ANTMINER U3 Discussion and Support Thread

[notlist3d]

Its like the U3 gets stuck in some sort of initialization loop and some of the circuitry is allowing spikes by design.   I really dont feel like making a schematic for this thing to look for possible culprits...

<snip>

To keep it a little cooler, I have it balanced on the top of a powered on gridseed 5chip.  The gridseed fan helps keep it much cooler.

I chatted with a member here who took one of my U3s apart and he mentioned something about how crappy the circuitry is regarding the power and usb.  I don't know enough about hardware tech to repeat what he told be, but yes, I think there is a "short cut" somewhere in Bitmains schematic that causes most of the issues with these devices.

I also performed a similar cooling mod.  I run my U3 at 237.5freq 785volt, and even that makes the bottom heat sink almost uncomfortably hot.  With this mod it's barely warmer than ambient.

I find the first vs second U3 designs to be interesting.  The first one had heating issues... so it seems to be like it's a dummy guard on second one.  It allows all air pretty much to go through, but a cage to stop you from putting a finger in it. 

I need to look at one of mine again on this noise but I have not seen a spot for noise or heard it.  That is biggest thing I still wonder on.

[-ck]

I find the first vs second U3 designs to be interesting. 

I found the changes a complete and utter waste of time since they did not perform any different nor did they improve their reliability one snot.

[Mikestang]

I like the look of v1 way, way better than v2.  v2 looks unfinished to me, v1 looks like a little ufo and is almost cool.  I took the metal cover off for a while but the bottom heak sink was still really warm.  The extra fan beneath is the best way to cool them that I have found.

I agree, ck, Bitmain should have made improvements to v2 that everyone had repored with v1, then this little usb miner might have actually been worth something.  For now I await gekko sciences's pod miner, we know that one will work!

[zOU]

This is how I keep my 3xU3 cool:



1x80mm fan under each, powered using a DIY USB connector (5V)

[notlist3d]

This is how I keep my 3xU3 cool:



1x80mm fan under each, powered using a DIY USB connector (5V)

I like the idea looks nice just seems like overkill.  Part of it could be I don't push mine to hard, I don't see reason to push a lotto device for me to hard on the U3's.

But I can get pretty good speeds and use PC fans sit up on a table to push air.  Works pretty well I push air from my compacs and U3's.  It's kinda my lotto miner area.

[zOU]

It has proven effective
And at 5V from usb it's undervoltage and doesn't require a PSU :p

It kept me busy 10mn this summer when we had temp over 35C outside.... and sometimes inside :p

[.anto.]

I finally got the squeaking noise on one of my Antminer U3' this morning.

In short, it looks like something has gone wrong in the whole miner. So I think the problem is not particularly on the USB interface. When Antminer U3 squeaks, it seems that it fails to draw the power, or something is just stuck and oscillating. I am using Mean Well RS-150-12 power supply which can supply up to 12.5 A of current with the voltage set at exactly 12 V. So I am quite sure that the problem is not because of the power supply. I am using that power supply as I thought that the brick power supply which comes with the miner has something to do with the instability when I experienced that at the beginning. I guess I am wrong on this.

When the squeaking noise starts, the miner software (BFGMiner in my case) does not realise that. We can only see the hashing rates of the affected miner (AMU 0 in this case) increases (from around 14 GH/s per chip up to 16 GH/s on the picture below). I use that as an indicator that the miner is dying.



You can see the miner LED was flashing on a regular interval and hear the squeaking noise at the same interval on the video on this link (I have no idea how to properly insert the video on this forum). You also see that the LED indicator on the power supply was flashing at the same interval. The fan was practically not moving due to no power coming to the miner.

FYI, I can only see the video properly being rendered on Firefox browser. After a couple of hours, I gave up trying to figure out why it does not render on Chromium (possibly Chrome as well) and Opera. I didn't try M$ Internet Explorer. So if you had problem seeing the video, I think your best option is to save the video file and play that offline on your video player.

[Riley600]

I just picked up a couple of U3s.  I'm having the same frustrations with zombie miners as others report on here.  I'm running 2 U3s with Minera on an RPi.  I'm using BFGminer 5.4.0 to mine which maybe is slightly more reliable than CGminer but I'm not entirely sure.  I've tried different configurations, including putting the U3s on a powered USB hub but to no avail.  The U3s are powered off the PCI-E connectors on an Antec 500W PSU, so they should have plenty of juice.  I've read through some of the suggestions in this thread but none have helped.

Does anybody have some new ideas or things that they think might help alleviate the zombie problem?

[notlist3d]

I just picked up a couple of U3s.  I'm having the same frustrations with zombie miners as others report on here.  I'm running 2 U3s with Minera on an RPi.  I'm using BFGminer 5.4.0 to mine which maybe is slightly more reliable than CGminer but I'm not entirely sure.  I've tried different configurations, including putting the U3s on a powered USB hub but to no avail.  The U3s are powered off the PCI-E connectors on an Antec 500W PSU, so they should have plenty of juice.  I've read through some of the suggestions in this thread but none have helped.

Does anybody have some new ideas or things that they think might help alleviate the zombie problem?

RPI can be a pain on what usb's it likes.  USB 3 it does not llike, and some powered ones are not as easy.

Have you tried it with just 1?  I suggest trying connected to RPI directly.  See if it works... then look at hub assuming it works.  If does not work then go twords software.

[CrazyGuy]

I just picked up a couple of U3s.  I'm having the same frustrations with zombie miners as others report on here.  I'm running 2 U3s with Minera on an RPi.  I'm using BFGminer 5.4.0 to mine which maybe is slightly more reliable than CGminer but I'm not entirely sure.  I've tried different configurations, including putting the U3s on a powered USB hub but to no avail.  The U3s are powered off the PCI-E connectors on an Antec 500W PSU, so they should have plenty of juice.  I've read through some of the suggestions in this thread but none have helped.

Does anybody have some new ideas or things that they think might help alleviate the zombie problem?

Using a non-bitmain PSU has lengthened the amount of time between zombies for me, but unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a way to stop them. However, I am now automatically handling zombies on the R1 with a monitor script that restarts cgminer/udev when necessary. This should be easy to port to the Rpi or any other linux based system.

[.anto.]

You can see the miner LED was flashing on a regular interval and hear the squeaking noise at the same interval on the video on this link (I have no idea how to properly insert the video on this forum). You also see that the LED indicator on the power supply was flashing at the same interval. The fan was practically not moving due to no power coming to the miner.

No comment at all on the video of my Antminer U3 squeaking? Is that what you guys who experienced it, see and hear as well?

I think that shows the extreme condition which makes Antminer U3 stops hashing or zombie-ing in CGMiner term. My miners regularly stop hashing (or zombied) as well without squeaking. Some guys confirmed this on this discussion thread. I think the root cause of the issues is the same. So if we could fix this, e.g. by soldering additional components, we would be able to get stable miners. Does anybody know the schematic of Antminer U3, stole it from Bitmain for instance ?

[notlist3d]

You can see the miner LED was flashing on a regular interval and hear the squeaking noise at the same interval on the video on this link (I have no idea how to properly insert the video on this forum). You also see that the LED indicator on the power supply was flashing at the same interval. The fan was practically not moving due to no power coming to the miner.

No comment at all on the video of my Antminer U3 squeaking? Is that what you guys who experienced it, see and hear as well?

I think that shows the extreme condition which makes Antminer U3 stops hashing or zombie-ing in CGMiner term. My miners regularly stop hashing (or zombied) as well without squeaking. Some guys confirmed this on this discussion thread. I think the root cause of the issues is the same. So if we could fix this, e.g. by soldering additional components, we would be able to get stable miners. Does anybody know the schematic of Antminer U3, stole it from Bitmain for instance ?

Thanks for sharing! That is a odd beep for sure I have not hear anything yet from mine.   It stinks it's not detecting zombies as that would be a nice feature on buzzer.

I wish bitmain would make a entrance into thread and tell us.... but I doubt it.   And I doubt anyone has schematic and if they do it will be NDA'd.   I think most likely you would have to reverse engineer it to get the schematic.

[.anto.]

I wish bitmain would make a entrance into thread and tell us.... but I doubt it.   And I doubt anyone has schematic and if they do it will be NDA'd.   I think most likely you would have to reverse engineer it to get the schematic.

Yes. I doubt that too. I guess Bitmain is just waiting for somebody to come up with the solution and apply it to their shitty product. So I seriously doubt that somebody who has the solution would share it anywhere in the internet. I am sure I will not even if Bitmain would pay me for that.

[o_solo_miner]

 Hi .Anto.

this looks like the PSU is unable to provide the Power (i.e. Shortcut detection).
For saftey it switch down.

The Reason for this behavior can be a non perfect Power Cable to the Miner.
Use your Fluke to Measure the resistans of the inner Pin of the Cable as well as the Ground Line.
If you are able to do it, solder the wire directly to the Miner and connect it to the Meanwell.
I use Meanwell over 10 Years now on Industrial Machines, they are verry good.
I got two problems with the USB Miner in the past, first Zombie (was related to a typical chinese cheap
USB cable and I had to try out 10 Cables to find a good one) and second a PSU Cable wich got intermittet
high resistance and the wire was to thin inside. The outside of that cable was looking quite good.

There is also a chance that one elctrolytic capacitor got a high resistance and need change.
Internaly the miner got a Voltage Regulator (switching type) and they need low RMS capacitor.

Hope that helps.

[.anto.]

Hi .Anto.

this looks like the PSU is unable to provide the Power (i.e. Shortcut detection).
For saftey it switch down.

The Reason for this behavior can be a non perfect Power Cable to the Miner.
Use your Fluke to Measure the resistans of the inner Pin of the Cable as well as the Ground Line.
If you are able to do it, solder the wire directly to the Miner and connect it to the Meanwell.
I use Meanwell over 10 Years now on Industrial Machines, they are verry good.
I got two problems with the USB Miner in the past, first Zombie (was related to a typical chinese cheap
USB cable and I had to try out 10 Cables to find a good one) and second a PSU Cable wich got intermittet
high resistance and the wire was to thin inside. The outside of that cable was looking quite good.

There is also a chance that one elctrolytic capacitor got a high resistance and need change.
Internaly the miner got a Voltage Regulator (switching type) and they need low RMS capacitor.

Hope that helps.

Thanks o_solo_miner for your suggestion.

I suspected the power cable and the electrolytic capacitors as well. I actually planned to solder better and shorter power cables to cope with high current and change all of 4 electrolytic capacitors. But that is actually just a workaround for the problem that I can try. I think there is something horribly wrong in the design of the miner, especially the parts managing the power supply. So there is still high chance that the workaround would not entirely solve the problem.

Cheers,

Anto

[o_solo_miner]

You will see later, but you are right, the design of the S1 show me that as well.
I don't got an U3 here yet, but if I get one on Ebay for a low Price I want to look
into it.
Suprisingly some of the U3 seems to work out of the Box verry well.
Mayby the build a Batch with a bad charge of components?

[notlist3d]

You will see later, but you are right, the design of the S1 show me that as well.
I don't got an U3 here yet, but if I get one on Ebay for a low Price I want to look
into it.
Suprisingly some of the U3 seems to work out of the Box verry well.
Mayby the build a Batch with a bad charge of components?

The biggest thing is I would go with the newer cage design.  Not overheating... is good.   There were some problems with first design cage seems to help/fix.

Instead of ebay I suggest checking out crazy guy - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=612390.0 .  I bought my 3 from him, but he sells as low as 1 unit quantity  if you want.  You don't have to do the MOQ like bitmain.  And you are getting a tested miner from a trusted member.  So best option on U3 I think.

[wallander]

hi guys
i need some help i received my u3 today and followed instructions at this topic and also read most of it..

first installed // CP210x_VCP_Windows drivers
then http://zadig.akeo.ie // CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
im using my computers "corsair cx750" as power supply / not bitmain's psu.
tried to run with both usb2 // usb3 ports and powered hub (also used 3 different cables)
im not playing with any values just using default config, starting cgminer with bat file >> "cgminer.exe -o "POOL" -u "ASD" -p "ASD"
when i open usb management page at cgminer, it says
Hotplug interval:5
0 usb devices - 0 enabled - 0 disabled - 0 zombie
as i understand cgminer not recognizing my u3 i dont know why..

https://i.imgur.com/osavu2J.jpg

can u help a bit ? thanks

[notlist3d]

hi guys
i need some help i received my u3 today and followed instructions at this topic and also read most of it..

first installed // CP210x_VCP_Windows drivers
then http://zadig.akeo.ie // CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
im using my computers "corsair cx750" as power supply / not bitmain's psu.
tried to run with both usb2 // usb3 ports and powered hub (also used 3 different cables)
im not playing with any values just using default config, starting cgminer with bat file >> "cgminer.exe -o "POOL" -u "ASD" -p "ASD"
when i open usb management page at cgminer, it says
Hotplug interval:5
0 usb devices - 0 enabled - 0 disabled - 0 zombie
as i understand cgminer not recognizing my u3 i dont know why..



can u help a bit ? thanks

For one thing looks like you have it pointed twords  a LTC pool.  U3's are BTC miners, try a BTC pool and see what happens.

I've never tried to mine a LTC pool with BTC miner so cant say what it does.  But we should be able to help more if on right type of pool.

[Mikestang]

hi guys
i need some help i received my u3 today and followed instructions at this topic and also read most of it..

first installed // CP210x_VCP_Windows drivers
then http://zadig.akeo.ie // CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller
im using my computers "corsair cx750" as power supply / not bitmain's psu.
tried to run with both usb2 // usb3 ports and powered hub (also used 3 different cables)
im not playing with any values just using default config, starting cgminer with bat file >> "cgminer.exe -o "POOL" -u "ASD" -p "ASD"
when i open usb management page at cgminer, it says
Hotplug interval:5
0 usb devices - 0 enabled - 0 disabled - 0 zombie
as i understand cgminer not recognizing my u3 i dont know why..

https://i.imgur.com/osavu2J.jpg

can u help a bit ? thanks

Try the latest 4.9.2 release of cgminer, https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer, it has some fixes to it specific to the U3.  There was one version, it might be 4.9.0, that did not recognize the U3 as a bug.

Make sure the U3 in zadig shows the winusb driver (that it "zadig'd" correctly).

Use --au3-volt 785 and --au3-freq 237.5 in your bat file to start out.