Topic: New Official AMT Thread - page 97. (Read 149453 times)

Now the million dollar question is how to bring the "dead" boards to life....Having 6 boards that are totally dead (one board preventing the system from even powering on). Any thoughts? Thanks again for all your help and contributions.

I am currently working on a modified linux version using the latest cgminer and pidora as the base with screen (as the web interface for me has no use others thought it might be better) As I use other tools to monitor my mining hardware I prefer to have all the needed pieces to set up agents for real datacenter management and monitoring. I hope to have a beta sometime this weekend. I will post it if anyone is interested. It should work on most hardware (I am compiling cgminer support into all the various chips out there using 4.3.3).

Oh and I got my Antminer S2 Batch 4 yesterday....Minor shipping issues with the cards being unseated partially, but overall came in great shape. I seated them all back in to the slot set up the networking on it and was mining away happily. It was overall a pleasant experience. It took me all of 20 minutes to get all setup after I reseated the cards. That was a good experience.

Yes, with the Ras-Pi...

I will assume, due to the issue, that it is a generic issue with the Ras-Pi.

Might need the re-initialization process altered to restore a previous session (IP), which seems to cause the hang-up.

In any event, it seems that the PSU is not setup to be turned on/off through the daughter-board. (No watchdog monitor?) Just takes a high/low signal to tell the PSU to go into "Sleep/Hybernate" or "Off/On" or "Reset mode". I forget the pinouts and the actual command, but it should be addressable in the hardware/software. If not, a jumper connection to change power-states of the PSU might be in order. (Has to do with the pin you jumper, and the "Ready" pin.)

P.S. Have three modules running now. Reaching the limit of my feeble 1020watt PSU. Have room to spare, for the spikes...

Operating 1 card with 2 fans and a 70c target temp... (256 share diff)
218GHs 308w (1c)&(2f)&(70t) * Peak
203GHs 253w (1c)&(2f)&(70t) * Settled-in
198GHs 244w (1c)&(2f)&(70t)
180GHs 223w (1c)&(2f)&(70t)
175GHs 220w (1c)&(2f)&(70t)
106GHs 210w (1c)&(2f)&(70t)
76GHs 167w (1c)&(2f)&(70t) * Oddity, prewarm stage. (Settled down here for a few minutes, before going back to 203GHs)

Operating 3 cards with 6 fans and a 50c target temp... (512 share diff)
555GHs 770w (3c)&(6f)&(50t) * Peak
545GHs 760w (3c)&(6f)&(50t)
535GHs 730w (3c)&(6f)&(50t) * Settled-in
525GHs 731w (3c)&(6f)&(50t) * Settled-in
515GHs 725w (3c)&(6f)&(50t)
500GHs 721w (3c)&(6f)&(50t)

Operating 3 cards with 6 fans and a 60c target temp... (512 share diff)
585GHs 835w (3c)&(6f)&(60t) * Peak
575GHs 806w (3c)&(6f)&(60t)
565GHs 802w (3c)&(6f)&(60t) * Settled-in
555GHs 770w (3c)&(6f)&(60t) * Settled-in
545GHs 760w (3c)&(6f)&(60t)
535GHs 730w (3c)&(6f)&(60t)

Conclusion... With my setup... "At the wall"... for 120v/110v PSU operation.
Each card pulls between 200-250w (Leaning to 250w when settled.) * 5 = 1250w (* 6 = 1500w)
Fans pull about 10w each, 90w with all 8 fans, + 1 if you have the big one running too.
Total wattage 5x = 1340w at the wall (1400w PSU ideal.)
Total wattage 6x = 1590w at the wall (1500w PSU adequate, but borderline.)

Running 6x cards, it would help to use the 120v/110v fans, which would spare you 90w of headroom in the PSU.

Running two units of 3x cards, you can easily supply all power with a single 900w-1000w PSU. (850w may not have enough 12v rail power for peaks.)

So-far, the large heat-sinks seem to be overkill, and the mini-heat-sinks on the chips, seem to be too small to capture enough air-movement for cooling. They get blisteringly hot to the touch, and max-out on my thermal imager. Working on an after-market solution to appease my comfort-level for those under-sized units. (There is too much resistance through those fins, causing the air to just blow right around them. Short-term fix is to use a ducted system to deliver direct air evenly through each individual heatsink. Ultimately, I will slice-up some nice wide heat-sinks to replace the miniature blocks.)

I have completely wrapped the cards in a full shroud. All air is currently being ducted evenly through the cards. There is no loss of pressure through the sides or venting out the structure. Essentially, it is wrapped in a cardboard blanket. xD Looks ugly, but that will be replaced with plexiglass, and the whole unit flipped up, so the smaller heat-sinks have no chance to fall-off. While also being fastened down with a tension-bar, for better pressure contact. I am not a fan of casual contact on hot surfaces.

Otherwise, it is running great. Persistent operation and hash-rate. Just under what was expected, due to my 60c target temperature. Playing it safe until I have my wishlist complete.

This is with RPi i think ?
@ least this way it was when i look over bitmine.ch design.
The problem with Rpi is that it shares common break pint in the CPU between USB and Ethernet
actually the Ethernet is emulated over usb port of the Pi.
That is the main reason we are working since the beginning with support for TP link routers.
Our way have it's downside too, lack of memory for fancy graphics and stuff

Ok, side note...

When solo-mining... if the CPU shows as 100% and the logs show "getworks"... then you ARE hashing away. However, since there are no "shares to submit", the program has nothing to calculate hash-rate with. Well, it does, but the program is not setup to display "work hash rate".

Looks like this, when solomining...
Go to the (LOGS) then (CGMINER) on the miners monitor page.

Sooo... If you solomine to your won wallet, it will show 0.0GHs for the speed. You just have to use the logs to see that it is actually hashing-away.

Still looking for a way to reboot and power-off, without having to flip the switch on my PSU.

Need help... Running into an annoying issue...

I have just a single test-module running...

However, the "Power" and "Reset" switches are not hooked-up to anything. Thus, I have to keep turning the PSU power on and off. This results in a hit-or-miss on the booting process. It likes to hang on the "Monitor" stage, after boot. Other-times, it just runs normally and connects, booting with the IP display.

Seems to hang on the IP portion... keeps getting reassigned a new IP each time. Doesn't like to keep using the old one over and over.

I assume the unit can be turned on and off, and actually reset, with the buttons. No?

Power-cycling the PSU like this is not healthy for continual use. It surges the hell out of the connected devices and the PSU itself.

So... Anyone have a photo of where the power and/or reset buttons should be plugged-in?

There are four unoccupied connections, 2x 4-pin (?power/reset?) and 2x 3-pin (Fans?). (On the daughter-board, attached to the Ras-Pi.)

P.S. This one board, runs cool at 218-220GHs... Started initially on AMT's test-pool. xD

P.P.S. NOTE TO AMT... Indicate the correct way to connect the backplane, on the backplane. (Realized I forgot to take note of that, prior to taking it apart. It fits both ways... One way is wrong. xD The correct way is with the ribbon-cable-link hanging over the heat-sink side, not the PCB side. Not sure what might have happened if I had it the wrong way, and powered it up. Also note, the floppy-power connection on the backplane has pins that stick-out dangerously close to the heat-sink. Should grind those down and place nylon protective tape over them.)

I know AMT has pissed alot of people off, but posting his cell is pretty poor form. Also opens you up to him suing you for cyberbullying and all that stuff. Just sayin. Better to not open a nasty door into this. I am sure there are some people with his cell number, but it also does not hurt to at least maintain SOME bit of civility. You only damage everyone's chances at getting anything by doing this. Not like his number was publicly listed for everyone to see somewhere else. How did you get it in the first place? Did you get his permission to post it? Just consider the consequences to yourself with that action.

Me too, though my SP10 is in the air and should be here Wednesday.  Still wish I had the 12K from AMT to buy more SPs.

Most excellent!
Query: As we know the chipsinks aren't held on the greatest so... If the case is vertical I take it the boards horizontal. Are they at least chip side up so gravity doesn't do its thing trying to slide them off?

Would like to also know if the Vcore FET chips are thermally bonded to the heatsinks. That is the one flaw I see with my Ants, they decided not to at all for some reason so the FET's are the hottest thing on the boards @ 82C. The thermal via pads are there, just not linked to the sinks. Gonna fix that.

I still think that at these power levels liquid is the way to go. Perhaps little aluminum heat xfr plates made from pieces sawed off of a single side heatsink clamped (squeezed) onto 1/4" copper tube? For the main sinks, see what size tubing can be forced between the fins. Preferably to the root.

I use Koolance.com for most of my pump, tank & radiator needs for our lasers. Also have great drip-less quick connect fittings. Luere fittings from McMaster are a bit cheaper but not as pretty...

On the thermal retention of the heatsinks, perhaps hack a minute or so of fans running for cool down when the blades are off? Kinda a reverse warm up for vacuum tubes  What is the 12v keep-alive current rating on the psu? Bet it's enough for fans... And assuming you use the ATX jumper to switch power vs the main switch on the psu of course.

Not at that point yet... It arrived as I was headed to work... Only had a few minutes to see what I had delivered, and dissect it.

I am home now.

I will be testing each board individually, prior to grouping them all into a complete unit.

The backplane is the older backplane, not the one which can be "snapped" into smaller segments.

Step #1 for me is this...
- Visual inspection, to check for any obvious issues. (So far, I have seen nothing abnormal. All boards look great.)
- Test each card individually, to check for any issues. (The five with heat-sinks, are the ones with copper heatsinks.)
- Get a thermal snapshot in operation.
- Test operating voltages and power-draw, per chip, and per card.
- Begin adding cards, until I reach a load within my existing PSU's limits.
- Repeat with the remaining cards, that have heat-sinks.

As for the cards without heat-sinks... (I have the blue heat-sinks, and also copper, on those.)
- Pull the heat-sink from my worst operating card, to mount on the card without a heat-sink.
- Test that card individually. (Thermal, voltage, load.)
- Repeat for the other cards.

Then I have to go out and get another PSU, and source heat-sinks, to complete the project.

I may be able to use both my PSU's from my old scrypt-miners... But I still need a solution to the lack of heat-sinks. I have plenty of aluminum. Just not enough to cover the chips as this board is designed. Might have to build that water-cooled unit I was planning, out of my square tube aluminum. But then I still need a radiator. xD

Again, I do not know if the additional card was compensation, or if they expected me to localize the issue of the boards failures. (If the extra boards are not compensation... but rather, "my work". Still waiting to hear back from Josh about that.)

In any event, I should still be able to offer some guidance for better cooling, as I can see there may be an issue there.

In addition, I will be restructuring the internals, offered as a possible solution for AMT to use, or others, who are bound to using the CPU case as the final product. The case is a real nice case. Would make a great case for a bad-ass gaming-rig! It will find a new home, when I build the new case for the miner.

Going to setup my testing station now. May take me a few hours to get all setup, and running.

P.S. This is some HEAVY aluminum... I have a feeling it is not pure aluminum. Seems like a heavy composite of aluminum, silicon, steel/iron, copper, titanium. AKA: 4041 alloy. (Seems like the aluminum that heavy cooking pans are made from. Dense, but great thermal transferal, but also thermal retentive.) Need an acid-tester or an ultrasonic tester to confirm the alloy, for any certainty.

My apologies for using the generic word prostitution instead of solicitation, you're arguing semantics now.  Point is why doesn't the prostitute simply provide a terms and condition if it so easy to write one that contravenes local, state or federal laws and regulations.  That way the John doesn't get charged and they are both completely legal because they wrote some bullshit T's & C's

I bet the fellows at AMT also believed like you do, but a harsh reality is probably about to set in.  Argue all you want but you can not "pencil whip" the FTC out of the equation.  In fact one of the reasons the FTC exists is so companies don't prey on the consumer with this bullshit.

For the record, do these boards from AMT work?

If so,  what does a user need to do to make it work?  Should the heat sink be removed,  thermal paste re-applied to get this to work?

Any software settings need to make this work?

Just for the record, I have received a 5-card unit, without a PSU, within a tower case.

However, I am now contacting Josh, because of the additional package I received along with it, containing, what seems to be boards that need to be "diagnosed", for repair. (They have no heat-sinks. So I assume they are intended to be part of my service offering.)

The case was well packed, and great looking on the exterior. However, there was a bent section inside, which was not that important to the structure. This, I assume had occurred while someone was installing the heavy cage inside the unit. In all fairness, I had asked for a damaged case, from another member, to alleviate the burden of loss, of a new case replacement.

Keep this in mind... I ASKED for a "Test unit". One which I just needed to function, for testing the cards that needed testing. I believe he sent me my full unit, just to make this easier for testing. (Getting that clarified still.)

Minor issues inside this ? "test unit" ? ... (All easily resolved. Just mentioning, in-case there needs to be some over-the-shoulder QC done.)
- Three fans mounted randomly backwards. (They were sucking, instead of blowing. Not a good thing. Check the orientation of all fans. They should all be mounted to blow air across the fins. Someone needs to be trained again, on the assembly line.)
- Four fans, have only two mounting screws to fasten them in place. (They were not diagonal mounted, they were side mounted. Diagonal would have made them secure.)
- One fan-plug was plugged half-way into the power-bar, with bent pins. (It was not touching enough to provide power to run the fan.)
- The LCD was not mounted in place. It was pushed onto four threaded screws, one was bent to "hold it in place". (It was held in place good enough to remain undamaged, however, I have added rubber washers to hold it firmly against the front of the unit.)
- The backplane was obviously under stress-load, as two cards were missing mounting screws. Both were missing one screw on bot sides. (Fixing that issue later.)
- One foot of the tower was broken. (Fixed with some double-sided tape. The push-mount was only partially broken.)
- No wire for the backplane to connect to the ras-pi. (Digging through my box of junk for one now.)
- Loose screws rolling around the case.
- A loose "stud-riser"... (Those are not even used in this unit. xD)

Overall, the unit is solid as a rock. By the structure. The case is easily the most delicate component. All that AMT has constructed, inside, was all high quality steel and aluminum. This will look much better in my acrylic/plexiglass custom case.

The only internal flaw I see, which was not something they did... Was the case ventilation. It is not setup well, as with 95% of all computer cases. Though, it seems to be acceptable, for normal operation.

Unfortunately, I can not test this "as is", as there is no PSU in my possession, which would power the unit with the 5-card backplane. I have a second backplane, and ras-pi/daughter-board... So my testing will continue with the 5-cards split into two units, until I can get a heat-sink made to fit one of the other cards that came without a heat-sink. I intended to run this as a 3 and 3 card unit, with 2 separate 750w PSU's. My final clear-case mods, will be setup as such. Both with the ability to add a fourth and fifth card, if desired, later-on... (For now, just to test the boards as they ship them to me for testing.)

Once I am all setup, as promised, I will be offering additional help, to those who can find it of use.

Photo's and a possible video coming soon. To those who are interested in that.

i can totally understand the legal aspect for not changing things.  i have a couple of webservers under legal freeze at my company. Good call on marking them out of stock/not shipping.  it appeared like the bait was still out there, catching the unsuspecting.  my apologies if that is not the case.

good luck to you.  you've got a tough road ahead of you.  hopefully you'll get the kinks worked and make it all kosher.

No arguement on that. Lotta things went wrong here. And lots more patience than should have been given was. I reached out to them hoping to get 2 replacement miners. If that pans out i can move on from this.

The problem is the class action lawsuit likely will impeded that to some degree. At this point I doubt they have much anyway or they would have been able to manage some of this and get refunds back to a bunch of people. If I walk away from this with two working miners at this point I will consider that a small victory AND at bare minimum what I paid for.

Whatever happens after the case, well it happens. Honestly I am content with just getting replacement hardware and calling it a day. As a result of class actions people are rarely made whole. This would set a new precedent. A chunk of whatever monetary settlement occurs would go to the lawyers fees on both sides. A settlement means contingency costs and awarded attorney fees. Which means both legal teams get paid from that pool of cash. Thats easily in the 10s or hundreds of thousands of dollars.. Money that we dont get.

I ordered 2 of these SP10's just to start. I figure I would pay for more than half of them in the first 90 days. Its nice not to have to worry about anything, just see my bitcoin wallet being filled up. They also only charge me a monthly fee, no electricity cost for now. I will test these, and then maybe make a move for SP30's when the price is right.  So, 1 month for 2.8Th/s for spondoolies, and 6 months with 0 Th/s with AMT.

Thats actually pretty damned awesome. This is what I am talking about!! Alternately I ordered my S2 (and shipped on the 8th) and it is out for delivery. So its time to start moving past this. I will be ok if I just get 2 miners at this point that work from AMT. I emailed them as such just to get this over with. I doubt the class action will make any of us whole. But thats my opinion on the matter. And how I am approaching it. I want to move past this drama and stress and get to mining which was my focus in the first place. 

I know you all are having problems here, as am I. I finally got some good news today, but not from AMT.  I ordered these spondoolies SP10 just in April ,2014.

Dear Mr. Park,

We are very happy to let you know that your units have passed QC and is now being installed in our hosting facilities.

To ensure the unit starts mining as soon as possible, please send us your wallet ID.

We will make sure the unit is mining to your wallet until we complete the remote control software and handover control to you.

Best regards and happy mining,

Spondoolies-Tech

Good luck. I doubt you will get much at this point. MY guess is there is very little if anything to get.