Topic: Hacking KNC Titan / Jupiter / Neptune miners back to life. Why not? - page 26. (Read 76605 times)

How good is your fire insurance policy?

Seriously, 125c is the breakdown point of the capacitors on the power supplies. 150c is the cut through temp for the FETs (the source of the heat). Temps on the board are read under the inductor (yes hot but not as hot as the FETs but it's kind of a heat sink).

When the caps break down or the FETs short and you have a big big power supply you will get to see fire shoot out of your miner until the supply crowbars. It's actually kind of cool to watch.

Also keep in mind that heat means waste, and you want less heat for more efficient hashing. So I would say cut the voltage down to -.06whatever and cut the frequencies down to levels where you get 60-70c on the supplies.

C

Really enjoying your thread just wanted to see if you might be able to steer me toward a safe zone with regard to a neptune cube I've been running and do not totally trust.

http://imgur.com/a/bCITt



Are temperatures that high something i need to worry about?

I've never seen temperatures on any piece of gear run with these kinds of readings and forget about "stock" 475 mhz...That was crazy town
http://imgur.com/oKSeHuA



Would a an extra box fan be of any help?

Thanks for the time ;-)

I understand, but I will still keep the faith for that troubled one.

Thanks for repairing that last cube it honestly now runs even better than when it was new from KNC. 
He(the cube) has been reunited with his other bother and sister at last.

NOTE:

As with all my rants from work (hey they want me awake I have to do something) if you
don't like my long rants on here.... put me on /ignore....very peaceful like I've heard)


yeah as a denial factor on $$$ flowing into stuff that will be 'bricks' next year it keeps a guy sane (kinda)

boy would I run amuck if I won the lottery....would be like this guy walking thru crypto land

(at one time pleasant loved by all....after lottery EVIL to the horror of my previous beloved masses
much like this guy)




After the full EVIL turn .....probably hang out with Sam Cole at KNC ..go to swank Swedish Super Model parties.....and plan evil stuff....and have to practice my evil laugh 'bruahahahha" shave my head like Dr. Evil" damn that sounds like a lot of frigging work)

Then again crypto babe Swedish Super Models. *hubba hubba* I dump you guys in a 'heartbeat'




Still think you would KILL (at least starting this time frame) on getting a BBB to work running cubes. Such a feat with Gen Tarkin version would KILL imho. I mean being able to run a Titan anything with ANY KNC controller EVER MADE from 2013 on with a port with Gen Tarkin's software for the BBB black you guys would frigging KILL imho....rev that baby up

Look at all the folk getting Neptune cubes that don't ROI for fun with old KNC Mercury/Saturn/Jupiter/Neptune re-flashed controllers...in an "INSANE" moment last week I got 1 cube for 45 bucks with shipping for my 'extra' Jupiter board just to play with...LUCKILY I found someone who wanted such a toy also and swap'd it out to him with some other stuff (whew!)....I mean really the extra Jupiter board was worth likely 100 bucks so 150 bucks so I can play with ONE frigging Neptune Cube because I never got a Neptune!!!....and yet more heat in basement for summer

man I got to get a grip

Start an ASIC Home Miner Anon....or some such....its fun to to this but hard to keep in mind that EVENTUALLY IT IS FUTILE....the ASIC gods and difficulty always win

 
I mean with 10 cubes (1 with only 1 die working) do I really really need now 4 Titan controllers (with the extra Jupiter board and cube i swapped back ...yeah really now only 4 ) sheesh

Its like I'm an ASIC squirrel hoarding NUTS for winter (well actually I guess I am ..plan on being the last in the Midwest when the giant sucking sound of Titan equip flows to Texas (4c kwh) Oregon (3c kwh) and China (2c kwh) ..my summer rates 14c kwh ouch....and 10c kwh in OCT 2016...just got to make it to OCT baby.....I heated my house last winter with 3000 watts of Titans ...so the bet is with BTC  halving...and a pump I can string this 'addiction' out to end of next winter ..at the end swapping electricity/heat for coin equivalent..but then again that is what 'denial' if for .if not quite...but now 'doable'

But again would be a pretty good market imho for BBB fix to run 1 or 2 cubes for fun by a bunch of folk even if NO ROI ..just because of the toy factor and low cost of such a thing and the group out there that ALWAYS wanted a Titan but just could not swing such.

but anyway a lot of the talented folks on here (and OP) on this thread .well their  time is limited...don't listen to me I'm still in the clutches of 'home mining is dead" denial.....kicking and screaming into next year is my hope

(sad pitiful Searing....in 2013 as a newbie  drinking the kool aid from BFL and thus the addiction started)

as with all my posts consider the 'source' and take anything I say with a grain of salt.

But I really think a BBB would kill today if released...and a lot of these titans as they got closer to being 'bricks' would be 'parted out' easily for fun and profit..would be a hell of an option then trying to sell the whole works and probably a heck of a lot easier

anyway my view for what it is worth

That is a problem by the way: When the cost of fixing these units is not worth the value of the units you can't fix them anymore. We're reaching that point with the controllers, while I charge .3btc (about $120) keep in mind the two chips are $70 with shipping, the cost to ship a board in the US is $10, leaving about $50 bucks to spend an hour pulling the FPGA and TPS (without wrecking the board), clearing the solder, re-tinning the FQDN pads, fluxing and placing the several hundred BGA pin FPGA where being off by a MM=solder bridges and wasted chip, and reflowing the chips. Not to mention testing at each stage. About 2 hours of work, sometimes 3.

High precision work isn't done for $16 an hour, I can get that flipping burgers. But it's good for the community and got some miners going so there you are. At this point though now that we can run Titans on all those Jupiter/Neptune boards is it worth it?

Big problem with fixing stuff: By the time you get good at it the equipment is worthless. The exception seems to be Titans, a repair can turn a $0 pile of burned junk into a $700 cube. What's that worth?

re Searing:
"But to further go into the hole on this TOY. (when in doubt and tossing money in a hole best to keep the toy/amusement factor in mind)"

Absolutely love that line of thought. Hope ya don't mind if I steal that line from time to time

That's a bitch on wheels of a problem :-) So far though the only way into the chip is either with a crowbar or a blowtorch.

Are you giving up  lightfoot? 

There probably is, the Neptune firmware is a bit more annoying to crack given the lack of dev tools on the default BB. No, not working on the BB Titan code right now, other things are in front of it. How much do people want/need it?

As for restarting Neptunes, check through this whole thread, I have posted everything I know here. Right now Neptunes are not worth fixing, and oddly enough the amount I have been charging for controller boards outside of the Titans is getting to equal the value of the repaired board. So that's going away.

Can still fix Titans, but some of the issues, especially the ones where the Titan shorts the controller are out of reach. Vegas, do you have a stencil to reball a Titan die? The big problem with them is related to the 1.2 volt lines to the die controller shorting out, if you can remove those pads or cut the traces under the board you would win big time.

Last I heard that was for Neptunes. I never heard of any overclocking for Titans beyond 325 mh that worked. (could be wrong just saying)



edit:

Speaking of Neptune's.....I got a $44.95 fully working Neptune Cube off Ebay. (Mainly for the much longer ribbon cable and y adapter....Saturn ribbon cables on the card
I have are like 3" lol ...what I will use for this 1 cube hack for fun)

But to further go into the hole on this TOY. (when in doubt and tossing money in a hole best to keep the toy/amusement factor in mind)

I tripped over this link. Is this firmware legit...as a 3rd party FIRMWARE for the Neptune? Anyone use this for the heck of it?

(or I put it up and it mines to him or something?)

Should be in English according to the screen shots. Guess I should frigging ask.

Anyway for what it is worth for any Neptune folk out there here is the link.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/KNC-Neptune-custom-Firmware-Zwilla-mod-1-x-Lizenz-Paket-/322040467112?hash=item4afb1b8ea8:g:Q1sAAOSwZVhWRFX7#shpCntId

Stuff to do..stuff to do

What is the MH gain with 350 MHz? At 325 good cubes produce about 90 MH.

 Yes. Ask from  padrino . (But it's not free)

The sub panel was easy. There are youtube videos all over the place....I had a 100 amp service so put in a 50 amp double throw breaker....the leads from that went into the sub panel and viola 8 more slots.


KNC says LOTS of things that could not be done...and Gen Tarkin and Lightfoot have already probably gone through and disproved about 95% of it

Titans also were ONLY MEANT to last somewhere past 90 days (original warranty no refunds) but KNC forgot to change the web page stating stuff from the Neptunes. So thus

they eventually buckled and said it was a year. But you can tell by the design of these Titans and the fact they were originally only 250mh ..then late so they OC'd to 300mh

then 0C'd again to 350mh....thus the dual Y PSU adapters etc......(ie the voltage plugs are at or past their limits) but again ..until they screwed up their 90 day plan

wtf...burn them up / OC the heck out of them...at least it somewhat 'burnt them' with the RMA issues etc



hmmmm....wonder how the old KNC class action is coming and if those 100 guys involved (at 1500 a pop and damages if they lose to knc) are fairing in KNC Mordor land?

That is awesome!  You did this yourself? 



Sounds like it would be a good idea to have some of these spare boards around...  This entire board cluster is pretty fragile.  My short opportunity handling the Titan controller was enough to to make me question Knc's mindset.  I mean seriously why would you sell these rigs with controllers that bare pcb boards like this.   

This is great you were able to piece together something Knc said couldn't be done!  Very cool!

Ive got 4  Neptune cubes that won´t start. I run the standard -0.0366 and I have tested with different MHz.
Opened them up and cleaned them out of dust and changed the heatsink-paste.
One of them seem to have those brown rings under the asic-chip. Not completely burned, just a hint of brown.
Is there anything to do to make them work?

Better late then never. I got around finally to putting in an electrical sub panel for my 100 amp service (you know you drank the kool aid when you put in an 8 slot sub panel

on only a 100 amp service that already HAD 32 slots..sheesh) Talk about frigging overkill!



anyone needs this done ..it is easy ...100 amp service ...sub panel to 50 amp breaker on main service...directions on YouTube easy peazy



Anyway got enough to know run that 220v line across the basement and FINALLY got around to testing Qberty's clone Titan Bridge.

Anyway .....take Neptune 6 port card...remove (carefully..wiggle slowly .may take 5 min) the beagle bone black ....put the model Raspberry PI 512mn B+ into the

clone bridge.....and again very carefully work the combo PI/bridge into the 6 port Neptune card. By the By left the LCD in works just like the Titan one then I

tossed up KNC IMG on a Sandisk 8gb Class 10 and VIOLA my creation WORKS!




I then tossed up my 1 cube with only 1 working die (as a potential sacrifice to the ASIC gods ..ie boom) but all was well came right up ...I dared to dream

and put the 1 die at 325 adv setting and -0.0366 .......brave I was ....over clocking this 1 working die and all Will put the tarky titan software on (3rd license)

when I get time....but anyway chugging along nicely




Still think a guy could just get a Raspberry Pi protoboard for like 25 bucks and just wire this up by hand and copy the PI to daughter board pin outs...BUT there is a small
chip on the daughterboard ...someone said it was a clock chip...but again....if someone knew electronics and could find the equiv clock chip (not so small hopefully) and just
show what leads this would be soldered to.....it would be a 50 buck hack  me thinks.

Qberty's clone bridge is the best option ..but can't see the numbers to get it lower then 0.5 BTC or about 210 bucks. In that there is I think a buy it now on ebay for
at Titan Board for 250 or so ...well these titans are not getting any younger....2 bad i have a Saturn 4 port and Jupiter 4 port sitting about here as well


unless the mythical BBB to Titan cube project comes to pass (knock wood) such sacrilege in knc's view thou shall not 'suggest' such (again told this was impossible
by knc techs...also told it was impossible to just snap in the 4 and 6 port fixes).......wish I could find that frigging email ...someone had a broke controller he had to send
it back rather then just use his Jupiter board...i miss knc forums ...lots of knc FUD Lies etc .but some other good tech info lost imho


anyway KNC being cheap ass no need to re-design such for Titans ...gives me a 3rd controller on the cheap ...so what the hell..now I can move and dork with 1 cube at a time w/o the whole shebang having to go up/down for testing a cube say..heh well gen tarkin's 3rd license is now gonna be used!

my complete setup

lostgonzo.imgur.com


Also STILL looking for KNC Y Adapters NEW. If you have any laying about from when KNC sent them to you 3 months late and never used them. PM me what you need for 1 or more.





(The ONLY thing I ever got from KNC at no cost by the by)

 
Damn..again with the "Quest for Cubes" adventure to make it look less...well lame with only 1 cube

As always you don't like my rants feel free to plop me on /ignore on here...I don't mind





edit: FML the 1 die working cube has been up on its lonesome on the titan/jupiter hack for  6.6 hours and found a frigging Block..unfortunately I'm on www.litecoinpool.org

(the ASIC gods always mucking with me)

Sure, what seems to be the problems with them? Any of them short out the power supply when plugged in?

I'm in the US, not too difficult to ship where are you and can you do stuff like take the cubes apart to just send the boards?

Hey Lightfoot!

Just cranked up the board that you repaired. It is working great. I have now implemented a voltage check on the cable before connecting in just to make sure wiring is correct. All is good thanks again...
 

Hi i have a pile of titans i need fixing 4 or 5 would like to post 1 to start to you how to go about it please which country are you in sorry haven't read the whole thread but if you could help might as well get this pile of shit back working if you can 
Thanks P

Disappeared DCDC on advanced page
I have noticed, a DCDC converter is not listed on the advanced web page if the DCDC PMbus of the missing device does not answer.
/home/pi/knc-asic/waas/waas -g all-asic-info
reports

In that case a power cycle is required to get the DCDC working again.
This may be a reason for a hanging DCDC:
On specification page 5:
Each DCDC converter shall be connected to
Operating instructions are on Page 41:

The ceramic capacitors are on the board, near to each DCDC converter as recommended. But instead of having a capacitor for each DCDC converter, they have inserted a single capacitor with higher capacity for all DCDC together.
But the way from the capacitor to the DCDC converter creates additional inductance.
While the capacitor is getting older, the stable frequency is changing.
That may be a reason for these islands of stability on Titans for some frequency ranges.

The Ericson DCDC specification is available for download at
http://archive.ericsson.net/service/internet/picov/get?DocNo=28701-EN/LZT146435&Lang=EN&HighestFree=Y