ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[Nightshiftgirl]

hi,
My S4 would boot up and then not hash on Slushs pool.  I went in and set the difficulty to 2400 on the pool side and all is well, Just a thought

Barbara

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[dogie]

Don't flash with the potentially bad image, use the one in post #2. Then post a screenshot of the interface if its still up while frozen.

It just happened a few minutes after I put in the new SD card with the image burned from Post #2  - here is the Miner status screen:

I have changed the voltage to 0720 with a Frequency of 200M (I think the default was set to 0725) and will test this.

Hmm, the last time I saw that error (all temps also go to 0) it was inconclusive. Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports? Do you have a spare PSU you can test for a few hours with [on the off chance that you have one of the PCI-E models]?

[Sandhog]

My S4 B2 default setting came with 0725 and I didn't change it. It was running good for about 4 days and hash rate dropped to about 1500 Gh/s and wasn't showing on Ghash.IO pool. I turned the power off and turn back on. It seemed to be working again. I only checked the LCD screen on the S4 because pool was showing no mining for that worker. I don't think it was temperature related since temperature was showing 47 C. Anyhow, I just have to keep an eye out on the pool hash rate and when it drops due to S4 not mining, I just have to restart the S4. My S1s and S3s never had problems. S4 it was first time and hope it doesn't happen again.   

[bond007taz]

Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports?

what command do I run while I am ssh into the S4 to check what the cgminer is doing?

[dogie]

Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports?

what command do I run while I am ssh into the S4 to check what the cgminer is doing?

I'm not actually sure off the top of my head, to get cgminer window. Someone else will know and be around soon enough.

[sEpuLchEr]

Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports?

what command do I run while I am ssh into the S4 to check what the cgminer is doing?

Just guessing..

I think it's

screen

Remember seeing and reading that command somewhere....

[bond007taz]

Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports?

what command do I run while I am ssh into the S4 to check what the cgminer is doing?

I'm not actually sure off the top of my head, to get cgminer window. Someone else will know and be around soon enough.

it looks like cgminer is still going after the box stops hashing and the fans die down to about 2700

  PID  PPID USER     STAT   VSZ %VSZ %CPU COMMAND
31554 31553 root     S <   147m  30%  98% /usr/bin/cgminer --bitmain-dev /dev/bi


I am working on disconnecting each blade and checking to see if the problem persists. I dont have another power supply - my other S4 has PCI-E connectors and this one does not. I dont like the idea but if the eliminating the blades dont work, bitmain support suggested i take my working S4 offline and use the motherboard from that one on the sick S4...

[Cyper_BLC]

unplug the powercord
just pull up a little from back side (front side is ethernet side) and push the beagle bone black board.
then check the all hashboard cables and push if it is leave its sockets.
this is beagle bone fault, if you have a hotair solder equipment, apply to memory and Ti chip on BBB board 1 minutes at 260 degrees

[stonehedge]

Mining isn't my thing but judging by the stack of S3+ and S4 units that a friend has asked me to sell for him I assumed that the S5 was not too far off...

Most likely your mate wants to sell because profit is not worth the noises after cost of electricity at current BTC price. I'm using my S1s, S3s and S4 as space heaters and make little profit. My flat is so hot that I have to keep my windows open.

Either your electric cost per kwh is high or your pool is not paying enough because I am making profit using S3's and S4's. $.12 a kwh electric and Slush pool. Winning combination.

Power prices are about $0.24 KWh in London for a standard domestic electricity tariff but my friend uses a power broker to negotiate much lower rates than that because his farm is in his industrial printing plant and his farm uses a small percentage of his overall consumption.

As to why he is backing out of mining I'm not sure but I suspect he doesn't have the time to dedicate to mining to justify the slimmer profit margins.  I'll try to have a proper discussion with him about it before he pulls the plug .  He's a canny businessman so I'm sure his reasons are sound and personal to his own circumstances.

I'm not sure on numbers but I think he has a lot of hardware.  I remember him saying something about 30 S4s at some point.  When he finds out how much I'll charge him in commission to sell them maybe he'll change his mind

[dogie]

Mining isn't my thing but judging by the stack of S3+ and S4 units that a friend has asked me to sell for him I assumed that the S5 was not too far off...

Most likely your mate wants to sell because profit is not worth the noises after cost of electricity at current BTC price. I'm using my S1s, S3s and S4 as space heaters and make little profit. My flat is so hot that I have to keep my windows open.

Either your electric cost per kwh is high or your pool is not paying enough because I am making profit using S3's and S4's. $.12 a kwh electric and Slush pool. Winning combination.

Power prices are about $0.24 KWh in London for a standard domestic electricity tariff but my friend uses a power broker to negotiate much lower rates than that because his farm is in his industrial printing plant and his farm uses a small percentage of his overall consumption.

As to why he is backing out of mining I'm not sure but I suspect he doesn't have the time to dedicate to mining to justify the slimmer profit margins.  I'll try to have a proper discussion with him about it before he pulls the plug .  He's a canny businessman so I'm sure his reasons are sound and personal to his own circumstances.

I'm not sure on numbers but I think he has a lot of hardware.  I remember him saying something about 30 S4s at some point.  When he finds out how much I'll charge him in commission to sell them maybe he'll change his mind

Thats rubbish pricing, I have $0.13 in standard residential in the UK.

[stonehedge]

Mining isn't my thing but judging by the stack of S3+ and S4 units that a friend has asked me to sell for him I assumed that the S5 was not too far off...

Most likely your mate wants to sell because profit is not worth the noises after cost of electricity at current BTC price. I'm using my S1s, S3s and S4 as space heaters and make little profit. My flat is so hot that I have to keep my windows open.

Either your electric cost per kwh is high or your pool is not paying enough because I am making profit using S3's and S4's. $.12 a kwh electric and Slush pool. Winning combination.

Power prices are about $0.24 KWh in London for a standard domestic electricity tariff but my friend uses a power broker to negotiate much lower rates than that because his farm is in his industrial printing plant and his farm uses a small percentage of his overall consumption.

As to why he is backing out of mining I'm not sure but I suspect he doesn't have the time to dedicate to mining to justify the slimmer profit margins.  I'll try to have a proper discussion with him about it before he pulls the plug .  He's a canny businessman so I'm sure his reasons are sound and personal to his own circumstances.

I'm not sure on numbers but I think he has a lot of hardware.  I remember him saying something about 30 S4s at some point.  When he finds out how much I'll charge him in commission to sell them maybe he'll change his mind

Thats rubbish pricing, I have $0.13 in standard residential in the UK.

I know.

These are the most recent figures I can find for London  (base tariff)

British Gas: 15.1 pence per kWh
EDF Energy: 16.0 pence per kWh
nPower: 16.2 pence per kWh
E.ON Energy: 14.8 pence per kWh (2012 increase not included)
ScottishPower: 16.8 pence per kWh
SSE: 15.5 pence per kWh

[dogie]

I know.

These are the most recent figures I can find for London  (base tariff)

British Gas: 15.1 pence per kWh
EDF Energy: 16.0 pence per kWh
nPower: 16.2 pence per kWh
E.ON Energy: 14.8 pence per kWh (2012 increase not included)
ScottishPower: 16.8 pence per kWh
SSE: 15.5 pence per kWh

That's because those are base tariffs - they're designed to be expensive so they make money off you if you don't switch.

[MrGreenHat]

I just wanted to come in here and let everyone know that BITMAIN customer service has certainly stepped up their game (or maybe I was just the one with the problem to begin with). Of the 3 S4's I purchased, only one has ever given me troubles, and in the past I was probably a little too emotional rather than rational with them. I recently had a minor issue with my S4 and the BITMAIN North American team is taking care of me! Have been very impressed with their communication and I can tell that BITMAIN customer service sincerely does care about their customers and are willing to stand by their products. Keep up the good work, BITMAIN!

[neo9436]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

[suchmoon]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

I don't think you'll be able to get an accurate number of people

Even if you don't currently have any problems you might have issues if you ever want to switch pools. I had trouble with some rentals - for some reason even December delivery S4s came with old firmware - upgraded to the 1016 version and haven't seen any problems since.

[idonothave]

Are you able to SSH in during one of those states and see what the cgminer window reports?

what command do I run while I am ssh into the S4 to check what the cgminer is doing?

Just guessing..

I think it's

screen

Remember seeing and reading that command somewhere....

screen -r

[neo9436]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

I don't think you'll be able to get an accurate number of people

Even if you don't currently have any problems you might have issues if you ever want to switch pools. I had trouble with some rentals - for some reason even December delivery S4s came with old firmware - upgraded to the 1016 version and haven't seen any problems since.

I really only asked because I've been seeing people have more problems after upgrading the firmware (not necessarily with the S4, but with S3's for sure), and I've kind of been taking the "If it isn't broke don't fix it" position with my miners.

[Bitkoinzz]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

I upgraded all of my S4's to this firmware and gained at least 5% hashing speed on the pool. I also set difficulty to 2048. 225 Mhz 0725 volts . They are all hashing at least 2200 and are stable meaning I don't have to hard reboot them every day for crashed chips or reduced hashing speeds.

[suchmoon]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

I don't think you'll be able to get an accurate number of people

Even if you don't currently have any problems you might have issues if you ever want to switch pools. I had trouble with some rentals - for some reason even December delivery S4s came with old firmware - upgraded to the 1016 version and haven't seen any problems since.

I really only asked because I've been seeing people have more problems after upgrading the firmware (not necessarily with the S4, but with S3's for sure), and I've kind of been taking the "If it isn't broke don't fix it" position with my miners.

I hear you. I haven't touched my S3s since July-August. The latest S3 upgrade (November something) seems to be borked. The 1016 S4 upgrade is fine and highly recommended because of the issues with low starting difficulties.

[Sandhog]

How many people have upgraded the S4 firmware to: initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz from the bitmain website?

I only ask because mine is still running on the factory firmware no problem with difficulty manually set, so I'm kind of wondering if I should bother with the upgrade.

I upgraded all of my S4's to this firmware and gained at least 5% hashing speed on the pool. I also set difficulty to 2048. 225 Mhz 0725 volts . They are all hashing at least 2200 and are stable meaning I don't have to hard reboot them every day for crashed chips or reduced hashing speeds.

Maybe I need to upgrade my firmware. When S4 hashing rate drop to below 1500 Gh/s, my pool with Ghash.IO goes to zero. I had difficulty set to 2048 manually.