ANTMINER U3 Discussion and Support Thread

[gingerbaker]

True that!

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it..."

The being said, it's not obviously running in the most optimal way but until it "zombies" (still not quite sure what that means) then I'll leave it as is.


I guess the takeaway from my problem is to use a USB hub rather than the USB 2 or 3 ports on my pc.

[speedt_ouch]

How do I setup two Antminer U3 on the same computer?

I read users here running 5 and 6 units...

I tested then separately first to make sure each one is working. I confirmed that, and no errors.
All working fine and they start receiving block when connected one at a time.

The people who get more than 1 to work are the exception.  People like us who have 1 work fine and plug in a second and all goes to crap are the norm.  There's nothing you can do, I have tried everything.  Some systems it works, most it doesn't.

I only wish I had the same luck 
I'll give it a try on a different system.
I believe what you say, but its hard to accept the idea that only one at a time will work is the norm.

What version of cgminer are you using? I had to download cgminer for Windows from Bitmain to get rid of that error.

Hi.
I'm using cgminer 4.9.2

I did not try any other version. I assumed the last version would be the best bet!

What previous version should I test?

4.9.2 is the best version, it has bug fixes from 4.9.0 that specifically effect the U3; carry on.

And people wonder why I post in any thread considering a U3 that they are crap machines and not worth the effort, just the last page of this thread sums it all up.

What alternative would you suggest? Just wondering.

Today, after one day of mining with one on my U3 and it started beeping and red led flashing and showing errors in cgminer...
I guess it was the heat that was causing it to go nuts. It was so hot I could not touch the blue plate.
I did not have an extra fan blowing at it but it is in a well ventilated place and relative cool ambient temperature. below 23 Cº
I ended up turning it off to cool down. 

[Mikestang]

I only wish I had the same luck  
I'll give it a try on a different system.
I believe what you say, but its hard to accept the idea that only one at a time will work is the norm.

There are several flaws with the U3's design.  I sent one to a guy on this forum who took it apart and I can't recall exactly what he said but there's something about the USB and power sharing a common something or other and long story short it's a crap design.

What alternative would you suggest? Just wondering.

You could try 4.9.0, but 4.9.2 should work "better" in theory and would be the version I suggest; any problems you're having will not be coming from 4.9.0 or 4.9.2, they will be from the hardware itself.  4.9.1 will not detect the U3, so don't use that version, it was a known bug.

Today, after one day of mining with one on my U3 and it started beeping and red led flashing and showing errors in cgminer...
I guess it was the heat that was causing it to go nuts. It was so hot I could not touch the blue plate.
I did not have an extra fan blowing at it but it is in a well ventilated place and relative cool ambient temperature. below 23 Cº
I ended up turning it off to cool down.  

The U3 needing daily, sometimes multiple, restarts per day is more "normal" behaviour for the units.  Below you can see my cooling mod (from a few pages back):

So this "mod" has provided much better results as far as cooling and operating stability go vs. what I saw from re-doing the thermal paste:

[speedt_ouch]

What alternative would you suggest? Just wondering.

You could try 4.9.0, but 4.9.2 should work "better" in theory and would be the version I suggest; any problems you're having will not be coming from 4.9.0 or 4.9.2, they will be from the hardware itself.  4.9.1 will not detect the U3, so don't use that version, it was a known bug.

Sorry, let me rephrase that.

What alternative mining unit would you suggest? Just wondering.
Alternative to the U3 with similar cost/hashing power.

Today, after one day of mining with one on my U3 and it started beeping and red led flashing and showing errors in cgminer...
I guess it was the heat that was causing it to go nuts. It was so hot I could not touch the blue plate.
I did not have an extra fan blowing at it but it is in a well ventilated place and relative cool ambient temperature. below 23 Cº
I ended up turning it off to cool down. 

The U3 needing daily, sometimes multiple, restarts per day is more "normal" behaviour for the units.  Below you can see my cooling mod (from a few pages back):

So this "mod" has provided much better results as far as cooling and operating stability go vs. what I saw from re-doing the thermal paste:

LOL! I guess I should do the same. Precisely represents the issue I had today.

[jlauzon]

What version of cgminer are you using? I had to download cgminer for Windows from Bitmain to get rid of that error.

Hi.
I'm using cgminer 4.9.2

I did not try any other version. I assumed the last version would be the best bet!

What previous version should I test?

If you're still having trouble in Windows, this is the version I have working in Windows 7:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/30iccjyrhj9qvrl/cgminer-4.8.0-windows.zip?dl=0

In Linux, I use 4.9.2...just couldn't run long term for me in Windows.

[Mikestang]

Sorry, let me rephrase that.

What alternative mining unit would you suggest? Just wondering.
Alternative to the U3 with similar cost/hashing power.

I use S3+, my U3s are paper weights for now.  One S3+ cost 2x what I paid for one U3 new, but it hashes 8.5 times as fast and is totally stable.

I have a couple usb stick miners, too, but they will be replaced with GekkoScience sticks as soon as they are available.  Check them out, at 8-9GH per stick it would only take a few to equal a U3.

[speedt_ouch]

What version of cgminer are you using? I had to download cgminer for Windows from Bitmain to get rid of that error.

Hi.
I'm using cgminer 4.9.2

I did not try any other version. I assumed the last version would be the best bet!

What previous version should I test?

If you're still having trouble in Windows, this is the version I have working in Windows 7:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/30iccjyrhj9qvrl/cgminer-4.8.0-windows.zip?dl=0

In Linux, I use 4.9.2...just couldn't run long term for me in Windows.

Thank you for that.
I will download it latter.

How many antminer U3 do you connect at the same time to your computer?
I only have problems if I connect more than one

[speedt_ouch]

Sorry, let me rephrase that.

What alternative mining unit would you suggest? Just wondering.
Alternative to the U3 with similar cost/hashing power.

I use S3+, my U3s are paper weights for now.  One S3+ cost 2x what I paid for one U3 new, but it hashes 8.5 times as fast and is totally stable.

I have a couple usb stick miners, too, but they will be replaced with GekkoScience sticks as soon as they are available.  Check them out, at 8-9GH per stick it would only take a few to equal a U3.

Oh, I see.
Yes the S3 or even S5 e much more appealing
But I wanted something to try out. Beginner level. With out the need to get external power also...
But I am considering one or two in the future.

It is also very expensive to get mining hardware in Portugal, and electricity is not cheap!

[jlauzon]

What version of cgminer are you using? I had to download cgminer for Windows from Bitmain to get rid of that error.

Hi.
I'm using cgminer 4.9.2

I did not try any other version. I assumed the last version would be the best bet!

What previous version should I test?

If you're still having trouble in Windows, this is the version I have working in Windows 7:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/30iccjyrhj9qvrl/cgminer-4.8.0-windows.zip?dl=0

In Linux, I use 4.9.2...just couldn't run long term for me in Windows.

Thank you for that.
I will download it latter.

How many antminer U3 do you connect at the same time to your computer?
I only have problems if I connect more than one

I run two, no hub.

[speedt_ouch]

I run two, no hub.

So I finally got two Antminers U3 to run at once hooked up to intel i5 laptop with windows 7.
I did see the same error I was getting on my old xp machine but very seldom.

So still doing some tests and now I'm trying to get cgminer to work with Ubuntu (Linuxmint to be specific) so I can report back.

I heat a wall once more.

I followed the instructions I think they are the correct commands, and have tested on two different systems many variations the the commands.

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl3-dev libudev-dev

git clone https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer

cd cgminer
sudo ./autogen.sh
CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native"
sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc
sudo make

But I get error on "make" command

Code:

In file included from /usr/include/string.h:640:0,
                 from ./lib/string.h:28,
                 from uthash.h:27,
                 from miner.h:25,
                 from driver-bmsc.c:45:
In function ‘memcpy’,
    inlined from ‘bmsc_scanwork’ at driver-bmsc.c:1627:8:
/usr/include/i386-linux-gnu/bits/string3.h:51:3: warning: call to __builtin___memcpy_chk will always overflow destination buffer [enabled by default]
   return __builtin___memcpy_chk (__dest, __src, __len, __bos0 (__dest));

I find on this forum the exact same error from other user, but no fix.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=863373.0

Does anyone know how I can sort this out and take a step forward?

If I run cgminer without the U3 plugged in the program seems to work but no device detected obviously.
If I run cgminer with U3 plugged in cgminer just crashs and shows some errors and numbers.

I'm guessing caused by the error above while compiling.

Thanks in advance.

[Jake36]

I run two, no hub.

So I finally got two Antminers U3 to run at once hooked up to intel i5 laptop with windows 7.
I did see the same error I was getting on my old xp machine but very seldom.

So still doing some tests and now I'm trying to get cgminer to work with Ubuntu (Linuxmint to be specific) so I can report back.

I heat a wall once more.

I followed the instructions I think they are the correct commands, and have tested on two different systems many variations the the commands.

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl3-dev libudev-dev

git clone https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer

cd cgminer
sudo ./autogen.sh
CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native"
sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc
sudo make

Thanks in advance.

I don't use the bitmaintech/cgminer, so not 100% sure. Try to change (for the U3):

sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc


to:

sudo ./configure --enable-icarus

when you compile it.

[speedt_ouch]

I run two, no hub.

So I finally got two Antminers U3 to run at once hooked up to intel i5 laptop with windows 7.
I did see the same error I was getting on my old xp machine but very seldom.

So still doing some tests and now I'm trying to get cgminer to work with Ubuntu (Linuxmint to be specific) so I can report back.

I heat a wall once more.

I followed the instructions I think they are the correct commands, and have tested on two different systems many variations the the commands.

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl3-dev libudev-dev

git clone https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer

cd cgminer
sudo ./autogen.sh
CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native"
sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc
sudo make

Thanks in advance.

I don't use the bitmaintech/cgminer, so not 100% sure. Try to change (for the U3):

sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc


to:

sudo ./configure --enable-icarus

when you compile it.

Well thank you Sir  
That did, in fact, do the trick.
I now have my Antminer U3 working and mining on my Linux Mint 17.1.

The full code I used to get this working in case it mite help someone else:

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl3-dev libudev-dev
git clone https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer
cd cgminer
sudo ./autogen.sh
CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native"
sudo ./configure --enable-icarus
sudo make
sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD

Now I'm more confused then ever.  

For bitmain devices is this not the correct code:  --enable-bmsc
And for other brand device: --enable-icarus

Even though the examples I found did not help me all of then make referent to --enable-bmsc
Examples:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=103046
https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer/blob/master/bitmain-readme.txt#L24

Also, to confuse me more, on windows I use command in bat file:

Code:

cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

That leads me to the next question.
To run cgminer on my Linux machine, in the command I could replace:

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

By

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --icarus-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --icarus-voltage 0800 --icarus-freq 1286

Would this be okay?

Thank you.

[Jake36]

I run two, no hub.

I don't use the bitmaintech/cgminer, so not 100% sure. Try to change (for the U3):

sudo ./configure --enable-bmsc


to:

sudo ./configure --enable-icarus

when you compile it.

Now I'm more confused then ever.  

For bitmain devices is this not the correct code:  --enable-bmsc
And for other brand device: --enable-icarus

Even though the examples I found did not help me all of then make referent to --enable-bmsc
Examples:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=103046
https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer/blob/master/bitmain-readme.txt#L24

I think someone just copied and pasted from setting up a different miner and didn't change it or that was for an older version of the bitmain/cgminer and the examples were never updated.

Also, to confuse me more, on windows I use command in bat file:

Code:

cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

That leads me to the next question.
To run cgminer on my Linux machine, in the command I could replace:

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

By

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --icarus-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --icarus-voltage 0800 --icarus-freq 1286

Would this be okay?

It's probably going to melt your U3 at -freq 1286 if it even runs with that.

Max is around -freq 250

Thank you.

I just looked at bitmain/cgminer's readme at

Code:

https://github.com/bitmaintech/cgminer/blob/master/ASIC-README

  and even it says freq 100 to 250.

Volts you have to play around with, but I would keep an eye on the power brick if it's the one that came with the U3, it may melt at 800!

As for the -icarus-options 115200:0.57  ? , I didn't read that far.

[jlauzon]

I leave my two remaining U3s at default clock frequency and voltage now. I melted two going higher...not the bricks but the chips.

At default, in Windows 7, they hash ~ 113 GH/s average. No excessive heat.

[yubyellow]

hi I am new to all of this.  just got my Antminer u3 but I don't know how to set it up.   I have windows 8  and am trying to use bfgminer 5.2.0.   for my mining pool I am using us1.eclipsemc.com:3333.   is this a good mining pool?   im honestly not understanding how to set up bfgminer.  with bfgminer do I need to set up the .bat file?  if someone could post step by step instructions for me that would be great. and if I do need to set up  a .bat file could someone plz tell me the order to write the code in because I see a lot of conflicting information on the web about it.  I also already used zadig and bgfminer doesn't seem to find any devices.  what do I do there?

[speedt_ouch]

A special thank you to those who tried to help me.

This weekend I was able to test two things and I finally got two Antminer U3 to work without issues running on the same computer.

Running normal command on cgminer, just provided pool link and user for both attempts:
Linux: sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD
Windows: cgminer.exe -o solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID

1 - Toshiba Laptop i7 8GB Ram - OS: Linux Mint 17.1
Both antminer work fine without errors.
Antminer directly plugged in computer, no HUB.
Run time: 12Hours

NOTE: Average mining was very low. Did not go over 70GH/s with both connected.

2 - Acer Laptop i5 4GB Ram - OS: Windows 7
Both antminer work fine without errors.
Antminer directly plugged in computer, no HUB.
Run time: 12Hours

NOTE: Much better average with windows (I'm shocked  ). Currently 98,40GH/s
Would it be safe to try and get higher hashing values?
What would be the safe command for Windows?

***

NOTE 2:
One of the antminer always runs at least 15GHz less then the other.
How could I increase or troubleshoot this to test if chips are okay?

***

All other attempts to run two antminers U3 on Windows or Linux on older machine (Pentium 4 1.5GB) Failed

***

Does anyone here have two or more Antminer u3 running on one raspberry PI?
I'm wondering if its capable

[Mikestang]

hi I am new to all of this.  just got my Antminer u3 but I don't know how to set it up.   I have windows 8  and am trying to use bfgminer 5.2.0.   for my mining pool I am using us1.eclipsemc.com:3333.   is this a good mining pool?   im honestly not understanding how to set up bfgminer.  with bfgminer do I need to set up the .bat file?  if someone could post step by step instructions for me that would be great. and if I do need to set up  a .bat file could someone plz tell me the order to write the code in because I see a lot of conflicting information on the web about it.  I also already used zadig and bgfminer doesn't seem to find any devices.  what do I do there?

All you need to know is in the README.

You don't use zadig with bfgminer.

I haven't had any luck with bfg 5.2.0 and a U3 running for more than a few minutes.

Use cgminer 4.9.2, it handles the U3 as well as possible.  You need to zadig to use cgminer with the U3.

[Mikestang]

Also, to confuse me more, on windows I use command in bat file:

Code:

cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

That leads me to the next question.
To run cgminer on my Linux machine, in the command I could replace:

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

By

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --icarus-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --icarus-voltage 0800 --icarus-freq 1286

Would this be okay?

Thank you.

Why not use cgminer 4.9.2 and the correct U3 command line options per the README?

[speedt_ouch]

Also, to confuse me more, on windows I use command in bat file:

Code:

cgminer.exe --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

That leads me to the next question.
To run cgminer on my Linux machine, in the command I could replace:

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --bmsc-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --bmsc-voltage 0800 --bmsc-freq 1286

By

Code:

sudo ./cgminer --icarus-options 115200:0.57 -o stratum+tcp://solo.antpool.com:3333 -u USER.ID -p PASSWORD --icarus-voltage 0800 --icarus-freq 1286

Would this be okay?

Thank you.

Why not use cgminer 4.9.2 and the correct U3 command line options per the README?

In windows I'm am using cgminer 4.9.2.
In linux I cloned git and the version I got was 4.9.0

Keep in ming I'm beginner level  so I mite have done something wrong

[-ck]

In windows I'm am using cgminer 4.9.2.
In linux I cloned git and the version I got was 4.9.0

Keep in ming I'm beginner level  so I mite have done something wrong

NOTE: Much better average with windows (I'm shocked  ). Currently 98,40GH/s

You ran the newer version on windows? That's probably why it ran faster on windows.