ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[ImogenV]

Why hasn't bitmain replied to my e-mail when other people are already receiving their replacement PSUs?

I replied to bitmain (shao) on the 15th Oct regarding the replacement psu.
Today they (shao) emailed me saying he is still waiting for my email regarding the replacement psu.

I took some screenshots of my sent email, and emailed them once again.

Maybe they did not receive your original reply to their email.

[MikeMike]

Hiya,

Anyone know the Ideal Difficulty setting for the S4 on Slush's pool?

[bgibso01]

Here's another binary for S4 owners
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s4/4.6.1-141018/cgminer

This one works a heck of a lot better on pools that wouldn't work previously, and slightly better on the rest.

Is this an SSH one or firmware?  I'm guessing ssh into the S4 and replace this file, but I'll let you tell me for sure.

Thanks.

[-ck]

Here's another binary for S4 owners
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s4/4.6.1-141018/cgminer

This one works a heck of a lot better on pools that wouldn't work previously, and slightly better on the rest.

Is this an SSH one or firmware?  I'm guessing ssh into the S4 and replace this file, but I'll let you tell me for sure.

Thanks.

Binary for installation via ssh only. I don't do firmware.

[dogie]

Hiya,

Anyone know the Ideal Difficulty setting for the S4 on Slush's pool?

2048

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Here's another binary for S4 owners
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s4/4.6.1-141018/cgminer

This one works a heck of a lot better on pools that wouldn't work previously, and slightly better on the rest.

Is this an SSH one or firmware?  I'm guessing ssh into the S4 and replace this file, but I'll let you tell me for sure.

Thanks.

Binary for installation via ssh only. I don't do firmware.

And a damn fine job you did with this for the s4! Both units now humming along perfectly on EMC pool
Sent ya 0.1 btc remuneration  

[bolehvpn]

Can someone please tell me how to remove the psu from the casing ? I have removed the rear screws but don't see how to take it out as it seems firmly latched to it.

Want to get my s4 ready when the psu comes.

[dlowings]

Can someone please tell me how to remove the psu from the casing ? I have removed the rear screws but don't see how to take it out as it seems firmly latched to it.

Want to get my s4 ready when the psu comes.

Remove 4 silver screws…. open S4 unit from top 4 black screws on top… disconnect the 5 PCIe power connectors, 4 from hash boards and 1 from control board.. Slide PSU out from back of unit…

That should do it

[Rabinovitch]

Mee to have this. Nobody need it. And Bitmain refused to allow me to use this discount for buy S3 or whatever else. Only S4. It's sucks...

[Blazed]

Problem is even with the coupon they are way too expensive.

[bolehvpn]

Can someone please tell me how to remove the psu from the casing ? I have removed the rear screws but don't see how to take it out as it seems firmly latched to it.

Want to get my s4 ready when the psu comes.

Remove 4 silver screws…. open S4 unit from top 4 black screws on top… disconnect the 5 PCIe power connectors, 4 from hash boards and 1 from control board.. Slide PSU out from back of unit…

That should do it

Oh cool guess I didn't slide it out hard enough

[Biodom]

Problem is even with the coupon they are way too expensive.

I calculate that you need both $950 price and $587 BTC ($200 higher) to reach breakeven in ~4 mo.
We urgently need 50% difficulty fall like in 2011; the cycle could continue at that point, otherwise almost all home-based miners will NOT order latest and greatest equipment above $500.
However, as ckolivas had noted, home-based miners are just 15% of the network, so nobody would really care if home-based miners would become 5-10% or even less.

[dogie]

Problem is even with the coupon they are way too expensive.

I calculate that you need both $950 price and $587 BTC ($200 higher) to reach breakeven in ~4 mo.
We urgently need 50% difficulty fall like in 2011; the cycle could continue at that point, otherwise almost all home-based miners will NOT order latest and greatest equipment above $500.
However, as ckolivas had noted, home-based miners are just 15% of the network, so nobody would really care if home-based miners would become 5-10% or even less.

You have to remember that most manufacturers order chips in 6 or 7 figure quantities, so IF there is going to be a difficulty reduction then it takes time to propagate though - several months sometimes. That reduction / reduction in growth then gets hidden by the constant deployment so you never see the reduction in the first place.

[Biodom]

Problem is even with the coupon they are way too expensive.

I calculate that you need both $950 price and $587 BTC ($200 higher) to reach breakeven in ~4 mo.
We urgently need 50% difficulty fall like in 2011; the cycle could continue at that point, otherwise almost all home-based miners will NOT order latest and greatest equipment above $500.
However, as ckolivas had noted, home-based miners are just 15% of the network, so nobody would really care if home-based miners would become 5-10% or even less.

You have to remember that most manufacturers order chips in 6 or 7 figure quantities, so IF there is going to be a difficulty reduction then it takes time to propagate though - several months sometimes. That reduction / reduction in growth then gets hidden by the constant deployment so you never see the reduction in the first place.

And here lies the conundrum. Manufacturers ordered chips, hence they are committed to the product, but there is a lack of demand at low BTC prices.
Therefore, the only choice would be for manufacturers to deliver product to themselves into the data center.
However, they will then continue selling all bitcoin they mined to pay for ordered chips, facility, salaries, etc. Such selling would further depress bitcoin-and the viscious cycle continues.
How to get out of a cycle: you tell me, but I see only one possibility: closing down of many manufacturers operations.
Incidentally, how many Q3 mini-Neptunes at 1.5-1.7 TH for $3.5K was KNC able to sell? I bet the number is somewhere between zero and 100-200 (optimistically).

[dkaufman]

Hiya,

Anyone know the Ideal Difficulty setting for the S4 on Slush's pool?

2048

I have my S4 oveclocked to 218.5 freq (that's the highest it will go without turning any o's into x's) so I've set my difficulty on Slush's pool set to 2250.  It still takes about 30 minutes to an hour for the pool website to show the worker as attaining its full speed hashrate > 2TH, but after that it stays consistently above 2.2 TH/s poolside.  Which is nice!  I've had it running like this for almost a week now.

Still not paying out that well, though, as Slush's pool luck has been pretty, um various lately :-)

-dave

[dkaufman]

Problem is even with the coupon they are way too expensive.

I calculate that you need both $950 price and $587 BTC ($200 higher) to reach breakeven in ~4 mo.
We urgently need 50% difficulty fall like in 2011; the cycle could continue at that point, otherwise almost all home-based miners will NOT order latest and greatest equipment above $500.
However, as ckolivas had noted, home-based miners are just 15% of the network, so nobody would really care if home-based miners would become 5-10% or even less.

You have to remember that most manufacturers order chips in 6 or 7 figure quantities, so IF there is going to be a difficulty reduction then it takes time to propagate though - several months sometimes. That reduction / reduction in growth then gets hidden by the constant deployment so you never see the reduction in the first place.

And here lies the conundrum. Manufacturers ordered chips, hence they are committed to the product, but there is a lack of demand at low BTC prices.
Therefore, the only choice would be for manufacturers to deliver poduct to themselves into the data center.
However, they will then continue selling all bitcoin they mined to pay for ordered chips, facility, salaries, etc. Such selling would further depress bitcoin-and the viscious cycle continues.
How to get out of a cycle: you tell me, but I see only one possibility: closing down of many manufacturers operations.
Incidentally, how many Q3 mini-Neptunes at 1.5-1.7 TH for $3.5K was KNC able to sell? I bet the number is somewhere between zero and 100-200 (optimistically).

The only thing for it is a spike in external demand.

Like what happened in May 2013:

  With Cyprus banking crisis, Bitcoin hits record exchange values [...] up nearly 350 percent in the past two months, thanks largely to uncertainty in Europe's banking community.
  http://www.cnet.com/news/bitcoin-hits-record-exchange-values-with-cyprus-banking-crisis/

and again in November 2013:

  The Motley Fool: A Very Bitcoin Thanksgiving - http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/28/a-very-bitcoin-thanksgiving.aspx
  Bitcoin price quadruples after Fed Chairman's supportive words (the "Bernanke bump") followed by a very positive congressional hearing on virtual currencies
 
The network difficulty increases have been amazingly flat lately.  Now if the price would just do a 4 or 5 banger, I'd be a very happy miner investor.

I too take ckolivas's view very seriously -- and have decided to convert some mining hardware back into bitcoins asap.  The btc price has taken a long slow dive this year, from last Thanksgiving's dizzying height's, and I do think the coin of the realm is now positioned to yield a lot more ROI than the machinery that digs them up out of the the dark depths of the mathematical coal mines...

thanks,

-dave

And thanks, Slush for your Facebook Cover Photo, that I see in my head now every time I think of "Bitcoin Miners"



Don't you just love these guys, and want to be them, with their hard work all over their dirty faces, and then want them to become just rich as hell?

[Prelude]

Thank you so much for the time you've invested to make the S4 more funtional, ckolivas. I'm going to send you a donation tomorrow morning.

I'd like to try ck's new version tomorrow, but I have no idea how to go about updating cgminer. Can anyone shed some light, or point me towards a guide?

Assuming your S4's IP address was say 192.168.1.99:

Code:

ssh -l root 192.168.1.99 (or equivalent with putty)
wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s4/4.6.1-141018/cgminer
mv /usr/bin/cgminer /usr/bin/cgminer.bak
chmod +x cgminer
mv cgminer /usr/bin/cgminer
/etc/init.d/cgminer.sh restart

I think that might not keep across a power cycle though.

You were right, the changes don't stick across a power cycle. Is there any way to make them permanent?

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Hiya,

Anyone know the Ideal Difficulty setting for the S4 on Slush's pool?

2048

I have my S4 oveclocked to 218.5 freq (that's the highest it will go without turning any o's into x's) so I've set my difficulty on Slush's pool set to 2250.  It still takes about 30 minutes to an hour for the pool website to show the worker as attaining its full speed hashrate > 2TH, but after that it stays consistently above 2.2 TH/s poolside.  Which is nice!  I've had it running like this for almost a week now.

Still not paying out that well, though, as Slush's pool luck has been pretty, um various lately :-)

-dave

You do realize that hash reported on Slush is a 60 minute average so it takes at least 60 minutes of mining to see your actual hash right?

[Prelude]

Got a batch 2 S4 delivered today, and it killed my batch 1 S4 (no, not really but read on..)

So my batch 2 unit wouldn't work out of the box. The display was showing the IP as 127.0.0.1. After a bit of messing around, I figured the SD card was to blame and that a reflash was in order. Since bitmain doesn't offer a full image to download (why don't you, bitmain?), I had to power down my batch 1 S4, pull it's SD card, create an image from it, and flash that image to the new S4's card. Once that was done, the new batch 2 S4 worked as it should. I'm not sure why it didn't work in the first place, since bitmain had obviously tested it judging by the accumulated (very little) dust in the miner.

Now, for my B1 S4... About 30 seconds after the fans calmed down from their initial spin-up, I was treated to a smoke show like to other. A thick stream of Magic Smoke plumed out of the B1 S4's PSU for a good 10 seconds, before going out with an extremely LOUD pop. That loud pop was a short bad enough to trip the 30A 240V breaker that miner was connected to.

To add insult to injury, the event seems to have killed the on-board NIC on a PC that was connected to the same circuit, so that is also out of commission for now.

Alas, my dreams of hashing at 4TH/s went up in a plume of Magic Smoke. Hopefully bitmain will get a new PSU out to me soon, but I'm doubtful. I contacted them about replacing my PSU the day the offered replacements, but I haven't gotten an email back yet. Has anyone received their new PSU yet?

Fortunately I had another S4 to get an image from, if anyone runs into the same issue let me know and I'll upload the image.

[dlowings]

Got a batch 2 S4 delivered today, and it killed my batch 1 S4 (no, not really but read on..)

So my batch 2 unit wouldn't work out of the box. The display was showing the IP as 127.0.0.1. After a bit of messing around, I figured the SD card was to blame and that a reflash was in order. Since bitmain doesn't offer a full image to download (why don't you, bitmain?), I had to power down my batch 1 S4, pull it's SD card, create an image from it, and flash that image to the new S4's card. Once that was done, the new batch 2 S4 worked as it should. I'm not sure why it didn't work in the first place, since bitmain had obviously tested it judging by the accumulated (very little) dust in the miner.

Now, for my B1 S4... About 30 seconds after the fans calmed down from their initial spin-up, I was treated to a smoke show like to other. A thick stream of Magic Smoke plumed out of the B1 S4's PSU for a good 10 seconds, before going out with an extremely LOUD pop. That loud pop was a short bad enough to trip the 30A 240V breaker that miner was connected to.

To add insult to injury, the event seems to have killed the on-board NIC on a PC that was connected to the same circuit, so that is also out of commission for now.

Alas, my dreams of hashing at 4TH/s went up in a plume of Magic Smoke. Hopefully bitmain will get a new PSU out to me soon, but I'm doubtful. I contacted them about replacing my PSU the day the offered replacements, but I haven't gotten an email back yet. Has anyone received their new PSU yet?

Fortunately I had another S4 to get an image from, if anyone runs into the same issue let me know and I'll upload the image.

I had the same issue with the power supply… that was over a week ago and still nothing from Bitmain… No 10 days mining credit and no word on when I will get my replacement PSU's

Very sad … I should be hashing at close to 8 THs but with one unit totally down its very depressing to see it just sit there .