Topic: [ANN] Bi•Fury | 5 GH/s USB Miner [IN STOCK!] {SALE !} - page 16. (Read 305076 times)

Where did you order from?

Nope, but I haven't tried running CGMiner or BFGMiner under sudo just in case it's a permissions issue like it was on the Raspberry Pi.  I may try again at some point, but since running it on the Pi was the end goal for me anyway, I don't really want to rock the boat too much.

When you do get the firmware updated and working again, let me know if running CGMiner or BFGMiner with sudo privileges works for you on the Mac.

I have had a similar experience when these first appeared but had to RMA one due to DOA. They were quick to respond and resend once the unit got back to them, even included a free usb fan. They ship them out very quick and have not had any issues since

The new unit is showing as over 100 centigrade when it first plugs in unlike the older ones that showed 50 centigrade when first plugged in. This is a cosmetic issue as it is hashing fine (bang on 5ghz actually ) but is this something to do with the new firmware? all of them are running under cooling with the first batch showing 48 centigrade and the new one 104 centigrade.

I have seen people saying they are getting 90 plus centigrade on there devices post firmware upgrade but is this an actual temperature figure as the one i have showing 104 is definitely not at that temperature. All are plugged into USB 3 hubs running cgminer 3.8.3 with an artic air fan above them (old ones on one hub, new one on other hub).

Yeah, I already tried compiling mtools on mac. Configure works with that flag, but, it still fails with make. I'll wait until someone can lend me a PC this weekend I guess!

No love on getting it to actually run on a mac though, even with unloading the USB modem drivers?

Luckily it doesn't mess the Bifury up permanently... you just have to re-install the firmware and eject specifically from Windows for it to work again.
I had a physical PC, but I have a feeling that a VM should work as well.  Failing that, you COULD try compiling mtools on a mac and using the instructions earlier in the thread from cscape, but you have to use this configure line to get it working on the mac:

Probably just easier to use a Windows VM or find someone's PC and borrow it for a few seconds.

That said... I finally got it working with Minepeon on the Raspberry Pi with much gnashing of teeth and pulling hair.  I won't go over all the other failed steps I had trying different versions of BFGMiner and CGMiner... which both had various errors including the (incorrect device?) listed earlier in the thread, but I did get it eventually.

So here are the successful steps I took to get it working:
1. Get the latest image of Minepeon (or update via git pull in the /opt/minepeon directory to get the latest).
2. pacman -Syu to get the latest OS updates
3. Check the WebUI and make sure CGMiner is your currently selected Miner software (BFGMiner has been the default lately on Minepeon)
4. Edit file /etc/udev/rules.d/01-miner.rules with sudo privileges and add the following lines:
5. sync (just in case) and reboot the Pi
6. SSH back in and screen -r so you can see the running CGMiner
7. Once the Pi is back up and running, unplug the Bifury USB and re-plug it in and it will be autodetected.  At that point you should be hashing away.
8. When all looks good, detach the screen (ctrl-a then d) and then you're all set!

Hope that helps any of you guys out there trying to get this running on a RaspPi.

jedimstr, thanks much for the help. would you consider posting an ls -al of your working drive? that way i can see if mac is changing permissions incorrectly or doing something else that is causing this to mess up.

OR

is simply putting this thing in drive mode causing the problem permanently?

Not on a Mac, no.  just got home, so haven't tried on one of my mining Pi's yet, but I'll post here once I do.

Got it — I was reluctant to put a VM on my machine but I can for this. Overall though, your bi•fury still won't work, right?

Without a PC around, you may try firing up a virtual machine using the software of your choice (Oracle Virtual Box is free but my preference is VMWare Fusion) and loading windows on that.

I wouldn't necessarily suggest imaging the device because it seems to be doing some weird low level stuff and isn't actually like a USB drive, especially if you have to do some funky stuff with Linux mcopy to simulate MSDOS file attributes.

mac fun follows...

- I had the same problem as jedimstr and have drive-bricked mine by trying to upgrade firmware. I do not have access to a PC. What now?
- Even after firmware, it appears nobody can get this to work on a Mac. Has anyone? Tips? It is recognized as a USB device (cgminer -n) but as a supported device.
- could you upload a recovery .iso for mac users to flash the drive with? perhaps that will work.

Thanks.

So I got my thumb back to its normal mode after copying the firmware.bin on a Dell/Win7x64.

I tried hashing with it on a Mac again in BFGMiner and CGMiner, but got different errors for both.

BFGMiner gets a segmentation fault every-time.

CGMiner gets the following whether I hot plug or start with it plugged:

When I get home later I'll try on my RPi and see how that works...

Note though that others have also reported seeing the same thing on RaspberryPi's too:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bfgminer-370-segmentation-fault-with-bifury-352478

My RedFury though is happy to run in both CGMiner and BFGMiner on the same Mac.
The RedFury was pulled during my tests of the Bi*fury and I did specify -S bifury:all in BFGMiner.

Any ideas?
 

Thanks, I'll try again with my work Dell when I get to work.  I try to keep my home MS free (except for a few VMs).

The firmware upload feature is built into the CPU, and because of the very limited memory space it has to make some assumptions about the way the USB mass storage device is used. Native Linux access doesn't work either.  The easiest way to restore the firmware is to use a Windows machine.

You can also write the firmware in Linux, using the mtools:

mcopy -o -i /dev/disk/by-id/usb-NXP_LPC1XXX_IFLASH_ISP-0:0 firmware.bin ::

Once you have the correct firmware, it should work on the Raspi, at least. I don't have a Mac, and I've never tested it on one, so there may be some problem with Mac compatibility.

yes i did.. what do i do to clean it up?

i did an ls -la to make sure no hidden dot files were added.

Do i upload on a Windows box now or do i have to do some weird reformat magic to get it working again?

is it Windows only for these guys or can i at least use a RaspberryPi if not my mac?

jedimstr, did you upload the firmware on a Mac ? If so, that may have caused a problem.

I received mine today and agree the delivery time was outstanding!

However, I've encountered some problems...

When I tried getting it running with BFGMiner (on a Mac) it kept getting segmentation faults and exiting out.
CGMiner had issues with timeout while trying to detect (Identified as wrong device?)

So I thought it could be a firmware issue, so I downloaded the firmware and followed the instructions to short the two pads identified while inserting. 
Deleted the old firmware and installed the new 90C one.

This is where it gets weird....  after updating the firmware, unplugging and replugging, no matter the port, and without physically shorting the pads, results it being stuck in the USB Drive mode.  I tried various USB ports on my hubs and directly to my computer and even on a few of my Raspberry Pi's and it keeps staying in the USB Drive mode with no LED.

Any Ideas?

Credit where credit is due :

- received mine today just 4 days after ordering (Poland - Germany) = darn awesome !
- worked right off the start after installing it as "USB Device" with Zadig Utility WinUSB driver
- runs 5GH/s as advertised @ 41 deg Celsius using cgminer 3.8.4, cooled by USB powered fan

Overall, a nifty and compact device, works just as advertised.
Posted this because I'm simply impressed by the delivery time, that's a big thumbs up!

For those who are looking into building there own heatsink,
this is the mechanical drawing of the current one:



intron

Hello, maybe someone is interested in my results so I'll write here.
I have done some further testing with several setups. Yes indeed without fan it is getting to over 100C of course depends of position of device (best position without fan is vertical - usb connector up or down as that way is better air flow trough heatsink), room temp and of course many more less important parameters.
With small fan positioned to heat sink it is easily to get temp down to 50-60C, as for me to get temp below 50C it requires bit more effective fan.
If fan is positioned over miner and it is pluged in notebooks USB port - heatsink down - then it requires powerful fan to get temp below 80-90C, but it is not comfortable anyway because typically you have to rise notebook from desk a little bit, otherwise BiFury won't fit.

Now I'm thinking about passive cooling, as maximum possible power is 0.9x5=4.5w it shouldn't be hard to cool it with larger heat sink - passive cooler. Unfortunately I couldn't find any suitable heatsink in my warehouse. Maybe someone have some larger heatsink, I suppose CPU cooler will be good enough, even without fan switched on. Perhaps for tests it would be enough to firmly put together BiFury's heat sink and larger one. I don't recommend to remove original heat sink from BiFury because it may require thermal paste to get it back correctly - it is too expensive device for such experiments Then try to run it for 15 min monitoring temp. If it goes over 85-90C then test has failed. In any case please let me know results.
I'll try to seek for one too
It would be much more power effective, because as I have found USB fans take about .5A (max USB2.0) so it is ~2.5W more than half of miners consumption. And much silent of course.

I had an order that just shipped... will it already include the latest firmware (the 90C one) or will I have to update the firmware when I get it?