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Topic: Avalon ASIC users thread - page 168. (Read 438600 times)

legendary
Activity: 1988
Merit: 1012
Beyond Imagination
June 22, 2013, 06:56:53 AM

Ive seen your recondition before and did not ask, is this how it is supposed to be? What thermal paste you recommend?

Im used to see the heatsink on top of the chip, so, yes this looks strange to me

I just put a drop of MX4 on each chip area and later even some under VRM area, but there are 240 chips thus lots of work! The result is reduced temp of 3c degree. With some thermal compound between heatsinks and bottom plate, adding an external fan blowing at bottom plate will reduce another 3 degree. The most important is that now I'm sure each chip is correctly cooled

But I don't understand why someone claims 890 W while con claims only 605 W at 350Mhz ??

full member
Activity: 159
Merit: 100
Winter is coming
June 22, 2013, 05:41:11 AM
Ruby script to monitor Avalon miners and sound alert in case of any problems. Makes life a bit easier for people trying to manage several Avalon boxes. Probably an overkill for one box, but may be useful still if you do not want to check on it regularly. Just leave the script running in a background and when you hear alarm sound you know something is wrong.

https://github.com/arvicco/avalon

Limitations: only works on Linux/OSX and you need to make sure Ruby 1.9 is installed as your default Ruby. Enjoy.

so cool and I will use it to control a GSM outlet to automatic restart avalon!
legendary
Activity: 1610
Merit: 1000
June 22, 2013, 05:29:39 AM
With my deep respect to Con and Kano i can state following:

I calculate my ACTUAL hash rate as advised by Kano taking in account Diff1 shares accepted from pool(s) and cgminer up-time. This gives me EXACT (Real) hashrate. Knowing the fact my network was fine and i did not have downtime due to Network issues, pool issues or FPGA controller hangs (I am monitoring it every two minutes + automated power off/on no reboots) i am 100% sure that 3.2 is not performing.

PS: just for the reference (do math yourself)

Computer: cgminer 3.1.1
Elapsed: 7h 11m 30s
Difficulty Accepted:431530.00000000
MHS:71587.77

That was not happening with 3.2

Found the regression and I've rewritten the code to avoid this performance loss. It is committed to the master git tree now and will be in the next release. Hopefully xiangfu will be able to make an official testing firmware with it before then too.

Does this new firmware 6/22 include this new code in order to deal with the regression?

Yes dude working perfect just grab latest git and hash
legendary
Activity: 1792
Merit: 1047
June 22, 2013, 04:57:20 AM
With my deep respect to Con and Kano i can state following:

I calculate my ACTUAL hash rate as advised by Kano taking in account Diff1 shares accepted from pool(s) and cgminer up-time. This gives me EXACT (Real) hashrate. Knowing the fact my network was fine and i did not have downtime due to Network issues, pool issues or FPGA controller hangs (I am monitoring it every two minutes + automated power off/on no reboots) i am 100% sure that 3.2 is not performing.

PS: just for the reference (do math yourself)

Computer: cgminer 3.1.1
Elapsed: 7h 11m 30s
Difficulty Accepted:431530.00000000
MHS:71587.77

That was not happening with 3.2

Found the regression and I've rewritten the code to avoid this performance loss. It is committed to the master git tree now and will be in the next release. Hopefully xiangfu will be able to make an official testing firmware with it before then too.

Does this new firmware 6/22 include this new code in order to deal with the regression?
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1006
Bitcoin / Crypto mining Hardware.
June 22, 2013, 04:44:35 AM
power consumption of my Avalon 2 at 350MHz is 890Watts  Tongue. Room is at 76F right now.
-ck
legendary
Activity: 4088
Merit: 1631
Ruu \o/
June 22, 2013, 04:29:31 AM
Hmm, in one of my Avalons controller board freezes with 36:350 setting after 10-20 minutes. I need to power on/off. Con, is there any way how to reset it remotely?
 
Not unless you have an external power controller of some kind as far as I'm aware.
member
Activity: 107
Merit: 10
June 22, 2013, 04:19:29 AM
Hmm, in one of my Avalons controller board freezes with 36:350 setting after 10-20 minutes. I need to power on/off. Con, is there any way how to reset it remotely?
 
donator
Activity: 1617
Merit: 1012
June 22, 2013, 03:44:03 AM
Firmware with overclock binary:

http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/xiangfu/avalon/next-testing/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr703n-v1-squashfs-factory-20130622.bin

It is not exported to the web interface so you will have to manually edit the /etc/init.d/cgminer configuration

Thanks!

changed this -> in /etc/init.d/cgminer
300)                                                                                    
                CF="36:350"
Heh! Just remap the 256 MHz and 270 MHz labels with the 325 and 350 params. It is not like anyone was using the 2 lowest speeds anyway.
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1006
Bitcoin / Crypto mining Hardware.
June 22, 2013, 01:42:32 AM
From ASIC README:

34:375
36:350
39:325
43:300
45:282 (default)
47:270
50:256


Okay so the timeout at 350MHz is 36. Updated that as well. Thanks.
-ck
legendary
Activity: 4088
Merit: 1631
Ruu \o/
June 22, 2013, 01:38:30 AM
From ASIC README:

34:375
36:350
39:325
43:300
45:282 (default)
47:270
50:256
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1006
Bitcoin / Crypto mining Hardware.
June 22, 2013, 01:31:10 AM
Firmware with overclock binary:

http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/xiangfu/avalon/next-testing/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr703n-v1-squashfs-factory-20130622.bin

It is not exported to the web interface so you will have to manually edit the /etc/init.d/cgminer configuration

Thanks!

changed this -> in /etc/init.d/cgminer
300)                                                                                    
                CF="36:350"
-ck
legendary
Activity: 4088
Merit: 1631
Ruu \o/
June 22, 2013, 12:47:36 AM
Firmware with overclock binary:

http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/xiangfu/avalon/next-testing/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr703n-v1-squashfs-factory-20130622.bin

It is not exported to the web interface so you will have to manually edit the /etc/init.d/cgminer configuration
legendary
Activity: 1064
Merit: 1000
June 22, 2013, 12:40:41 AM
Just a reminder about heat

I have reconditioned all the heat sinks on Avalon modules, most of the chips have no thermal compound contact with heatsink. Unless you also did the recondition and added thermal compound between chips and heatsinks, you might get overheat for the chips (The added heat from overclock are not transferred to heatsink quickly enough)

Running all the fan at 100% might help though

Good to know that Avalon can be run at 350 Mhz! But I will skip the overclock for now, it's summer here Smiley


Ive seen your recondition before and did not ask, is this how it is supposed to be? What thermal paste you recommend?

Im used to see the heatsink on top of the chip, so, yes this looks strange to me
legendary
Activity: 1988
Merit: 1012
Beyond Imagination
June 21, 2013, 11:43:13 PM
Just a reminder about heat

I have reconditioned all the heat sinks on Avalon modules, most of the chips have no thermal compound contact with heatsink. Unless you also did the recondition and added thermal compound between chips and heatsinks, you might get overheat for the chips (The added heat from overclock are not transferred to heatsink quickly enough)

Running all the fan at 100% might help though

Good to know that Avalon can be run at 350 Mhz! But I will skip the overclock for now, it's summer here Smiley

sr. member
Activity: 397
Merit: 500
June 21, 2013, 08:49:08 PM
Update my post because of the cronjob.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2545178
 Wink
full member
Activity: 149
Merit: 100
June 21, 2013, 08:46:18 PM
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I just received one Avalon earlier this week and I've been mining on Slush's pool. 
  • I'm connected via wifi but I can only access the configuration menu through ethernet.  Should I be able to connect if it's mining on Wifi?
  • I saw instructions on how to hash via ethernet, but I didn't feel like messing with it when I excitedly opened my box.  If I connected with ethernet would it be possible to connect to the configuration on my network as well?
  • I've noticed that sometimes she will hash at 78000+ (slush's reading) and suddenly drop down to almost nothing.  Is this common?  Perhaps it's an issue with the wifi? Usually when I power cycle the avalon, it will climb back up to over 65000.  (reading from my account on slush)
  • Pool configuration - I saw that you can add up to 3 pools to mine from.  Then there is a drop down menu with (BALANCE, LOAD BALANCE, FAIL).  I don't really know what these mean.  Does fail mean "when pool 1 is unresponsive, mine on pool 2?"
  • There are a few live graphs, but I don't know what they represent.  I suppose the wireless graph measures the wifi connection, but does the load represent power consumption or hashing power?


I've read the avalon wiki, but methinks that I missed some other resources.  Can anyone help point me in the right direction?
legendary
Activity: 1610
Merit: 1000
June 21, 2013, 06:32:54 PM
Guy's
I have changed 650 to 850W PSU just in case. these screws are just fucking killing me. I was not able to screw a single one of them. That were bad news.
The good news are:

that i am making about 77081.89 average for the last half an hour at 325
I will wait until tomorrow at least 24 hours to see the actual hash rate and i will try 350 Smiley
PS: Con,
Will you tell us the formula in order to calculate HW errors in %.Are shares below target counted somewhere?

I know how to cal HW error rate with diff 1 but ..that is not enough
legendary
Activity: 3080
Merit: 1080
June 21, 2013, 06:32:28 PM
Latest version of the firmware 06-07 produces a LOT of HW errors. For example, 102 accepted shares 62 HW errors. It also oddly stops hashing intermittently.  I am guessing cgminer is crashing or something as the monitor script revives it and it resumes hashing but still with the unusually high error rate. 0519 has been rock solid for me so I flashed back to that version.

I'm running it at 300 if that has any bearing on anything. Anyone else noticing this or is it just my unit? I should also mention that I did not clear the settings before flashing to 06-07 (I told it to remember settings).


This is a combination of more accurate reporting of hw errors, and more software caused errors as a result of the changes. Fixes are in newer cgminer code which has yet to make it into a new firmware for you to flash.

Ok, gotcha. I shall patiently await a newer firmware from Xiangfu.

Thanks for all the great work you do!

sr. member
Activity: 397
Merit: 500
June 21, 2013, 06:10:04 PM
I have running the binary from ckolivas for some hours now. Looks realy fine, thanks ckolivas!

If someone want to do the same, even after restart here is how I got it running.
ATTANTION!!! Do this only if you know what you are doing! Do not expand with too many text, as if it gets to big you can't change anything in your avalon and you have ro reflash!!!

1. Go to System -> Startup
2. Disable cgminer, this prevents the start of the standard cgminer binary after reboot
3. Delete anything in the "Local Startup" text area
4. Copy the script below in the "Local Startup" text area
5. Edit betwen "Settings start" and "Settings end"
5. Click the "Submit" button
6. Restart/Reboot

Code:
# Put your custom commands here that should be executed once
# the system init finished. By default this file does nothing.

### custom cgminer ###
#
# Settings start
#
FTPpath="http://content.wuala.com/contents/ebereon/Shared/bitcoin/cgminer/cgminer" # Path to cgminer binary on a server (http or ftp)
DIRcgminer=/tmp/cgminer # Path to new directory on avalon (ddwrt)
APP=cgminer # name of the cgminer binary
PID_FILE=/var/run/$APP.pid # PID file

# Pool 1
_pool1url=
_pool1user=
_pool1pw=1

# Pool 2
_pool2url=
_pool2user=
_pool2pw=

# Pool 3
_pool3url=stratum+tcp://stratum.mining.eligius.st:3334
_pool3user=19hauaqtbJ8CFL7947YzkrJZY9ZXBpMoae
_pool3pw=1

# chip_frequency (only allowed: 256,270,282,300,325,350,375)
_cf=350

# miner_count
_mc=24

# api_allow
_aa=W:127.0.0.1

# default pool_balance
_pb=

# more_options
_mo=

#
# Settings end
#

mkdir $DIRcgminer # create new directory in tmp (tmpfs)
wget -P $DIRcgminer $FTPpath # download the custom cgminer binary
chmod +x $DIRcgminer/$APP

##########################
# cgminer startup script:
if [ "$_pool1url" != "" -a "$_pool1user" != "" -a "$_pool1pw" != "" ]; then
POOL1="-o $_pool1url -O $_pool1user:$_pool1pw"
fi
if [ "$_pool2url" != "" -a "$_pool2user" != "" -a "$_pool2pw" != "" ]; then
POOL2="-o $_pool2url -O $_pool2user:$_pool2pw"
fi
if [ "$_pool3url" != "" -a "$_pool3user" != "" -a "$_pool3pw" != "" ]; then
POOL3="-o $_pool3url -O $_pool3user:$_pool3pw"
fi

case "$_cf" in
256)
CF="50:256"
;;
270)
CF="47:270"
;;
282)
CF="45:282"
;;
300)
CF="43:300"
;;
325)
CF="39:325"
;;
350)
CF="36:350"
;;
375)
CF="34:375"
;;
esac

AOPTIONS=" --avalon-options 115200:$_mc:10:$CF "
PARAMS=" --lowmem $AOPTIONS $POOL1 $POOL2 $POOL3 $_pb --api-allow $_aa --api-listen $_mo"

$DIRcgminer/$APP --avalon-options 115200:$_mc:10:50:256 -q >/dev/null 2>&1
sleep 1

if [ ! -f /tmp/cgminer-ntpd-done ]; then
while [ "$NTPD_RET" != "0" ]; do
ntpd -d -n -q -N \
-p 0.openwrt.pool.ntp.org \
-p 1.openwrt.pool.ntp.org \
-p 2.openwrt.pool.ntp.org \
-p 3.openwrt.pool.ntp.org

NTPD_RET=$?
done

touch /tmp/cgminer-ntpd-done
fi

start-stop-daemon -S -x $DIRcgminer/$APP -p $PID_FILE -m -b -- $PARAMS

exit 0

This script downloads the cgminer binary from ckolivas from my webspace to the tmpfs (ram). (You can change this to your own server. I will keep it on my webspace, so if you don't have an own place, let it unchanged.)
After it is downloaded it starts the new cgminer binary with the config from the settings you have given to the script. It wont load any setting from the web gui, but you can still view the cgminer status page. If you use the cgminer settings page, it will crash the modified cgminer and start the old one.

If its helpful for you, any tips are welcome Wink

Happy mining
ebereon

EDIT: To make sure the cronjob start the correct cgminer now, please change "/usr/bin/cgminer-monitor" as below:
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# This file is for cron job

# This if for make sure the start cgminer when there is network problem
C=`pidof cgminer | wc -w`
if [ "$C" != "1" ]; then
    killall -s 9 cgminer
    sleep 1
    chmod +x /etc/rc.local
    /etc/rc.local
    exit 0;
fi

A=`cat /tmp/cm.log`
B=`cgminer-api devs | grep "^   \[Last Valid Work\]"`
echo "$B" > /tmp/cm.log
if [ "$B" != "" -a "$A" == "$B" ]; then
    killall -s 9 cgminer
    sleep 1
    chmod +x /etc/rc.local
    /etc/rc.local
    exit 0;
fi
I know it's not fine, but it works and thats what I count  Cool
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1006
Bitcoin / Crypto mining Hardware.
June 21, 2013, 06:02:02 PM
I see I moved cgminer to /tmp/cgminer.old

Be aware this will trash it on startup as you suspected since there will be no binary in /tmp on reboot.

I know.. it's better to wait on a Xiangfu release.

Or use this one from Strombom:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2544524

The Strombom firmware operates all fan at 100%. Just loaded it and checked
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