc. It is something i consider doing once i have moved however.

With the blunt fact that i paid 400$ for the S4, i don't really feel like paying 200$ to get 300 more GH from it...
Unless some nice deal fall on my lap, i don't think i will be changing the PSU. I'm planning on running it just under its max load of 1440W so hopefully it wont crap out before i'm done with it.

I would agree on your math.   If you paid 400 I would probley just let it run at current spec as any good PSU is probley cheapest 1/4 of the cost miner... and 25 percent for psu is pretty high.

I was hoping it was PCIe where you did not have to cut.  With the antminer one it could be cut... but not sure on replacement after it would probley lose a little value on psu.

On 240 if you have the power it is not as hard to do as i thought.  I owe phil a lot on helping me with parts.    But you would have to first look at your main and see how many amps if 100 chances are not really set up for it.   200 amps then chances are can handle another 240 install.   

Yeah i checked it a while back, its a 125AMP circuit and i'm not sure how high i want to keep it running 24/7. For instance sure i could probably go to 80-90 AMP but then what happen when i use the oven and hot water tank? Blap over circuit, i think the switch is in the apartment's electric room so it might be a bit hard to explain how i tripped 125AMP in an apartment.

The board says 125AMP 120/240 so i'm not quite sure what it's real limit is and i don't have a way to track how much consumption the other appliances put on it and i'm already at 60AMP at 120v just with miners.

So maybe i could get away with one 240v but then again it's hard to tell accurately how much power i can take with all the stuff on at the same time.

[notlist3d]

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thank you!

Look like the guide to install smit's worked tho. So i get a nice 2800-2600 RPM now. And i manually installed cgminer 4.9.0.

So i'm messing with voltage now, look like even though its not the PSU that came with the machine (That one died according to the original owner), the replacement he got is the same crap. It look pretty unstable, it doesn't even seem to do 0710 at 206.5 without eventually a drop in hash after 20-30 minutes and a few chip drops.

snip

Which version is it on power?  There are the ones that use the pols and the pcie ones.   If pcie it's pretty easy to change out (other requires cutting and more time to do)

But it's a little bit more power then you need but if on 220/240 I would look at the bitmain server PSU's - https://www.bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=000201505040743496917U7kGsCm0694 .  They are a little pricey but I have been impressed with them.

It's not PCI-e. But its not particularly hard to change out, basically the problem i have is i don't have any 240V outlets. And i'm not sure i want to start stripping my electric heating off and do the wiring myself to plug those wires in a 240 outlet because i have no experience with that, its not very necessary yet, i'm supposed to move soon etc. It is something i consider doing once i have moved however.

With the blunt fact that i paid 400$ for the S4, i don't really feel like paying 200$ to get 300 more GH from it...
Unless some nice deal fall on my lap, i don't think i will be changing the PSU. I'm planning on running it just under its max load of 1440W so hopefully it wont crap out before i'm done with it.

I would agree on your math.   If you paid 400 I would probley just let it run at current spec as any good PSU is probley cheapest 1/4 of the cost miner... and 25 percent for psu is pretty high.

I was hoping it was PCIe where you did not have to cut.  With the antminer one it could be cut... but not sure on replacement after it would probley lose a little value on psu.

On 240 if you have the power it is not as hard to do as i thought.  I owe phil a lot on helping me with parts.    But you would have to first look at your main and see how many amps if 100 chances are not really set up for it.   200 amps then chances are can handle another 240 install.   

Yeah i checked it a while back, its a 125AMP circuit and i'm not sure how high i want to keep it running 24/7. For instance sure i could probably go to 80-90 AMP but then what happen when i use the oven and hot water tank? Blap over circuit, i think the switch is in the apartment's electric room so it might be a bit hard to explain how i tripped 125AMP in an apartment.

The board says 125AMP 120/240 so i'm not quite sure what it's real limit is and i don't have a way to track how much consumption the other appliances put on it and i'm already at 60AMP at 120v just with miners.

So maybe i could get away with one 240v but then again it's hard to tell accurately how much power i can take with all the stuff on at the same time.

The main thing is the breaker at top of main.  If that says 125 its hard to say I guess you would need to go through and see how much you are using.   Honestly you chances are could get a electrician to put in a quote and ask them... might be able to get that anwser for free.   

But if you use too much it should flip the main and everything goes off.  So no not really a great thing to happen.  Would be a pain.

[blindminer]

This is funny but some water splashed to one of my antminer s4s
all of the chains burned:
(removed images)
is it safe to run after this burned spot?
thanks,

I have to ask what did bitmain say to your ticket or email about it being safe?  I really want to hear response to it.

I think they will nicely say no on running, but wanted to hear.

Oh sorry,  I forgot to reply.
Yes they said that is not safe to run.
But it's running for almost a week and no problem. i put it in a safe palace and pointed to solo.ckpool !

When you say running what does the status screen look like?  If you are able to please post status sowing blades and chips.

I just had not seen one like this before.

I think you didn't see this line on my first post : "but one them still working(hashing)."
I just ran one blade with a little burn spot:



Others are completely useless.

I have 4 spare S4 hash boards if you'd like to repair your S4. Pm me if interested.

Virosa, /etc/init.d/cgminer.sh

Thanks, But i have plan to buy s7 and replace my older miners.

[lovenlifelarge]

Im happy to say i sold my S4 today for what i paid for it 9 months ago.. US$850

I leave this thread after many month of fun...

Later!

[notlist3d]

Im happy to say i sold my S4 today for what i paid for it 9 months ago.. US$850

I leave this thread after many month of fun...

Later!

What country did you get 850?   Mind saying where you sold it?

Dang someone paid quite a bit more the going rate.

[VirosaGITS]

Im happy to say i sold my S4 today for what i paid for it 9 months ago.. US$850

I leave this thread after many month of fun...

Later!

What country did you get 850?   Mind saying where you sold it?

Dang someone paid quite a bit more the going rate.

Yeah i know its a bit disgusting, i was discussing this with lovenlifelarge in PM since he was telling me more about the S4 firmware.

In short; I bought mine for 550CAD, it's worth a bit more, maybe 500+ US since its basically 5 S3 packaged in one and come with a PSU. But its definitively not worth 800USD+.

People on Ebay are quite often idiots. They have no idea of the ROI and they buy stuff. Its like those super outdated sticks that sell for 50$.
Then they come complain here and ask why the pool isint sending them millions of BTC, instead they just get a few sats...

For 800USD i'd sell my own S4.

[Cyper_BLC]

Can someone explain what the J7 controller is on the S4??

Is the miner basically made up of 4 miners or boards chained together??

My understanding is the J7 has some sort of current issue causing it to run at 0765 volt instead of 0725.

Now as this is an issue & some of us are trying to underclock our machines to get a better voltage off it, Is it possible to disconnect the J7 so that the machine will run at the lower clock / voltage??

Just a thought???

One reason i ask about the J7 is cause i wanted to know if they have fixed this issue in the S4+ & if they did what did they do to fix the issue & can it be translated to the S4??



Edit : I'm already down clocking my machine, If one board on the machine is running higher than the rest (The J7) can it be disconnected to allow better efficiency for the rest of the machine?

Okay, I have spend some time figuring out the S4 J7 bug, I have two S4' s in a "custom" configuration (picture coming up later), they are running underclocked at settings, One is running  0.690V@175M, the other 0.690V/168.5M, old machines so not great but its ok. Pulling 2000W at the wall and ~3.4TH/s.  If you measure across the chips capacitor on the J7 board you will measure the chip set voltage. The trick is simple restart the machine until it sets the correct voltage on the J7 board. The S4 is bad at setting the J7 voltage at the startup so it usually takes a lot of restarts to get it right.

So the procedure is:

1: Start the S4.
2: Waite for the machine to set voltage on all the boards 1-2 min, you can see this when all the red lights (on the 4 boards) are on.
3: Measure the J7 boards capacitor voltage (across the capacitor) (the J7 board is the board that has red light on before all the others under the upstart sequence). If its not the voltage you have selected in the Advanced settings Restart the machine and try again.

I can post some pictures if needed, just let me know.

It may take 20 restarts or it may take just one, depending on the machine, one of my S4 does it the first time I start it, the other requires 5-10 times of restart.

Hope it helps. I save around 30 Wat pr. machine and lower temperatures on the J7 board. Not much but the chips run cooler and will prolong the lifetime.

hmm,
i decide to publish this shitty problem kill modification and i will publish J7 FPGA voltage mode fix PDF soon. follow my posts on this weekend, i can late because i am very busy on my projects but times come. i love this board members  and i want to help you...

[Wheaties466]

having some issues with an antminer s4


https://i.imgur.com/mm4mS2r.png


https://i.imgur.com/bWiB9Ce.png

so I pretty much figured out that I have a bad IO board by putting in a good working one into this miner from another working miner. I am having trouble locating anything on fixing or replacing this board. Anyone have any insight on this?

did u try bitmain??

Otherwise maybe look for people here on this forum with a broken one to sell..

I have tried bitmain. They went through some simple troubleshooting then told me im basically SOL.

[notlist3d]

having some issues with an antminer s4


https://i.imgur.com/mm4mS2r.png


https://i.imgur.com/bWiB9Ce.png

so I pretty much figured out that I have a bad IO board by putting in a good working one into this miner from another working miner. I am having trouble locating anything on fixing or replacing this board. Anyone have any insight on this?

did u try bitmain??

Otherwise maybe look for people here on this forum with a broken one to sell..

I have tried bitmain. They went through some simple troubleshooting then told me im basically SOL.

Did it work and just stop?  Or did you get it like that?   

Need a little more details to help.  And if it's a board that would be hard to diagnose over the internet.

[thebonenz]

I've been reading up all I can on the s4 Doggies set up guide doesn't seem to have been updated recently about firmware? can someone point me towards what I should do to get this up and running at it's best? I have read a lot of concerns around different pools and difficulty settings which I don't quite understand yet.

[VirosaGITS]

I've been reading up all I can on the s4 Doggies set up guide doesn't seem to have been updated recently about firmware? can someone point me towards what I should do to get this up and running at it's best? I have read a lot of concerns around different pools and difficulty settings which I don't quite understand yet.

You can safely get the firmwares you want from Bitmain's website. https://bitmaintech.com/support.htm?pid=00720140930114518599JXGHWWD80660

It is possible to flash your sd card to a old version and get volt control. If you use the latest Firmware that fix most serious issues, then you will lose volt control. The way to keep volt control while having smit's firmware + the proper cgminer version is convoluted to say the least.

[notlist3d]

I've been reading up all I can on the s4 Doggies set up guide doesn't seem to have been updated recently about firmware? can someone point me towards what I should do to get this up and running at it's best? I have read a lot of concerns around different pools and difficulty settings which I don't quite understand yet.

You can safely get the firmwares you want from Bitmain's website. https://bitmaintech.com/support.htm?pid=00720140930114518599JXGHWWD80660

It is possible to flash your sd card to a old version and get volt control. If you use the latest Firmware that fix most serious issues, then you will lose volt control. The way to keep volt control while having smit's firmware + the proper cgminer version is convoluted to say the least.

I had a few of these and just kept the old firmware on them.  I did not want to lose control in case I ever did want to over/under clock.  I never had a issue with them running on old firmware.   I don't think there are any really serious issues as far as firmware.

It seemed the PSU was a problem more then firmware on S4's.  I may have been lucky but I never experienced that problem luckily.

[thebonenz]

My main concern is noise in a share house so I'm keen to get smits up and running but if it's too complicated I better try the standard FW first I suppose.

[notlist3d]

My main concern is noise in a share house so I'm keen to get smits up and running but if it's too complicated I better try the standard FW first I suppose.

Honestly if your main concern in noise I would avoid S4's.  They are 2 TB machines that are not known for being quiet in most cases.

What part of it was to complicated?   I personally only used Smits firmware when nicehash was doing well over BTC, but that does not seem to happen to often now.  It's at negative 10 percent on sha256.

But it is a custom firmware he did very good at making.  It should be just flashing firmware. (Yes all firmware flashing has possibility of going wrong I suggest on S4 make a backup of SD before flashing).