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Topic: Cairnsmore1 - Quad XC6SLX150 Board - page 67. (Read 286370 times)

legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 06:12:57 PM
BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

Which Windows version are you using? I found some old laptop with XP Professional on it and every time I plug a different CM1 it re-installs the FTDI drivers. Takes some minutes for each board to flash (need to accept non-signed drivers each time) - really annoying Sad

Zefir,

vista 32 bit.

spiccioli
legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 06:11:35 PM
BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

Which Windows version are you using? I found some old laptop with XP Professional on it and every time I plug a different CM1 it re-installs the FTDI drivers. Takes some minutes for each board to flash (need to accept non-signed drivers each time) - really annoying Sad

The process for programming the SPI Flash is very slow. Expect 30-40 minutes per board. We do have a plan to include parallel programming of the array and this will make an obvious time saving expecially if we can make it work over multiple boards at the same time. For this to happen it needs our own bitstream so we can add some necessary support features.

We have been using Win7 and XP here.

What?

30 minutes per board to flash controller FPGA? On my vista 32 laptop it takes 30 SECONDS to flash it?!?

spiccioli
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 04:32:28 PM
Controller update zip has been updated to include instructions. Get it at http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/cairnsmore/cairnsmore1_support_materials.html.


Yohan I think you've forgotten to add the controller .exe into the zip. 

Thanks. I think that is sorted now.
full member
Activity: 199
Merit: 100
July 12, 2012, 04:15:20 PM
Controller update zip has been updated to include instructions. Get it at http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/cairnsmore/cairnsmore1_support_materials.html.


Yohan I think you've forgotten to add the controller .exe into the zip. 
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 04:02:33 PM
BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

Which Windows version are you using? I found some old laptop with XP Professional on it and every time I plug a different CM1 it re-installs the FTDI drivers. Takes some minutes for each board to flash (need to accept non-signed drivers each time) - really annoying Sad

The process for programming the SPI Flash is very slow. Expect 30-40 minutes per board. We do have a plan to include parallel programming of the array and this will make an obvious time saving expecially if we can make it work over multiple boards at the same time. For this to happen it needs our own bitstream so we can add some necessary support features.

We have been using Win7 and XP here.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 03:57:06 PM
Controller update zip has been updated to include instructions. Get it at http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/cairnsmore/cairnsmore1_support_materials.html.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 03:16:47 PM
is there a guide for the controller setup?

I'll put that back shortly updated. I took off the link to the Rev 1.1 version and forgot it had the only manual.


BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

spiccioli.

We are working on improving SPI programming. Our aim is to get rid of the VM and do something more native. There should be something for Linux as well. It's really just a matter of having the time to do these items currently. Moving the bitstream forward and dealing with CGminer/driver bugs is a higher priority at the moment but these other things will come behind those things.
member
Activity: 89
Merit: 10
July 12, 2012, 01:54:20 PM
i got 1 board not getting any shares, and i got 1 board that cgminer refuse to accept altought it is showing in the device manager, 2, out of 6..
donator
Activity: 919
Merit: 1000
July 12, 2012, 01:48:16 PM
BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

Which Windows version are you using? I found some old laptop with XP Professional on it and every time I plug a different CM1 it re-installs the FTDI drivers. Takes some minutes for each board to flash (need to accept non-signed drivers each time) - really annoying Sad
legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 01:35:59 PM
i did 6 boards, now the red light is blinking faster, that is, after i have done,, and changed the dip switched to the twin_test dips, is that normal?

yes

spiccioli

BTW, Yohan, a linux SPIProg would make flashing a few boards a lot faster, now I need to detach/attach usb cable from/to boards and windows laptop I use to flash them.

spiccioli.

legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 01:34:22 PM
i did 6 boards, now the red light is blinking faster, that is, after i have done,, and changed the dip switched to the twin_test dips, is that normal?

yes

spiccioli
member
Activity: 89
Merit: 10
July 12, 2012, 01:30:39 PM
i did 6 boards, now the red light is blinking faster, that is, after i have done,, and changed the dip switched to the twin_test dips, is that normal?
legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 01:07:43 PM
As part of our work on Rev 1.3 of the controller we found an unusual "feature" and is was related to a cheap USB hub we are using in one of system test setups. What we found was that this hub didn't turn power off properly when the host laptop released the port as it should. Indirectly this was causing a lockup of the array FPGAs. We have added an extra reset function to clock startup and this appears to solve the issue.

On our test setups we are now getting a good balance of hashing now on both FPGAs running the twin bitstream so I would recommend anyone with a controller on Rev 1.0/1.1 updates it to Rev 1.3.

Yohan,

I've flashed all my boards to 1.3, now I'm getting

Code:
 [2012-07-12 19:43:44] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000, should: 000187a2
 [2012-07-12 19:43:44] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB3: get 00000000, should: 000187a2


port numbers are nearly random, sometimes it's ttyUSB26/27, sometimes just a FPGA out of a couple like ttyUSB15 right now.  

ttyUSB2/3 fail nearly always.

Is the new revision requiring more power from the USB port?

I'm on two usb hubs, a 2.5A 7 port hub and a 2.5A 4 port hub from Belkin for my ten boards.

spiccioli


Can it be a timining issue? After a dozen restarts, ttyUSB2/3 are now OK (three restarts and no problem on them), but ttyUSB14 fails...

spiccioli

edit:  linux ubuntu 12.04 64 bit, cgminer 2.4.3 32 bit, twin_test.bit on all FPGAs (0/3) in permanent mode. This system has been hashing for more than 10 days without problems on controller 1.1 and last two days on 1.2.
legendary
Activity: 1379
Merit: 1003
nec sine labore
July 12, 2012, 12:49:05 PM
As part of our work on Rev 1.3 of the controller we found an unusual "feature" and is was related to a cheap USB hub we are using in one of system test setups. What we found was that this hub didn't turn power off properly when the host laptop released the port as it should. Indirectly this was causing a lockup of the array FPGAs. We have added an extra reset function to clock startup and this appears to solve the issue.

On our test setups we are now getting a good balance of hashing now on both FPGAs running the twin bitstream so I would recommend anyone with a controller on Rev 1.0/1.1 updates it to Rev 1.3.

Yohan,

I've flashed all my boards to 1.3, now I'm getting

Code:
 [2012-07-12 19:43:44] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB2: get 00000000, should: 000187a2
 [2012-07-12 19:43:44] Icarus Detect: Test failed at /dev/ttyUSB3: get 00000000, should: 000187a2


port numbers are nearly random, sometimes it's ttyUSB26/27, sometimes just a FPGA out of a couple like ttyUSB15 right now. 

ttyUSB2/3 fail nearly always.

Is the new revision requiring more power from the USB port?

I'm on two usb hubs, a 2.5A 7 port hub and a 2.5A 4 port hub from Belkin for my ten boards.

spiccioli
member
Activity: 89
Merit: 10
July 12, 2012, 11:34:08 AM
is there a guide for the controller setup?
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 10:54:10 AM
As part of our work on Rev 1.3 of the controller we found an unusual "feature" and is was related to a cheap USB hub we are using in one of system test setups. What we found was that this hub didn't turn power off properly when the host laptop released the port as it should. Indirectly this was causing a lockup of the array FPGAs. We have added an extra reset function to clock startup and this appears to solve the issue.

On our test setups we are now getting a good balance of hashing now on both FPGAs running the twin bitstream so I would recommend anyone with a controller on Rev 1.0/1.1 updates it to Rev 1.3.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 12, 2012, 08:34:40 AM
Rev 1.3 of the controller will be on the temporary support webpage http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/cairnsmore/cairnsmore1_support_materials.html shortly. It's should sort out the clock start up problem introducted in Rev 1.2.

Rev 1.3 also has a new thermal protection feature that senses if the fan is operating in the correct speed range. This feature will turn off the array power supplies if the fan does not show as being in the correct speed range. That covers fan failures, something blocking the fan rotation, or even an extreme voltage drop on the 12V supply.

If you use a different fan other than the standard F12 or don't use a fan connection in all boards i.e. in side blow configuration this may/will force the turn off the relevant board power supplies. However there is an override using SWITCH2 of the controller dip switches. This is not recommended to use unless you really have to. It is as much a safety feature as it is damage limitation feature for the boards.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 11, 2012, 09:20:47 AM
Yohan:

SWITCH1: what dip switch bank of the 6 we have is the one you mean?

It's the first bit of SW1.
sr. member
Activity: 397
Merit: 500
July 11, 2012, 09:19:31 AM
Yohan:

SWITCH1: what dip switch bank of the 6 we have is the one you mean?
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 251
July 11, 2012, 08:55:54 AM
We found one minor issue with Rev 1.2 controller and there is a circumstance were the clock outputs don't start after the board is powered. You can work around this in a temporary fashion by toggling SWITCH1 off then on of the Controller dip switches. This is a reset function and the clocks should start then and be ok until you turn the board off.

Rev 1.3 is being prepared to sort this properly and should be available later today or early tomorow.
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