How to re-image Beaglebone board for an Antminer S5?

[Rishodi]

I have an Antminer S5 which is not working. It does not appear on my list of network devices and so it is inaccessible by HTTP or SSH.

When the Beagleboard and controller board are swapped with known good components from another S5, the miner works as expected. I've contacted Bitmain support and they've advised trying to re-image the Beaglebone board. The problem is I don't know how to do that, and I can't get a clear answer from Bitmain support on how to do it either.

Since I didn't have any spare microSD cards lying around, I bought this one. Bitmain pointed me to these instructions, which only helps with copying the image to the microSD card. I did so with the image provided here using HDDRawCopy.

I put the SD card into the Beaglebone board and booted up the S5. I waited for some time, but nothing ever happened. The fan speed remained low and the unit never appeared on the list of active network devices. I informed Bitmain, and they directed me to this set of instructions, which are not particularly helpful since the stripped-down version of the Beaglebone used for the S5 does not have a USB or 5V power port or a boot button.

The last contact I had from Bitmain was them advising to try with a 4GB microSD card instead. I don't have such a card, and from what I was able to find via search the Beaglebone should support microSD cards up to 32GB so I don't think using a 16GB card is problematic.

I find it hard to believe that no one else has had this issue, though I spent a few minutes searching and couldn't find any useful information. Does anyone know the correct method for re-imaging this board?

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[dimke_yu]

Do you have another S5 to check if the BB is damaged or not. Also try with different PSU if you have one. How did you connect your S5 to the network? Also did you try to reset to factory default?

[dogie]

Do you have another S5 to check if the BB is damaged or not. Also try with different PSU if you have one. How did you connect your S5 to the network? Also did you try to reset to factory default?

He already used another S5 to check if its the BB, and has swapped PSUs.

I have an Antminer S5 which is not working. It does not appear on my list of network devices and so it is inaccessible by HTTP or SSH.

When the Beagleboard and controller board are swapped with known good components from another S5, the miner works as expected. I've contacted Bitmain support and they've advised trying to re-image the Beaglebone board. The problem is I don't know how to do that, and I can't get a clear answer from Bitmain support on how to do it either.

How have you been in contact with Bitmain? I would advise asking to RMA the controller board as the solutions (even if they work), are rather painful.

In the future you can get S5 support here or here.

[hurricandave]

There is an older thread that tells you how to replace the controller for an off the shelf BBB in an S2, I believe the main difference here is that you need to be mindful of using the S5 image and such. More or less it can help you get the SD card set up correctly.

[Rabinovitch]

Try to flash your SD card with S4 or C1 image, then (once your S5 will boot up from SD card) update the firmware to actual version for S5.