Topic: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread - page 46. (Read 48695 times)

Thank you! When I do that, it's still saying "there was a problem connecting to wifi, please double check the password. Internal error" - The password is correct. I double checked.

Assuming that you used a Ethernet cable for that: In that case you are not connecting to the WiFi and that password might be wrong.

To connect to Wifi you need to have a display going. You could use a computer monitor or a TV and connect the Apollo with a HDMI cable.

Is anyone here familiar with how to set up the apollo on wifi? I tried to connect the miner to the back of my router just so I could access the dashboard but when I put the password in for the wifi, it wouldn't work.

Some fans have a minimum RPM they won't go below, it depends on the fan revision/vendor. We had to source like 3-4 fan vendors during the pandemic all with slightly different fan controllers.

You can test this with the -fan_pwm_hi 1 parameter. That will force the PMW controller to not output anything and make the fan either not spin or spin at its lowest speed possible.

I don't have much expertise but until someone more knowledgeable chimes in, here's my 2 Sats worth:

How did you work out where your hashes are being forwarded to?  "username : portforwarded.futurebit" sounds like it might be a default setting rather than man in the middle. Maybe your SD card image is old, mine had a different username in it before I changed it to mine.


You could get another SD card (I recommend buying a couple identical ones so you can clone a backup easily even if you have made changes, like installing a VPN) and flash it with the latest Full Package image and watch it like a hawk for a few weeks. If that fixes it (and if you have not changed any of the passwords), it's probably not a man in the middle but some glitch in the software. You can also just use the SD card that's in there already, but I am allergic to not having a backup, so I use several. I would keep the original SD unaltered and test again later if it recurs. Maybe it will help troubleshoot this issue.

Maybe I would try to change the login password first, in case that fixes it. Might be an evil maid attack scenario or someone has hacked into your WiFi locally. But why would such a person send hashes to a user name account containing 'Futurebit"? Not really likely.

Installing a VPN on the Full Package Apollo was a bit of an effort for me, much time spent with VPN support staff until someone told me that I can turn the ipv6 off at my WiFi router. Now it's easy (if I follow my notes to paste the right gobbledigook in the right places!   ). But I also have backup images (using dd) and ready to go backup SD cards in case something happens. Until a new SD card image gets published by Futurebit, I will use my own images with the modifications made to re-flash the SD if needed.

While you trouble-shoot this, you could run the Apollo as standard unit through your laptop. Then it will be running through your existing VPN without hassles, I think. You simply dis-connect the white cable connector between the Orange Pi and the rest of the Apollo and then connect it to your laptop with a USB cable to the micro-USB port  on the Apollo.  I don't know if that could be affecting your warranty. The power supply needs to remain connected of course. Some assembly is required, as in: editing a bit of code and unscrewing the Orange Pi and screwing it back on. Or use long nosed pliers.

I am using my full package Apollo since August without any problem, and i am facing this strange behaviour since November 11, i am using a NordVpn with my personal laptop, but no advanced configuration to use a VPN for the miner on my side.
This is the reply from the braiins pool support team:

How long has it been happening and how long have you been mining with this miner without a problem?

Which miner are you using? The full package Apollo or the Standard Apollo?

Are you using a VPN?

Thanks for the explanations, I will have to spend some time on trying to understand and implement that.

I thought the Fan temp settings in the Full Package Apollo would be using a temp curve similar to the one you showed above, except I imagined it actually curved.

But when I set the Full Package Apollo Fan temp settings to 70c / 90c, while keeping the actual miner temperature below 60c with the added fan, then the stock fan continues to run at around 1800rpm.
See screenshot.

That's why I thought the stock ASIC fan cannot be turned lower than about 1800rpm.

Hello,
i am using the braiins pool stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 with my futurebit btc miner.
after some times, all my hashrate is forwarded to this pool : stratum+tcp://btc.viabtc.com:3333 username : portforwarded.futurebit
My miner is not corrupted and i see any changes in my configuration files. it's probably a men in the middle redirecting my url.
Any help please.

No, first of all, these parameters allow you to change the default values (which are written at the end of each line) like so:

Secondly, the default value of 1 means that the miner will set the fan speed to 1%, when the temperature is below the default 50°C fan_temp_low.

No; you could basically turn off the fan completely by setting these parameters for instance. This should set the fan to 1% speed regardless of temperature.

Here is my understanding of those 4 parameters. They basically set a 2-point fan curve. I used the default values as specified above.

Thanks for that! Much appreciated!

I tried this code (no miner running at the time, in case that matters) with the included result:
but using the --help command results in a lot of interesting output:

Most of it I don't understand, for some I may have a rudimentary understanding.

So I wonder if I interpret these following lines correctly:

when I make the assumption that (default: 1) means that the stock ASIC fan lowest speed is already turned down to the minimum speed that PWM will allow?
In other words, the stock miner fan will run at 1800rpm no matter how much additional cooling I apply and no matter what software setting changes are made?

Sounds like a cool project! Maybe consider making your own 'Modded-out Futurebit Apollo' thread once it's finished (or at least work-in-progress status) somewhere on here.

I'm not too worried about the warranty, the Apollo units appear to be well built and shipping them around the globe is impractical due to time and costs.
Either they work, or I will try to fix them (with lots of advice from helpful people like you and jstefanop no doubt).

However, for now the auxiliary fan contraption is not to be trusted. All original fans are still running unmodified.

One of the power supply fans has a 200 ohm trimpot soldered into the cables (that warranty is definitely toast!), but the trimpot is again turned down to zero ohm. I found out that 200 ohm makes hardly any difference to the speed and noise of the power supply fan. And that a Noctua fan of the same size appeared actually louder than the stock fan. So I sourced some 500 ohm and 1K ohm trimpots to experiment some more.

Using the current version of the auxiliary fan contraption would risk accidental turning off of the auxiliary fans by touching the switches. It's just for experimenting and for finding the best fans and resistors to physically reduce their speed and noise.

After I know which fans and resistors I want, I will use switches that have no 'OFF' position, only 'High' and 'Low', or no switches at all and will solder resistors rather than trimpots in series with the auxiliary fans. The slow setting will hopefully be sufficient to keep the Apollo safe even if the stock fans fail or are turned off, the high setting should have equal or better cooling results than the stock fans (ie keep the miner and Orange Pi at lower temperature than the stock fans would but with less noise).

Fan curves work through USB as well. Its the same parameters we use for the full node miner as well just didn't document them in git.

For a full list just type ./apollo-miner -h


FYI we are working on completely revamped support/guides/faq section on our site. These threads are obviously getting out of control, and do apologize for all the digging new users have to go through!

I am not sure myself why, but it just needs to be executed as root (as you say in your next post), it's not a permission problem.

We're all here to learn!

I see. So, the start_apollo.sh script actually includes a ton of comments for customization and tuning.
https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries/blob/main/linux-aarch64/start_apollo.sh

Unfortunately, setting the fan speed seems unsupported on the standard units.
On the full unit, the fan is recognized as a system fan and controlled that way: https://github.com/jstefanop/apolloapi/blob/master/scripts/os_stats#L44
I don't think that works through USB, though.

In case you are very confident about your fan set up, you could of course always unplug and remove the stock fan, though that would probably kill your warranty..

No, it's just not very well structured.

While poking around in github I found this page: https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries and guess what is at the bottom: A Readme.md file with the instruction to use sudo ./start_apollo.sh to start the Standard Apollo miner.
https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries/blob/main/README.md

The page recommended as the only place for downloading the Standard Apollo software at the start of this topic does not have this readme.md file.

Probably my fault due to my lack of understanding of how to use github.

Thank you very much, I read those explanations and it brought back vague memories from decades ago when I started to read some "Linux for Dummies" book! Unfortunately I never got very far with it, the various OS's improved so rapidly that I did not need to develop a deeper understanding to enjoy very functional Linux OS's.

However, it looks like the permissions are still set to chmod 700:
Obviously the CHMOD 777 command did not work, which is why I asked the question when I was stuck being unable to execute the miner software. I still don't understand why, but no problem, it will eventually become clearer.
I had no idea what CHMOD 777 does, I just knew it because some customer support person told me to use it when I had issues with a VPN not wanting to cooperate.


That is of course very sensible advice, but I have already added several fans and built a contraption that will let me test what kind of fans and fan speeds will work best for various conditions.
When I use the Full Package Apollo (with my contraption) and set the temperature curve to 65/70degC, the built-in fan continues to run at around 1800rpm and the temperature stays below 60C, but I can still hear it. It's much quieter, but not as good as what I am aiming for.
But with the Standard Apollo I cannot (yet) set the temp curve even a little higher to get the built-in fan to spin at it's apparent minimum speed of 1800rpm. So it is louder than a Full Package Apollo with the same added fan contraption.

The contraption has 2 SPDT switches and 2 trimpots to adjust the reduced fan speed for 2 fans. It put's the power supply under the Apollo and uses exhaust air from the power supply to cool the Orange Pi. That might be a bad idea, but I will soon have some measurement data to clarify that.

What exactly do you want to learn more about? When the Apollo is connected to your pool and running, that's pretty much it..

I'd recommend you to read about Linux permissions and why not to use chmod 777.
Then go back and restrict the permissions as much as possible. The miner may or may not need sudo, in any case permissions should be drastically reduced to something like 744 or even 700.

I wouldn't change the fan curve, since you run risk of burning the device up. I know it's really loud, but I recommend adding an extra fan, instead.


You don't really need 'old text' from the log, so it's fine for it to just scroll. If there is an issue, you can always see the current / last status right at the bottom of the log.

I managed to connect the Apollo Standard unit to a mining pool! 


I would like to learn much more about how to do this, but don't know how to get started.

I understand the option to run the Standard Apollo in this way is for advanced users, but I have to start somewhere to become advanced.

Any hints where I can get started?

One thing I'm trying to learn is how I can change the cooling fan setting while running the Standard Apollo in a terminal.

And how to stop the text in the terminal from scrolling, or copy it elsewhere so I can read it and get a handle on what it's telling me.

This worked: