Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread - page 111.

jeyzeus

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Quote from: cryptobradley on September 01, 2021, 12:42:34 AM

The node is running fine. Every time I click start on the miner, the fan starts to spin up for about 0.5 second and then goes back to idle mode. I disconned all the standard units but that changed nothing. Checked all the plugs, green led is is on.

To recap: new SD & all units have red flasking LEDs but the miner won't start. Node runs fine.

What is my next step?

Try this:

1 - Turn off the node
2 - configure the miner settings
3 - start the miner, you will likely get the inactive hashboards issue you described
4 - stop the miner
5 - reboot the entire system, node should start syncing again + mining should commence

i just added a standard unit and ran into a similar issue. the issue i ran into was that only one hashboard would be active but the lights would flash or both would have trouble hashing. Restarting the system with the above process was worked for me.

cryptobradley

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Quote from: gt_addict on September 01, 2021, 04:43:51 AM

Quote from: Minor Miner on September 01, 2021, 02:00:29 AM

Quote from: cryptobradley on September 01, 2021, 12:42:34 AM

The node is running fine. Every time I click start on the miner, the fan starts to spin up for about 0.5 second and then goes back to idle mode. I disconned all the standard units but that changed nothing. Checked all the plugs, green led is is on.

This problem is caused by the RAM and the processor's cache. Do you use an extended ram slot or is it built-in?

If you use an extended ram slot then make sure the power connection is turned off completely. unplug your ram and processor, and wait some minutes it will clear your cash from ram and processor. After that plug everything in properly, it would be better if you plug the ram to a different slot and switch on the Maschine.

Hope everything will be fine if you do that step by step. let me know if the problem is solved or not.

This is an SBC in the Apollo so no removable ram.

You are correct.

gt_addict

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Quote from: Minor Miner on September 01, 2021, 02:00:29 AM

Quote from: cryptobradley on September 01, 2021, 12:42:34 AM

The node is running fine. Every time I click start on the miner, the fan starts to spin up for about 0.5 second and then goes back to idle mode. I disconned all the standard units but that changed nothing. Checked all the plugs, green led is is on.

This problem is caused by the RAM and the processor's cache. Do you use an extended ram slot or is it built-in?

If you use an extended ram slot then make sure the power connection is turned off completely. unplug your ram and processor, and wait some minutes it will clear your cash from ram and processor. After that plug everything in properly, it would be better if you plug the ram to a different slot and switch on the Maschine.

Hope everything will be fine if you do that step by step. let me know if the problem is solved or not.

This is an SBC in the Apollo so no removable ram.

Minor Miner

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Be A Digital Miner

Quote from: cryptobradley on September 01, 2021, 12:42:34 AM

The node is running fine. Every time I click start on the miner, the fan starts to spin up for about 0.5 second and then goes back to idle mode. I disconned all the standard units but that changed nothing. Checked all the plugs, green led is is on.

This problem is caused by the RAM and the processor's cache. Do you use an extended ram slot or is it built-in?

If you use an extended ram slot then make sure the power connection is turned off completely. unplug your ram and processor, and wait some minutes it will clear your cash from ram and processor. After that plug everything in properly, it would be better if you plug the ram to a different slot and switch on the Maschine.

Hope everything will be fine if you do that step by step. let me know if the problem is solved or not.

cryptobradley

newbie

Activity: 11

Merit: 0

Miner and 5 solo units has been running fine for weeks and weeks.
Today the dashboard showed no data. It looked like every unit was offline even though they were still running (fans) normal speed and all had flashing red lights.
I tried stopping and starting, then rebooting everything and finally I loaded a new image on a new micro SD and the miner still won't start.

The node is running fine. Every time I click start on the miner, the fan starts to spin up for about 0.5 second and then goes back to idle mode. I disconned all the standard units but that changed nothing. Checked all the plugs, green led is is on.

To recap: new SD & all units have red flasking LEDs but the miner won't start. Node runs fine.

What is my next step?

gt_addict

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Quote from: jstefanop on August 31, 2021, 07:42:51 AM

Quote from: n0nce on August 31, 2021, 05:27:37 AM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 07:46:07 PM

Quote from: gt_addict on August 30, 2021, 04:40:56 PM

...
When I took mine apart to replace the SBC fan it had Bitfury on the chips underneath the hashboard.

Thanks!
No idea why jstefanop is so secretive about info like that but hey - his project, his rules. I do know that BitFury is pretty tight about releasing their datasheets so that may be part of his Lips sealed

I mean, maybe they didn't obtain pinouts etc. via reverse engineering, but directly from BitFury under NDA. In that case, it might include something like no mention whatsoever anywhere, ever, can be made that you got our chips and datasheets etc.. Just a guess Wink

But sidehack did mention that some chip manufacturers do indeed agree to give documentation under NDA (which I wouldn't have guessed myself to be honest).

Obviously we are under NDA…can stop our customers from stating the obvious though 😜

I was in two minds whether to say anything. But someone would've done at some point lol.

jstefanop

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Quote from: n0nce on August 31, 2021, 05:27:37 AM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 07:46:07 PM

Quote from: gt_addict on August 30, 2021, 04:40:56 PM

...
When I took mine apart to replace the SBC fan it had Bitfury on the chips underneath the hashboard.

Thanks!
No idea why jstefanop is so secretive about info like that but hey - his project, his rules. I do know that BitFury is pretty tight about releasing their datasheets so that may be part of his Lips sealed

I mean, maybe they didn't obtain pinouts etc. via reverse engineering, but directly from BitFury under NDA. In that case, it might include something like no mention whatsoever anywhere, ever, can be made that you got our chips and datasheets etc.. Just a guess Wink

But sidehack did mention that some chip manufacturers do indeed agree to give documentation under NDA (which I wouldn't have guessed myself to be honest).

Obviously we are under NDA…cant stop our customers from stating the obvious though 😜

n0nce

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Activity: 924

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not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 07:46:07 PM

Quote from: gt_addict on August 30, 2021, 04:40:56 PM

...
When I took mine apart to replace the SBC fan it had Bitfury on the chips underneath the hashboard.

Thanks!
No idea why jstefanop is so secretive about info like that but hey - his project, his rules. I do know that BitFury is pretty tight about releasing their datasheets so that may be part of his Lips sealed

I mean, maybe they didn't obtain pinouts etc. via reverse engineering, but directly from BitFury under NDA. In that case, it might include something like no mention whatsoever anywhere, ever, can be made that you got our chips and datasheets etc.. Just a guess Wink

But sidehack did mention that some chip manufacturers do indeed agree to give documentation under NDA (which I wouldn't have guessed myself to be honest).

n0nce

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Activity: 924

Merit: 5943

not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: bigverm on August 31, 2021, 12:25:07 AM

Quote from: n0nce on August 29, 2021, 09:34:11 AM

Quote from: bigverm on August 29, 2021, 09:23:44 AM

For Question #5 What can we do with our Node?
Can we choose to designate our Node into a Lightning Network Node?
This will help us earn extra BTC and Devs can take a fee from it.

Hey there, LN node operator here! Don't expect to make any significant amount of money from routing LN payments.

I am quite sure you can install lnd or c-lightning on the Apollo (don't have mine yet), and you should definitely do it, it always helps! But payments are meant to be cheap, so users usually pay 1 satoshi per hop, some node operators even run their nodes fee-less.

A payment takes a max. of 10 hops in my experience, so you're looking at 'locking in' millions of satoshis in channels just to gain a few (single-digit amounts we're talking about) satoshis in fees. So you won't really 'earn BTC' - you'd earn more Bitcoin working 1hr as a waiter and buying BTC with the money you got there Grin

(rough calculation: 10$ ~ 20KSat)

Thanks! Was wondering if I get in early and setup a lighting node and then overtime as transaction volume grows for BTC that it would be worth it.

There is certainly a point for getting in early: If you create a LN channel now with let's say 1M satoshi, it will cost you around 400 bucks and people can transact up to that amount in this channel back and forth. But let's say you keep that channel for multiple years, the value that can be transacted with 1M sats is ever increasing and e.g. might reach a point where it's the equivalent of thousands of $.

This way, channels created early (even small ones, <1M sats) gain usability and 'size' (in value terms) as Bitcoin value increases over time.

However, I don't think it will ever be something very profitable, even with many more transactions, since fees are by design low (1 satoshi - realize how little that is Grin

per hop) and the market is competitive the better the network is connected. The protocol tries to automatically use the routes with lowest fees - the more routes, the less chance people will use an expensive node since they'll find cheaper ones that bring them to their destination.

bigverm

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Quote from: n0nce on August 29, 2021, 09:34:11 AM

Quote from: bigverm on August 29, 2021, 09:23:44 AM

For Question #5 What can we do with our Node?
Can we choose to designate our Node into a Lightning Network Node?
This will help us earn extra BTC and Devs can take a fee from it.

Hey there, LN node operator here! Don't expect to make any significant amount of money from routing LN payments.

I am quite sure you can install lnd or c-lightning on the Apollo (don't have mine yet), and you should definitely do it, it always helps! But payments are meant to be cheap, so users usually pay 1 satoshi per hop, some node operators even run their nodes fee-less.

A payment takes a max. of 10 hops in my experience, so you're looking at 'locking in' millions of satoshis in channels just to gain a few (single-digit amounts we're talking about) satoshis in fees. So you won't really 'earn BTC' - you'd earn more Bitcoin working 1hr as a waiter and buying BTC with the money you got there Grin

(rough calculation: 10$ ~ 20KSat)

Thanks! Was wondering if I get in early and setup a lighting node and then overtime as transaction volume grows for BTC that it would be worth it.

NotFuzzyWarm

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Quote from: gt_addict on August 30, 2021, 04:40:56 PM

...
When I took mine apart to replace the SBC fan it had Bitfury on the chips underneath the hashboard.

Thanks!
No idea why jstefanop is so secretive about info like that but hey - his project, his rules. I do know that BitFury is pretty tight about releasing their datasheets so that may be part of his Lips sealed

gt_addict

hero member

Activity: 2534

Merit: 623

Quote from: n0nce on August 30, 2021, 03:39:17 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 03:09:46 PM

Quote from: n0nce on August 30, 2021, 03:04:04 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 02:14:57 PM

Quote

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo)

Woof! I figured that with today's node sizes there would be a lot more cores per-chip that what was to be had in 2014 but 4k of them? Wowzers!

Btw @jstefanop you're saying 'our ASICs' - do you actually develop your own ASIC chips? Quite interesting since the other guys building home-suited pod miners, GekkoScience, use Bitmain chips.

Not a chance in hell. It cost millions of $$$ to design and produce a mining ASIC chip.
That said it *would* be interesting to know just who's chip you use. eg are they from BM, MicroBt, Canaan, Bitfury, Inosilicon et al?

Heheh, idk - they're so secretive about which chips are used (no mention anywhere, whereas GekkoScience has it openly in shop, bt thread etc.), and this comment (our ASICs) really put the nail in the coffin for me about these being custom chips Cheesy

But yeah, last I checked, it also was extremely expensive to have custom chips made.

When I took mine apart to replace the SBC fan it had Bitfury on the chips underneath the hashboard.

n0nce

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Activity: 924

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not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 03:09:46 PM

Quote from: n0nce on August 30, 2021, 03:04:04 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 02:14:57 PM

Quote

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo)

Woof! I figured that with today's node sizes there would be a lot more cores per-chip that what was to be had in 2014 but 4k of them? Wowzers!

Btw @jstefanop you're saying 'our ASICs' - do you actually develop your own ASIC chips? Quite interesting since the other guys building home-suited pod miners, GekkoScience, use Bitmain chips.

Not a chance in hell. It cost millions of $$$ to design and produce a mining ASIC chip.
That said it *would* be interesting to know just who's chip you use. eg are they from BM, MicroBt, Canaan, Bitfury, Inosilicon et al?

Heheh, idk - they're so secretive about which chips are used (no mention anywhere, whereas GekkoScience has it openly in shop, bt thread etc.), and this comment (our ASICs) really put the nail in the coffin for me about these being custom chips Cheesy

But yeah, last I checked, it also was extremely expensive to have custom chips made.

NotFuzzyWarm

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Activity: 3822

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Evil beware: We have waffles!

Quote from: n0nce on August 30, 2021, 03:04:04 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 02:14:57 PM

Quote

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo)

Woof! I figured that with today's node sizes there would be a lot more cores per-chip that what was to be had in 2014 but 4k of them? Wowzers!

Btw @jstefanop you're saying 'our ASICs' - do you actually develop your own ASIC chips? Quite interesting since the other guys building home-suited pod miners, GekkoScience, use Bitmain chips.

Not a chance in hell. It cost millions of $$$ to design and produce a mining ASIC chip.
That said it *would* be interesting to know just who's chip you use. eg are they from BM, MicroBt, Canaan, Bitfury, Inosilicon et al?

n0nce

hero member

Activity: 924

Merit: 5943

not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 30, 2021, 02:14:57 PM

Quote

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo)

Woof! I figured that with today's node sizes there would be a lot more cores per-chip that what was to be had in 2014 but 4k of them? Wowzers!

Btw @jstefanop you're saying 'our ASICs' - do you actually develop your own ASIC chips? Quite interesting since the other guys building home-suited pod miners, GekkoScience, use Bitmain chips.

NotFuzzyWarm

legendary

Activity: 3822

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Evil beware: We have waffles!

Quote

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo)

Woof! I figured that with today's node sizes there would be a lot more cores per-chip that what was to be had in 2014 but 4k of them? Wowzers!

n0nce

hero member

Activity: 924

Merit: 5943

not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: jstefanop on August 30, 2021, 01:54:04 PM

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo). Only one of these need to be bad to throw a really high error rate.

Error rate is calculated against good solutions based on an internal solution difficulty, not ALL solutions produced by the ASIC (would be impossible/waste of resources to do integrity check on each SHA256 pass). What happens with a bad logical core is that ALL solutions it produces are spit out as valid solutions, then the miner software does a check on them which are determined to be bad solutions, so the calculated error rates ends up inflating higher than it really is.

Normally each core produces an random amount of error that just has to do with spontaneous logical errors that happen in the chip due to low gate voltage, this is what the error rate is supposed to convey, but we cant easily catch the kind of errors that have to do with a bad logical cores.

Hope that explains it a bit.

Thanks a lot, got it now! Very good insight

And relieving to customers ofc even though a good total hashrate should be enough good sign anyway Wink

jstefanop

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Quote from: n0nce on August 29, 2021, 04:17:52 PM

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 29, 2021, 04:12:08 PM

Quote

One hashboard has 44 cores (thousands? where does that number come from?

While I do not own one should be safe to assume there are 44 chips per-hashboard. Each chip has hundreds of cores in it. Even the A1 chip from 2014 had 256 cores per-chip.

And yes, it is not uncommon for not all cores in a chip to not work though it should at worst be just a few dead cores. That said, most chips should have 100% functional cores.

Right, right, it's confusing since the website says 44 ASIC cores Grin

Still confused about how a few dead cores result in a number of 70% 'error rate' in GUI, somehow the given explanation didn't clear it up much for me at least.

Each of our ASICs have ~4k SHA256 engines in them (so ~175k in each Apollo). Only one of these need to be bad to throw a really high error rate.

Error rate is calculated against good solutions based on an internal solution difficulty, not ALL solutions produced by the ASIC (would be impossible/waste of resources to do integrity check on each SHA256 pass). What happens with a bad logical core is that ALL solutions it produces are spit out as valid solutions, then the miner software does a check on them which are determined to be bad solutions, so the calculated error rates ends up inflating higher than it really is.

Normally each core produces an random amount of error that just has to do with spontaneous logical errors that happen in the chip due to low gate voltage, this is what the error rate is supposed to convey, but we cant easily catch the kind of errors that have to do with a bad logical cores.

Hope that explains it a bit.

bigverm

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Activity: 6

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Quote from: straddle on August 28, 2021, 05:45:43 PM

Questions:

1. How many Standard (hashboard only) units can be managed from the Full package (controller) unit? I already have one full package unit which I ordered in Batch 1, and have two standard hashboard-only units on order from Batch 2. I want to know if I could manage a third standard unit from my existing controller unit, or is two the maximum?

2. I am currently using the Futurebit PSU in Turbo mode. Is there a significant advantage to upgrading the PSU to achieve 3.8Th/s or does running the Apollo BTC at this level dramatically reduce their lifespan, and cause them to overheat?

3. On the basis that the answer to question 2 is Yes, can anyone recomend a PSU that can power three Apollo BTC devices (one full package unit and two hashboard-only units)?

4. Is there any news when the Batch 2 Units will reach Europe?

Thanks in advance.

1. How many Standard (hashboard only) units can be managed from the Full package (controller) unit?

a. Can I add a 3rd standard unit from my existing controller unit? or 2 standard units the maximum?

- Have 1 full package unit which I ordered in Batch 2

n0nce

hero member

Activity: 924

Merit: 5943

not your keys, not your coins!

Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on August 29, 2021, 04:12:08 PM

Quote

One hashboard has 44 cores (thousands? where does that number come from?

While I do not own one should be safe to assume there are 44 chips per-hashboard. Each chip has hundreds of cores in it. Even the A1 chip from 2014 had 256 cores per-chip.

And yes, it is not uncommon for not all cores in a chip to not work though it should at worst be just a few dead cores. That said, most chips should have 100% functional cores.

Right, right, it's confusing since the website says 44 ASIC cores Grin

Still confused about how a few dead cores result in a number of 70% 'error rate' in GUI, somehow the given explanation didn't clear it up much for me at least.

Topic: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread - page 111. (Read 52205 times)