ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[NotFuzzyWarm]

is it ok? if i buy from http://www.bitmainantminer.com/ at $1850

NO!!! Way higher price than Bitmain's real site. Bitmain's current price for the s4 is $1,200 USD + shipping https://bitmaintech.com/productDetail.htm?pid=00020140926075515819D846Og240603

 No idea who owns the one in the link you gave....

[1714769935]

1714769935

[1714769935]

1714769935

[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.

Looks like your hashrate dropped to 0 over 14 hours ago.  It just took that long for your average to get below 1500.  I upgraded all of my S4's to the latest firmware (Oct 16) and have not had any issues, except I needed to reboot another time after the firmware upgrade, on all of them.  All of them ran poorly after the automatic reboot from the firmware upgrade.  But I always set the difficulty manually when the option is offered by the pool.
 
Do you know how high the board temps are getting?  The UI shows 50-51 now, but it hasn't been hashing.  I've seen this (hashrate drop to 0) happen with temps in the 60's.  They should be able to handle 60, but I'm just passing along what I have seen.  I have also seen this happen when trying to overclock with stock PSU.  (I can see in your screenshot that you are not overclocking, but wanted to mention it anyway.)

You should setup some kind of alerting.  You don't want to lose half a days worth of mining on an S4.  There are a couple home grown monitoring programs out there.  They require a bit of work to set them up.  I see that Justin Ramos shares open-source monitoring software.  I don't know him.  I have tried his P2Pool code, which is good and has extra reporting.  I intend to try his monitoring solution.  I think you have to install 3 software packages.  The API client, the manager, and the monitor.  https://github.com/jramos

I also ran across this site, if you want fast and easy.  http://www.awesomeminer.com/   There is a one time charge for the version that send notifications.  There is a free version to try.  I don't know this site and am not endorsing them, but their product looks good.  If you search for "bitcoin mining monitoring", you will find others.

I have to manually set difficulty to 2048. Otherwise, it doesn't hash more than 180 Gh/s on the pool while S4 shows it's hashing 2000+ Gh/s. I check my S4 B2 which I received in early December which has latest firmware. I tried to set to 225 Mhz 0725 volts then it went to zero. But before, it never went to zero. When hashing speed drop below 1500 on the S4, pool goes to zero. When I set pool difficulty to anything less than 2048, it never hash more than the difficulty setting. S4 temperature never goes up above 52 since it's winter here and I have all the windows open.

I'm trying different settings to see which would work the best and optimized mining.

I didn't know pool went to zero since S4 was running. With other miners' noises, I tend to be not hear the noises as much. I guessed I have adapted to the miner noises.

Anyhow, thanks for your insight.

I hate to say it but there are only a few pools that you will get full speed hashing from I can find. I tried several and right now I have all S4's showing 2200 + at the pool. i can get them to 2300+ but the chips sometime crash. It is that difficulty rate issue. Some pools you can set the minimum and it works and others you just can't get them to full speed. I am not here to promote a pool but the one I use  starts with an S.

My S4 B2 already has updated cgminer v4.6.1 It still only runs for couple hours and not hash anymore. I don't see chips crashing since all shows 00000s and no x. I'm going to reset the miner to factory setting and try again. Something is not right.

[dmwardjr]

Come on guys...

Go easy on him.  He's simply making an offer.  May be a bad offer but it's still an offer.

I actually believe many of us who have bought an S4 will wish we had known an S5 was around the corner THAT CLOSE!

So, those of you who also have an S4, please go easy on him.

In my opinion, we [who have bought S4's] were left out of the loop for someone else's profit.  Yes, we will still ROI.  However, it will take longer to ROI on the S4 than it will on the S5.

[Bitkoinzz]

Come on guys...

Go easy on him.  He's simply making an offer.  May be a bad offer but it's still an offer.

I actually believe many of us who have bought an S4 will wish we had known an S5 was around the corner THAT CLOSE!

So, those of you who also have an S4, please go easy on him.

In my opinion, we [who have bought S4's] were left out of the loop for someone else's profit.  Yes, we will still ROI.  However, it will take longer to ROI on the S4 than it will on the S5.

You have details on the S5?

[dmwardjr]

Come on guys...

Go easy on him.  He's simply making an offer.  May be a bad offer but it's still an offer.

I actually believe many of us who have bought an S4 will wish we had known an S5 was around the corner THAT CLOSE!

So, those of you who also have an S4, please go easy on him.

In my opinion, we [who have bought S4's] were left out of the loop for someone else's profit.  Yes, we will still ROI.  However, it will take longer to ROI on the S4 than it will on the S5.

You have details on the S5?

Sorry, no details.  Only speculation from the following forum:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=826519.180

[MyRig]

Yes, 110-240v

can antminer s4 use 220v. electricity?

[iglasses]

Do you think it's possible that Bitmain has confused Christmas with April Fool's Day?
That S4 'Xmas Special' is quite special if you are Bitmain &/or the hosting facility (which as a bonus is at an UNDISCLOSED location in the USA)!


wow miners
much hidden
owner has all the happies

[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...

I am about 24 hours away from confirming the fix - i will post back if it works.

[Bitkoinzz]

Yes, 110-240v

can antminer s4 use 220v. electricity?

Thanks for all your help Bitmain Warranty. We are setting up a warehouse all on 240 volts. Should be up and running next week. I will report back with power consumption.

[techgeeks]

Bitmain Warranty - Are there issues with the power supply - I just received my 16 S4's and 2 had bad power supplies out of the box - yellow/red flashing lights.  Now 3 others have died doing the same.   Running at 240v in a NOC at 65 degrees F.  Help...

Also 2 have 1 board show x's

I am about to order another 16 pack, but concerned about the reliability.

tia

[mdude77]

Bitmain Warranty - Are there issues with the power supply - I just received my 16 S4's and 2 had bad power supplies out of the box - yellow/red flashing lights.  Now 3 others have died doing the same.   Running at 240v in a NOC at 65 degrees F.  Help...

Also 2 have 1 board show x's

I am about to order another 16 pack, but concerned about the reliability.

tia

Batch one had that problem.  It was supposed to have been fixed in batch two.

M

[mdude77]

I just hate hearing someone else having issues with quality control.  I have 18 S3's and all of them have been wonderful except for the PCIe port on one going bad.  BITMAINTECH really messed up on the S4's debut.  Whoever is responsible for supervising quality control at bitmaintech may need to be fired!  I really hope BITMAIN gets the S5 done right on its debut.  If they mess up the S5's debut, they will ruin their reputation and have a lot of us running towards Spondoolies, etc.

A lot of us think their reputation is already ruined.  They are betraying their customers left and right.  Might be too late for them to turn around.

M

[dmwardjr]

I just hate hearing someone else having issues with quality control.  I have 18 S3's and all of them have been wonderful except for the PCIe port on one going bad.  BITMAINTECH really messed up on the S4's debut.  Whoever is responsible for supervising quality control at bitmaintech may need to be fired!  I really hope BITMAIN gets the S5 done right on its debut.  If they mess up the S5's debut, they will ruin their reputation and have a lot of us running towards Spondoolies, etc.

A lot of us think their reputation is already ruined.  They are betraying their customers left and right.  Might be too late for them to turn around.

M

I just think that ESPECIALLY if someone invests that much into that many rigs at one time, AT LEAST make sure the rigs work properly after 24 hours use at a minimum.  The whole thing just stinks when investing that much money.  More than likely, someone who invests that much will do so again.  So, don't ruin it with poor quality control!!!!

The whole thing just stinks because I just said, "...they have the best equipment on the planet" in another forum.  I HATE eating my words when I see stuff like this!!!

[techgeeks]

All companies have some issue, I am a HUGE Bitmain fan though, I have over 80 S3 a couple S2 and now 16 S4s running.  Never an issue with the S3's, couple small things with S2, but the S4's I am hoping is just the SD card reseat - they emailed me to try that out.

Other Bitcoin tech companies have a much more checkered past, with pre-sales, and over pricing to the extent you can't ROI on the gear.  Keep going Bitmain, and I'll keep buying.

[MyRig]

Each miner goes though rigorous quality control by QA staffs multiple times.  Sometimes the air turbulence during the air freight may cause damages to the miner as we use International Express via Air to deliver miners to the end customers.

Please PM here or contact +1-844-248-6246 Option 2 to request the replacement parts sent to you.  Please prepare the original order confirmation page to submit to the techs on the phone or in PM.

PS: some are beyond our control, however, we do not point finger at UPS and say, UPS's problem deal with them, but, rather, when we are notified, we will handle the DOA RMA process as fast as we can.

@techgeeks
If you have a blank LCD screen during the bootup, then more than likely the loose contact MicroSD card, or currupted MicroSD card or damaged MicroSD card.  Please try to reseat the microSD card, if that doesn't work, please try to reimage the MicroSD card from the image available at http://www.bitmaintech.com

Thank you

Bitmain Warranty - Are there issues with the power supply - I just received my 16 S4's and 2 had bad power supplies out of the box - yellow/red flashing lights.  Now 3 others have died doing the same.   Running at 240v in a NOC at 65 degrees F.  Help...

Also 2 have 1 board show x's

I am about to order another 16 pack, but concerned about the reliability.

tia

[mdude77]

All companies have some issue, I am a HUGE Bitmain fan though, I have over 80 S3 a couple S2 and now 16 S4s running.  Never an issue with the S3's, couple small things with S2, but the S4's I am hoping is just the SD card reseat - they emailed me to try that out.

Other Bitcoin tech companies have a much more checkered past, with pre-sales, and over pricing to the extent you can't ROI on the gear.  Keep going Bitmain, and I'll keep buying.

Bitmain is guilty of pre-sales and some would argue their gear is overpriced.

Like the $425,000 "sale" for 1 PH/s of hosted power, plus electricity.

M

[dmwardjr]

Each miner goes though rigorous quality control by QA staffs multiple times.  Sometimes the air turbulence during the air freight may cause damages to the miner as we use International Express via Air to deliver miners to the end customers.

Please PM here or contact +1-844-248-6246 Option 2 to request the replacement parts sent to you.  Please prepare the original order confirmation page to submit to the techs on the phone or in PM.

PS: some are beyond our control, however, we do not point finger at UPS and say, UPS's problem deal with them, but, rather, when we are notified, we will handle the DOA RMA process as fast as we can.

@techgeeks
If you have a blank LCD screen during the bootup, then more than likely the loose contact MicroSD card, or currupted MicroSD card or damaged MicroSD card.  Please try to reseat the microSD card, if that doesn't work, please try to reimage the MicroSD card from the image available at http://www.bitmaintech.com

Thank you

Although I had no problems with my equipment, other than having to eject and re-insert a MicroSD card in one of my S4's and one bad PSIe port in 1 of 18 S3's, I have been pleased personally with BITMAIN rigs.

It may be that is the problem with the gentleman's 3 to 5 S4's that went blank on the LCD screen [Needing to eject and re-insert MicroSD card] due to shipping.  He may not be familiar with the MicroSD card possibly being an issue and needs to do what you previously mentioned.  I suppose that could occur from moving the boxes around in a rough manner during shipping.  Your packaging and protecting the equipment is outstanding I will admit!

I appreciate you coming on here to back your product and support to give assurance you are behind resolving any problems that may occur with equipment during the shipping process. Don't think I was out to give BITMAIN a bad name.  It's just I have high hopes of mining with at least 180 Th/s of BITMAIN equipment in the future.  Certainly by August or September next year.  I'm buying another $8,000.00 in BITMAIN rigs the last week in February or first week in March.

I'm just thankful to hear you will do what is ethical in resolving issues that may arise due to DOA's or dead boards giving "xxxxxx xxxxxx" on arrival.

Thanks again for your reply and reassurance!

Best Regards,

[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.

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.

Okay so I finally got around to trying to upgrade the firmware on my S4. I've downloaded the initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz file, and hit flash. I see that it uploads to 100%, but then after that, my connection times out and the miner does a factory reset.

I re-downloaded the file and tried numerous times, same result every time. Anyone else have this issue, or have any suggestions?

[MissouriMiner]

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.

Okay so I finally got around to trying to upgrade the firmware on my S4. I've downloaded the initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz file, and hit flash. I see that it uploads to 100%, but then after that, my connection times out and the miner does a factory reset.

I re-downloaded the file and tried numerous times, same result every time. Anyone else have this issue, or have any suggestions?

I would try a different Micro SD memory card.  First, you will have to put the base image on the new card.

[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.

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.

Okay so I finally got around to trying to upgrade the firmware on my S4. I've downloaded the initramfs.bin.SD-20141016.tar.gz file, and hit flash. I see that it uploads to 100%, but then after that, my connection times out and the miner does a factory reset.

I re-downloaded the file and tried numerous times, same result every time. Anyone else have this issue, or have any suggestions?

I would try a different Micro SD memory card.  First, you will have to put the base image on the new card.

Thanks. Is putting the base image on the new card difficult to do? Getting into bitcoin mining sure has given me a crash course in a bunch of stuff I never knew I'd be learning about.