Topic: New Official AMT Thread - page 149. (Read 149472 times)

At the moment, no. However, soon, possibly. Let me get settled-in first... I just got out of the hospital a few days ago.
(Had an infection knock me off my feet. Another week of antibiotics and pain-killers, and I should be 100% back on track.)

Okay,  so far we have evidence that the boards with the blue heat sinks work.

Does anyone here have a board with orange heat sinks that work?

I checked the boards,  no difference between the orange and blue,  just the heatsinks are different.

Confirmed here, my boards are Rev 3.0A.

Well, still waiting for my backplane to be able to test out the boards.

Got a heat-probe? (The bad chips will be cooler. However, it could be the sister-components causing failure or poor performance. That, or contact shorting from the heat-sink compound on poorly protected terminals and through-holes.)

Just for the record, testing is limited to a short burn-in period. Once cooled and settled-in, there is a chance that post-tested boards may later show signs of under-performance or apparent failure. That is not an excuse, just a real situation. Best to get an RMA, have a replacement sent, and the troublesome boards can be "reworked", or the post-test operation failures can be further diagnosed.

This is one reason why I do not recommend getting the "kit alternative", at the moment, unless you have the technical background to troubleshoot and test these things.

I am not going to suggest fixes beyond anyone's ability, which is why I was going to offer live support. To screen for those who, well, just don't have the understanding, ability or tools required for the more technical stuff. Those individuals would be directed to RMA the misbehaving boards, after a quick "test" that the non-technical individual could do, with guidance. (To ensure there is not just some other issue, like power or backplane issues.)

voltage possibly to one card lower than rest module one is the left most blade from the ribbon cable if using the amt interface. how many active cores has the 0g blade got?

my boards work and have blue heatsinks, my friend tims has copper heatsinks/orange and his dont. i also noticed on my boards on bottom right (fan side) it says Rev 3.0A so not sure if that has anything to do with it either

Interesting.  In lieu of a non-existent AMT technical support staff, can we send our bad boards to you for inspection?

Considering the high number of defective boards experience by customers and the negligence in packing the units,  it is highly likely that AMT did not test units prior to shipment or even worse was malicious and sent bad units knowing that these were not working.

The probability is very high right now that we will all be stuck with these non-working rigs.  Our only recourse to get a working rig is to ping Bitmine.ch for assistance and parts. 

Curious,  I've seen two kinds of boards,  one with orange heat sinks and another with blue heat sinks.

Which ones are bad and which ones are good?

I've got the two working boards up an running. I've been sick so after my PTSD class today I just came home and passed out. Didn't get a chance to call AMT.

I'll make that my job for Monday. Try to get in contact and get an RMA for the three non working boards.

I'll ask for that or a refund for 2/3 of the purchase price since I've only got 1/3 of the stated performance. I'd be happier to settle up with them the second way to be honest. That way I don't have to deal with thier bullshit anymore.

I'm just too worn to deal with it right now.

Heat guns can be found as cheap as $20, with spreading and focusing tips.

Here are some SMT tools and more info, if you are looking to expand your collection.
http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/Tools/

If you don't have a good heat-gun, with a temp-control and focusing-tip... There is an alternative way to rework or remove the components. (This is NOT an AMT recommended solution for anything. Use this information at your own risk, and voiding of any form of warranty.)

You can use a hot-plate and focus the heat with an aluminum or copper block. Use an old pot-holder as insulation, to focus the heat where you want it. You can also use a top-side fan, to ensure the stray heat does not loosen other components.
IRON as a hotplate. http://runawaybrainz.blogspot.com/2011/11/surface-mount-devices.html
SKILLET as a hotplate. https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/59
BURNER as a hotplate. http://jimlaurwilliams.org/wordpress/?p=2101

1: Cut a hole in the pot-holder, to fit the block of copper. (Just a tiny bit shy of the actual size, so it holds firmly to the block, as you push it through.)
2: Place the copper block and heat-shielded pot-holder on the hot-plate, and get it "up to temperature". (You can use another pot-holder to contain the heat, like a cover, until the temp is high enough to melt the low-temp SMT solder. I use a junk PCB, which I can just lay on the block. When it turns shiny, it is just about ready.)
3: Brace the board with cardboard, so it will stay as level as possible against the block of copper.
4: Use a piece of electric tape, looped so the sticky-side is outward, hung from a pencil or paper-clip.
5: Tap the tape-wand down onto the chip, while it is heating, to try and "grab" the chip, to lift it off the melted solder. (Do not hold the tape down, just tap it down and pull it up quickly, or it will melt the tape. If the chip is loose-enough, it will stick and lift up off the board. Otherwise it will remain, when you pull up the sticky "grabber".
6: Use copper desoldering braid, to clean-up the excess solder from the chip, (Do that fast, don't linger with that focused heat on the chip.)
7: Clean the tape-gunk with a fresh piece of tape... Tap and pull, tap and pull.
8: Then clean any heat-sink compound off the chip with alcohol.

NOTE: The epoxied heat-sink on the top of the chip should/may loosen with the focused heat. If not, then it would be safe to remain on the chip.

NOTE: This board may not be safe to rework in a reflow-oven. There may be secondary components that my melt, which were added after the reflow process. (Such as the cable connections. Which would have to be removed the old way, with copper braid and a standard temp-controlled solder-gun. Prior to reflow-work in an oven. Never use an oven you cook food in, as the boards will release toxins into the air, which will later contaminate food.) You can quickly remove all parts at once, in a reflow oven, with an insulated fiberglass catch-tray, suspending the board upside-down over it. All the parts will drop-off, except for a few smaller capacitors and resistors. A quick tap should liberate them from the boards.
http://www.freetronics.com/pages/surface-mount-soldering-with-a-toaster-oven#.U1I35PldVK0

Actually, yes, they are aware of a few issues related to the heat-sink compound reacting with some boards. (The issue is not consistent, which is why they are testing them prior to release.)

As for "Arctic Silver-5"... The "made with 99% pure silver" is misleading. It is not 99% pure silver, that would be foil. Of the 0.025% silver, that 0.01mg silver is 99% pure. Thus, "this paste is non-conductive". If it was 99% silver, it would be more conductive than copper. The 0.01mg of silver is in addition to the other compounds, which totals about 40mg.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/PDF/thermcom/AS5_MSDS_3.pdf

Also note, silver paste is corrosive to the aluminum. Any two metals placed against one another, is a "battery". That is why you don't mix copper and aluminum, or use dissimilar metals in direct contact with one another. (The statue of liberty was a copper shell, bound with iron ribs and rivets. The whole thing had to be rebuilt, because the dissimilar metals corroded 10x faster as the moisture in the air had essentially turned each connection into a mini-battery, which caused the structure to fail.)

"Bad boards", that is actually my job. I am sure I will see your board in the future.

I will be offering some technical advice in the future, as well as, (hopefully), some form of live support.

Odd. I got 1600W PSU. Ok least it gives me a starting point to address it. Thanks.

I had that 0 gh/s, however, it was because there wasn't enough power. I tried plugging in the


raspberry pi with my 1200W + 2 modules,

and 1500W = 3 modules on my + the fans.

Alright. I got the miner mostly up and running. Anyone run into the 0ghs issue? All the modules are showing seems like everything is good. (I cleaned all the excess gunk on the one board but other than pretty decent buildwise). How did you guys address the 0Ghs issue if you had that happen? I am working on it now but if I got an answer it would go quicker lol. I imagine its software at this point as the hardware is being read correctly.

The chips are soldered to the boards. If you have a hot air smt rework station and are good at it, yes they can be removed but not necessarily reused as the pads will need careful cleaning after.

I am going to try to clean that shit off see if it works i didnt think that would affect it

Anybody know a good way to remove the coincraft A1 chips from the board?

Maybe this stuff is worth at least the A1 chips on the board? 

Maybe we can get these guys in Virginia:  http://ntekcomputers.com/products/1ths-asic-bitcoin-miner-1000gh  to re-build our systems?

None existent technical support.

If AMT can't pay people to answer the phone,  then how can one expect that they pay people to answer the phone and take technical questions?

Standard practice for returns is to ask for an RMA or a return shipping label.  

Honestly,  AMT can't even handle their shipping correctly.   I doubt they can handle returns correctly.

Even worse,  where's the trouble ticketing system?   It's bad enough that they don't handle emails correctly,  but how they hell are they handling all these technical support questions?  

I doubt they understand the enormity of the work they have in front of them.  

If they close shop however without refunds,  then they are guilty of wire fraud and are going to serve jail time.  

For reference:


Honestly, better for AMT to send a refund rather than support a lifetime warranty and the MPP.

On immersion cooling with Novec fluids...
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/visit-of-asicminers-immersion-cooling-mining-facility-346134
http://www.enterprisetech.com/2013/11/24/3m-allied-control-cool-clusters-novec-bubble-bath/

Awesome...