Topic: KNC NEPTUNE controlling board doesn't see the cubes (Read 3943 times)

after you get the working boards up there has to be an electronics guy in your area....walk the board or boards that are broke by him...maybe you'd get lucky
depends on his price for looking..not like you can make them NOT work any less

Thanks , I will need that luck))

I already bought one Neptune controlling board on eBay for a 100 usd, and also going in for one from Jupiter soon. Hope they will arrive soon and will be fully functional.

Best advice for us all knc owners is to have an extra board, just in case;)

And you are right - the pins on the knc board part are really funky..they really soft

After I give up on trying on mine two not working boards will be selling them to some enthusiasts))

well at least with a neppie you can just buy a board from a used jupiter/saturn/mercury or other neptune and get the beast up

I have a titan my board goes I'm soooooooo screwed.......

only thing that comes to mind is 're-seat' the bbb in the bad board really check the connections etc ...same for the power lead from the psu to the board
only thing left that comes to mind...perhaps the pins that the bbb push into are funky?

well anyway i see some more jupiter boards on ebay you can grap...i'd just do that and sell the broke one on ebay ..hell you'd prob get 1/2 price from some
electronics guy who thinks he can fix it or wants to try for the challenge

good luck

You hell right with those shady parts from KnC.
The issue is not with bbb board, it is the KnC part of the controller.
All controlling boards of my sets are without LCD screens, I just tried once to plug a cube on that connector(after the board was already not operating).
Also was looking at the board with magnifying glass and didn't find anything suspicious, the boards look like new))
Anyway I will be buying them soon, and definitely will buy myself an extra spare one, just in case to have it;)

not sure I follow ..but do you mean the bbb black is the problem? You can replace that...if by above you mean the other pcb controller works with your bbb on the unit
that is trouble and not vice versa yeah ....it is the knc pcb

get a magnifying glass look at power leads on the knc pcb board where it connects..and any other trace you can see ....look for a break (hairline) if so you maybe could
re-flow the solder to cover such a break ...stuff like that...some folk will have better ideas to check

try the whole works with the LCD screen pulled out and unused on a port at one time I heard of one guy that said that worked .but not sure if it was just because it
was no longer in or he used that port also (hard to remember on old knc forums)

i also had problems with 1 psu vs another psu on the 2 cubes per titan..try a different power lead from the controller board to the other psu see if that helps also (long shot)

again all that comes to mind...others on here have more electronics expertise now that it is down to the board only (i assume you can or have tested the cubes on the other working
controller and it all works) at least maybe some others with electronics skills can help you look for obvious other things you may be able to tweak/check/fix

(or you have extra working titan cubes you can sell them to me) (by the way have nerd stuff i could swap too...i'm such a geek)

anyway all that comes to mind ...but i'd empty the LCD screen slot .it will work just fine without it in ...and you could get lucky....

(stuff is soooo flaky and confusing in knc universe)

Spent some extra time experimenting with the boards, as was advised by more experienced users.
Turned out that the BBB part from a not working controlling board (upper smaller), works just fine with the knc pcb(bigger lower) from another, working good controlling board.

So it's definitely sure now - the issue is with the knc pcb part of the controller.

And there is no other way but to start a WTB thread for a knc controlling board.

If anyone will hear about someone selling that controlling board hit me plz)

Don't install GenTarkin's firmware, it is for Titan only.

You are correct, the programming procedure is very different between Neptune and Titan.

If you have tried connecting only 1 cube at a time, trying each port on the green controller board, then that board is dead and needs repaired or replaced. KnC has told plenty of people to waste their time on other things, but as soon as they replaced the controller...viola!

It's always the same story too. Your miner was working fine, then all the sudden your cubes disappear. If you rule out a faulty cube, then it's the green controller board.

Edit: I just noticed that you have a cube plugged into that left side header. Did that actually work before? As far as I know, you should only be using the top headers.

Yep I've tried that. As their FW is based on ver 2.0 original firmware it is also not working on my system..

Many thanks for good ideas! I tried all your advices and will continue to experiment, since the board works on lan ok and reads the microSD.

The connectors on the cubes are white as snow and there is no difference in work with the Y adapters.
Even the PSU I have now here, works fine, in few days I will have another PSU to experiment with.

After holding the hard reset button for 5 sec the controlling board turns off. When press it again it turns on.

I will try to instal different versions from KNC and also contact GenTarkin for his version maybe it will work.

About SDimage : I didnt make the SD image bcs knc support also sent me a instruction how to renew soft and it was as described on the knc web, so I assume that controlling board programming is different on Neptune and Titan.

Its feels like the solution is somewhere near )) just need to do the right combination on moves))
Also waiting a knc support answer..to be continued..

You may have already done this ...PM this guy glen tarken see if his firmware mods work...if nothing else they have some more bells and whistles to set stuff at

https://bitcointalksearch.org/user/gentarkin-34888

anyway his stuff is legit..I got some..have not installed it yet..but others on the above thread say it has helped

you can also yank the LCD and use that port I"m running 6 cubes on a Titan controller ...may help get you around the problem maybe?

My problem is that when I'm on latest 2.0 firmware my Pi does not see any CUBEs, but version 1.02 work and see..
After hours of tests I have discovered that my Controller board has some I2C problem with one of the ports. So if some cube is connected there (even without power) the system works pretty good BUT only on versions lower than 2.0!!! Now thinking how to make dummy connector to imitate the cube and use the fifth one

I'm pretty sure there is no way to use anything but a titan board with a raspberry pi .....the boards are different.....so beyond getting a titan
board or somehow 'breadboarding' or 'fixing your own"

titan owners don't have an option of finding a jupiter/mercury/saturn card and bootstrapping it up to network firmware if you have a NEPTUNE

the only hardware option I heard of that works (from a knc tech) for Titans is you can swap put in a diffrerent Raspberry PI B+ 512mb on the off
chance that is what is wrong...and/or re-seat the pi to the daughter board

some folk also took a magnifying glass and saw stress points on solder connection of the power plug to the controller board and a touch up of solder fixed that connection
just saying long odds but still

Not sure about neptune img stuff but on titan image stuff you have to do it with a seperate img file maker

see quote

Titan SD recovery method.

Download the Titan SD recovery .img file https://github.com/KnCMiner/titan/releases/download/v2.00/titan-2.00.img (This file is only to be used to recover a corrupted SD image, instructions on how to use this file are below)

1. Turn off the miner and remove the Micro SD card from the Raspberry Pi. Place the SD card in to your SD card reader

2. Write the .img file to the SD card (instructions below)

•Follow this link if you are using Windows for instructions on how to write the image to the SD Card http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/windows.md
•Follow this link if you are using MAC for instructions on how to write the image to the SD card: http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/mac.md
•Follow this link if you are using Linux for instructions on how to write the image to the SD card: http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/linux.md

3. Insert the newly imaged SD card back into your Raspberry Pi and turn on the mine


this is on the knc support page for titans beow

http://www.kncminer.com/support/titan-setup-and-firmware



but on the NEPUNE page it just says this

Download the following file: http://www.kncminer.com/downloads/support/neptune/SD_Neptune_rc6.zip  zip and follow the instructions below.

 1) Copy the ZIP file to an SD card and unzip the content of the archive on to the micro SD card formatted with FAT file system.'''



anyway just thought it was odd the support stuff was moved to this new web site perhaps they missed a step or two

or perhaps you could try to img the file onto the SD card in the Titan manner


ALSO NOTE:

some folk also took a magnifying glass and saw stress points on solder connection of the power plug to the controller board and a touch up of solder fixed that connection
just saying long odds but still



anyway all I have for now

(this is like trying to nail jello ...very frustrating)


Additional

how does the HARD reset button work on this? perhaps try that and do the adv page update with backup file ...CLEAR web page and bring back up also
to check adv settings etc

I"d try a different PSU on just say 1 cube see what happens (borrow/beg one) if it don't work at all take it back to store say it was wrong size

(prob need 850 plus just to test)

the only other thing is if you can find a BEAGLE BONE of the same type you could try and swap it out


anyway ...again the above diff in how to flash an SD instructions on the knc site is my main concern.........above...but likely I don't know what I'm talking about

I'd also try bringing up 1 cube at a time and switch them out if it don't work just to see...if it works with 1 cube it should work with all and if it is a PSU issue
you may get lucky and 1 cube works and you add more it don't may be psu

also don't use the LCD port anymore no reason to tempt fate imho

also did you check i assume the power connectors on the cubes are not dorked or brown'd out  the ribbon cables are in the right direction on the cubes (on titans it is red stripe
to the rear) and you ARE using the Y cables?

anyway my best guess is try a different PSU and/or an alternate way if possible to get an img on the SD card and hell you may as well do the hard reset button too boot
clean out GUI to make sure that is not just what is hanging and/or it is working after power reboot if it dont' work

you have prob done all the above just tossing stuff out and seeing what sticks...so far not much

anyway all that comes to mind (prob not worth much)







 

I have some issues with my titan board, that look same as yours. We can make some tests. If you would like to discuss it in PM in Russian (will be faster I think)

Looks like your tester leads are backwards there, hehe. I didn't even know that they could run off of just the 5V! Learn something new every day, lol. I guess they only use the 12V for the controller's fan headers then?

Glad my firmware page was helpful for you. The RC (Release Candidate) firmware versions are the very first firmware versions that the Neptune shipped with. RC6 is what the first Neptune miners shipped with. So RC8 and 9 are newer than RC6, but all of them are older than version 1.00.

You have been successfully re-flashing the BeagleBone, so it sounds like the controller board has died and you will need to find another one. That was a common issue that came up on the KnC forum. You can try re-seating the BeagleBone on the controller board, sometimes that fixes the problem.

I'm not sure on the Titan controller boards, but knowing KnC, they are probably the exact same controller boards as the Neptune, just with a Raspberry Pi slapped on instead of a BeagleBone. From the pictures I've seen, it looks like the exact same 2013 controller board. If you can confirm that with someone, then you could also buy a Titan Controller and just swap the Pi with your BeagleBone. But yeah, like Searing said, you can always use Controllers from Mercury/Saturn/Jupiter miners too and just re-flash them.

Would be nice if someone could repair those controller boards though. At they rate they die, I bet it's eventually going to be hard to find a working one for sale. I'm actually still running my old Mercury, lol. It's been going 24/7 (minus power/internet outages) since I got it in October 2013. I want to see how long it lasts before dying.

Checked with voltmeter the power supply of the controlling board and it really in the needed measures - 5V:

I connect to lan via ethernet cable and I can operate all functions of the board.
It responses very fast with renewed recovery soft.


Yesterday bought new Kingston Micro SD class 10

format it in FAT (tried 16 and 32 bit) and each time when plugged after update, it started from the page where you need to fill the new password and login. So I assume that the soft renewal process went ok.

Although the LED light sequence wast as described in the KNC site instruction:

"A bright white light will flash inside the miner once, then a blue light will come on for around 30 seconds. Once the MMC has been programmed a green light will flash constantly. It means that the procedure completed."

I had blue lights flashing all the time and the bright LED was blinking for about 5 minutes from time to time (maybe 20-30 times).


My set is powered by a new reliable server PSU (dell-2360W)

so there should be more then enough power for the 5 cubes, but I experimented with one cube also. Finished with them all powered and changing places wires from cubes connected to the board.

I have some thoughts concerning powering of the controlling board.
On the same PSU there is a lowering chip adapter from 12V to 2 pics of molex (made for powering 2 controlling boards).

Lowering chip should supply the boards with 1.5 A at 5 volts as it is required by the manufacturer. The parameters of the mini DC-DC lowering chip:

XM1584 DC-DC LM2596
Chip: XM1584
In: 4.5V~28V
Out: 5V
Out (max): 3.0A
Freq, Mhz: 1 - 1.5
Working temp: -45° +85°
Efficiency: up to 96%
Size: 22x17x4 mm
Weight: 3g


Maybe the right thing would be to measure the outgoing voltages but don't have the voltmeter on the hand now.

But want to add that mentioned above PSU was powering this KNC neptune set (5 cubes + CB) for 2 week and it was hashing without issues, and before, this very PSU powered 6 cubes+2 CB's without issues.


Sandisk maybe better then Kingston, and I will go for this option again with another micro SD.
I still would like the update of CB happen with LED light sequence as described in manufacturers instructions.


No I dont use them permanently but I Tried with, no result. the connectors from PSU are ok.


Quite interesting idea)) I have the version of CB without the LCD but I found the needed port

connected one cube to it, restarted the CB few times in different ways it didnt appear anywhere)


Soft reboot and reboot to factory settings were my solution with the two boards I have on remote control, and it helped to one of them, another one also "lost" the cubes, but I currently cant access it physically.




So ATM 1 set not operating to which I have access now, and 1 set on remote control not operating.
Other sets I have work ok.


I contacted KNC support and waiting their answer now for possible reasons why CB doesn't see the cubes, or why they can disappear and then appear back after soft reset.


I have only Neppys, but Really good ideas from you buddy!
Will keep on experimenting and update when there is something new.
All this case is quite wired...or i should say weird)

Finally if everything will not succeed will look for those PCB's on the market...

dumb question




but my unit is connected via lan line is yours ? try  a direct connection to your hub if possible if not

you used the img tools etc to make an image for the SD card also correct

so if the above is not an issue I'm kinda at a loss

only other thing to try is to switch the psu that controls the controller board for power
and try bringing up only one cube at a time see how that goes

also I'd re-do the img on a diff sc card too boot I use Sandisk Class 10 8gb I had one did not work img to another and it worked tossed the supposed new one that did not work

hmmmm....what else

you of course use the power Y adapters? you may want to check for connection of browning on that

and as stated before try a diff PSU with a cube (only 1) and use different ports ..you can pop the LCD screen and use that port as well for the heck of it

running out of ideas here

hmmmmm


all I have off the top of my head besides just putting all your adv settings back to default 300 settings and maybe re-do the pool stuff (and or try a diff pool)
assuming anything on the controller lights up

anyway just kibitzing here all I know

was a guy on here newbie who SAID he sent his Titan controller in ...don't know what he paid or if /when he got it back was not long ago you may want to contact him
on what he tried or was told to try assuming he did contact knc (big if)

sorry if some of the stuff above is obvious repeats of stuff tried but i'm at a loss (and have a titan)



Get a NEW SD card and RE-FLASH THE software

I have a Titan myself...unsure if Neptunes use the mini-SD cards or not but I use Sandisk brand 8gb Class 10 (you want class 10 imho)

see if that does the trip a power surge can muck up the SD happened on my Titan ..I also always have a spare on hand for a quick swap out for this reason
etc

er almost forgot IMPORTANT

IF YOU HAVE A JUPITER/SATURN/MERCURY OR WHATEVER controller card from a previous jupiter 550gh or whatever you can REFLASH that board to work
with a NEPTUNE

me with a titan i don't have that option it uses a PI ..saw one go for 86 bucks on ebay just a few days ago

so at least you may have that work around if you have access to stuff

and other then above....the hard reset button trick and just start over with all and a newer SD image trial again

anyway again all that comes to mind


all that comes to mind now let us know how it works

Thanks for your advices Searing, I am sure must be a solution to my problem..
Bought today a new micro sd class 10 and renewed the soft on the board..
It didn't went exactly with the led "blinking" as it was written on instructions on the knc site, I can see that the lookout of the controlling board interface changed..


But unfortunately there is no result after this renewal.
The board doesn’t see the cubes
everything connected as it should be, reseted, restarted, and so on but no use until now...

this is the only way i upgrade my titan reimage to a new sd card then put the old one away as a catastrophic backup at what 7 bucks an SD it is a good way to do so

again also have an img spare on another SD card as a pop in spare if it ever flakes again

have 2 titans have had this happen on each of them ONCE and the fix works ...again always use class 10 always have a spare ready with your latest firmware for a guick swap

i just don't like adv update for this kinda thing it seems to not work once every 4x or so ..just saying