Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread - page 56.

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: whiteogre on January 20, 2019, 12:12:12 PM

Quote from: vsc-miner on January 20, 2019, 11:45:47 AM

Have the same overheating problem last night. I have two Apollo miners, the newest of them have been running for 30 hours this week and got overheated, FAN and LED in red stayed on all night but not mining and it was flaming hot until this morning. I pull power off and let it cool,

It is back up and running now. I have not changed any settings still running on the factory ECO settings. Should I leave the fan on at 25% or so all the time? any recommendations?

Set the fan manually to something that can keep the miner temperature at around 60C or below. That's most likely somewhere around 15-25% in ECO mode. Then wait for the next release and upgrade to it once available.

Yea, still have not found a root cause for this, but I'm starting to think its due to some lower quality MCUs running hotter than others. If your seeing this happen then turn your fan speed manually to at least 25% in ECO. That should keep the MCU from overheating if this is the problem.

I have 10 miners running 24/7 and overheating them purposely and non of them are getting locked up in the past two weeks, so I can't diagnose this on my end. If anyone has a unit that has done this consistently (ie not a random one off which the 3 or so people that have reported this seem to be so far) shoot me a PM.

Going and try to get the image update out tomorrow or tuesday so there is a least a built in protection for rare edge cases like this.

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: vsc-miner on January 20, 2019, 11:45:47 AM

Have the same overheating problem last night. I have two Apollo miners, the newest of them have been running for 30 hours this week and got overheated, FAN and LED in red stayed on all night but not mining and it was flaming hot until this morning. I pull power off and let it cool,

It is back up and running now. I have not changed any settings still running on the factory ECO settings. Should I leave the fan on at 25% or so all the time? any recommendations?

Set the fan manually to something that can keep the miner temperature at around 60C or below. That's most likely somewhere around 15-25% in ECO mode. Then wait for the next release and upgrade to it once available.

vsc-miner

newbie

Activity: 11

Merit: 0

Have the same overheating problem last night. I have two Apollo miners, the newest of them have been running for 30 hours this week and got overheated, FAN and LED in red stayed on all night but not mining and it was flaming hot until this morning. I pull power off and let it cool,

It is back up and running now. I have not changed any settings still running on the factory ECO settings. Should I leave the fan on at 25% or so all the time? any recommendations?

Thanks!

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: Fenboy on January 19, 2019, 02:17:00 PM

Hi, how do I make this change? Absolute beginners guide please 😀

All these things will be updated on the next release that will be uploaded soon, if you don’t know how to do it you will probably cause more issues by trying to do OS Level changes yourself.

Fenboy

newbie

Activity: 84

Merit: 0

Fenboy

newbie

Activity: 84

Merit: 0

Quote from: jstefanop on January 15, 2019, 05:32:53 PM

Quote from: crypto_curious on January 14, 2019, 05:39:30 PM

Quote from: stef942 on January 14, 2019, 04:57:54 PM

try to run only MMR, no failover

Spot on, mate. It worked Shocked

https://imgur.com/a/W2MKbxC

At least for now. Dashboard show status as "unknown", but Apollo continues to mine there. Thanks!

Yea the issue is how bfgminer handles failovers. Currently it assumes that everything its mining is the same coin (this is based from bfgminers original bitcoin origins, it was never designed to handle multiple coins of the same algorithm).

This gets pronounced when your on a multipoool, then have failover/donation configured to Litecoin. This ASIC is different from the Moonlanders and uses a midstate, so the midstate of one coin is injected into another and stuff gets confused.

Sadly bfgminer is starting to show its age, ill see if there is a short term fix, but for now if your on mutipool/rental pool make sure thats the only pool configured.

I had the exact same issue, MRR as first pool, Litecoinpool as 2nd.

Rig was rented, problems with renters pool, Apollo swapped over to 2nd pool, but never swapped back. Ended up removing 2nd pool, and just having MRR (now need to keep eye on email notifications)

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: A_Renaissance_Man on January 19, 2019, 11:10:37 AM

Two quick questions:

1. Is the loose bit under the Apollo the WIFI-antenna?
2. When will WIFI work?

Thanks!

1. Yes. Don't detach it even if you don't use wifi as that would likely fry the wifi chip.

2. Unknown. The MCU board is an Orange Pi Zero and the wifi chip that comes with it appears not to be that stable with the available drivers. If you don't have the possibility for using wired ethernet then some cheap usb powered portable router/access point in client mode could be a good far more stable alternative. I suspect wifi usb sticks could work as well but based on experience in older Raspberry Pis, those can also by a little bit hit and miss until you find one that uses a chip with good support and stable driver.

philipma1957

legendary

Activity: 4326

Merit: 8950

'The right to privacy matters'

Quote from: crypto_curious on January 19, 2019, 07:19:29 AM

Quote from: letsdancemusic on January 19, 2019, 12:29:55 AM

https://screenshots.firefox.com/xkG1VyC4KD5RxLXy/192.168.1.114 says this nothing happening on pool side
tried 2nd pool according to a nicehash user it's red marked

What is your problem, what's the question? I don't understand you here Wink

I see you have zero shares.

You have a lot of rollover pools here is a suggestion try just 1 pool the one on top.

let it hash for 30 minutes then send a screen shot.

A_Renaissance_Man

newbie

Activity: 5

Merit: 0

Two quick questions:

1. Is the loose bit under the Apollo the WIFI-antenna?
2. When will WIFI work?

Thanks!

crypto_curious

full member

Activity: 933

Merit: 175

Quote from: letsdancemusic on January 19, 2019, 12:29:55 AM

https://screenshots.firefox.com/xkG1VyC4KD5RxLXy/192.168.1.114 says this nothing happening on pool side
tried 2nd pool according to a nicehash user it's red marked

What is your problem, what's the question? I don't understand you here Wink

letsdancemusic

newbie

Activity: 15

Merit: 0

https://screenshots.firefox.com/xkG1VyC4KD5RxLXy/192.168.1.114 says this nothing happening on pool side
tried 2nd pool according to a nicehash user it's red marked

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: whiteogre on January 16, 2019, 05:06:22 PM

Quote from: crypto_curious on January 16, 2019, 03:45:40 PM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 16, 2019, 10:42:00 AM

Quote from: huntingthesnark on January 16, 2019, 03:59:56 AM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 13, 2019, 02:59:46 AM

Quote from: Harbingold on January 13, 2019, 02:05:38 AM

I have a new Apollo. It works great for a few days then one of two things happen.
1. The fan stops completely and start smelling. I have to unplug and plug back in. Glad I?m around when that has happened because I fear it was heating up.
2. Fan speed jumps to full speed. Can?t log in to reboot. Have to unplug etc.
These happen regularly.
Glad I?ve been around in each case. Thoughts?

What mode are you running the miner in?

This is probably related to the MCU lockup issue we know about that can happen in a rare occasion. It should be fixed in the next update we are releasing soon.

I've just had number 1 happen for the first time in several weeks. Luckily happened to check on the Apollo, fan was off, very hot indeed (painful to the touch). Switched off and on again, front light wouldn't come back on (no boot?), left overnight and is fine this morning. Obviously did overheat significantly. Is this the MCU lockup?

(I'm running on Eco, everything auto, on a 200W Dell PSU brick)

Sounds like it. Probably will cut out some features for the next release to just get some bug fixes out quickly by the end of this week and hopefully resolve this.

Since the heatsink so so efficient even with no fan spinning the PCB does not get hot enough to kick in the passive protections and shutdown the regulator...while its very hot to the touch (near boiling temps) its still not hot enough to damage anything, so dont worry if it does happen to anyone else, just shut it down and wait 20-30 min for it to cool down and restart.

Another reason why we need Minimum Fan speed to be adjustable in Auto Fan mode.

That's not really going to help in a lockup scenario. There's a process running on the MCU that's essentially constantly telling the fan to keep spinning. If that process or the MCU gets stuck then the fan simply stops spinning due to lack of instructions what to do. Without adding any new hardware, the only solution is to fix all software bugs and harden that fan controller process to stay running no matter what.

Solving that with a hardware addon (=hack) could be something like adding the cheapest Arduino (or similar) in between the MCU and the fan. That extra chip would then keep repeating the last fan setting received from the MCU and have a delayed failsafe if no new instructions are received within some defined time.

Either way it will get resolved in the next update. Tweaks to the base system should prevent the lockup altogether, and I also enabled the hardware watchdog that's present on the MCU and kept alive by the hardware monitor process. If something happens to this process it will auto-reboot the MCU. This should cover all cases.

There is another semi-hardware solution I can implement that will force the internal pullup on the fan controller high during boot, but this is not very consumer friendly since the fan will startup running full speed for a while until the hardware monitor kicks in (this will force the fan full speed if something shits on the MCU)...i might actually configure this during runtime instead and this will add another layer of protection and the fan will only be full speed for about 5 seconds during boot.

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: crypto_curious on January 16, 2019, 03:45:40 PM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 16, 2019, 10:42:00 AM

Quote from: huntingthesnark on January 16, 2019, 03:59:56 AM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 13, 2019, 02:59:46 AM

Quote from: Harbingold on January 13, 2019, 02:05:38 AM

I have a new Apollo. It works great for a few days then one of two things happen.
1. The fan stops completely and start smelling. I have to unplug and plug back in. Glad I?m around when that has happened because I fear it was heating up.
2. Fan speed jumps to full speed. Can?t log in to reboot. Have to unplug etc.
These happen regularly.
Glad I?ve been around in each case. Thoughts?

What mode are you running the miner in?

This is probably related to the MCU lockup issue we know about that can happen in a rare occasion. It should be fixed in the next update we are releasing soon.

I've just had number 1 happen for the first time in several weeks. Luckily happened to check on the Apollo, fan was off, very hot indeed (painful to the touch). Switched off and on again, front light wouldn't come back on (no boot?), left overnight and is fine this morning. Obviously did overheat significantly. Is this the MCU lockup?

(I'm running on Eco, everything auto, on a 200W Dell PSU brick)

Sounds like it. Probably will cut out some features for the next release to just get some bug fixes out quickly by the end of this week and hopefully resolve this.

Since the heatsink so so efficient even with no fan spinning the PCB does not get hot enough to kick in the passive protections and shutdown the regulator...while its very hot to the touch (near boiling temps) its still not hot enough to damage anything, so dont worry if it does happen to anyone else, just shut it down and wait 20-30 min for it to cool down and restart.

Another reason why we need Minimum Fan speed to be adjustable in Auto Fan mode.

That's not really going to help in a lockup scenario. There's a process running on the MCU that's essentially constantly telling the fan to keep spinning. If that process or the MCU gets stuck then the fan simply stops spinning due to lack of instructions what to do. Without adding any new hardware, the only solution is to fix all software bugs and harden that fan controller process to stay running no matter what.

Solving that with a hardware addon (=hack) could be something like adding the cheapest Arduino (or similar) in between the MCU and the fan. That extra chip would then keep repeating the last fan setting received from the MCU and have a delayed failsafe if no new instructions are received within some defined time.

crypto_curious

full member

Activity: 933

Merit: 175

Quote from: jstefanop on January 16, 2019, 10:42:00 AM

Quote from: huntingthesnark on January 16, 2019, 03:59:56 AM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 13, 2019, 02:59:46 AM

Quote from: Harbingold on January 13, 2019, 02:05:38 AM

I have a new Apollo. It works great for a few days then one of two things happen.
1. The fan stops completely and start smelling. I have to unplug and plug back in. Glad I?m around when that has happened because I fear it was heating up.
2. Fan speed jumps to full speed. Can?t log in to reboot. Have to unplug etc.
These happen regularly.
Glad I?ve been around in each case. Thoughts?

What mode are you running the miner in?

This is probably related to the MCU lockup issue we know about that can happen in a rare occasion. It should be fixed in the next update we are releasing soon.

I've just had number 1 happen for the first time in several weeks. Luckily happened to check on the Apollo, fan was off, very hot indeed (painful to the touch). Switched off and on again, front light wouldn't come back on (no boot?), left overnight and is fine this morning. Obviously did overheat significantly. Is this the MCU lockup?

(I'm running on Eco, everything auto, on a 200W Dell PSU brick)

Sounds like it. Probably will cut out some features for the next release to just get some bug fixes out quickly by the end of this week and hopefully resolve this.

Since the heatsink so so efficient even with no fan spinning the PCB does not get hot enough to kick in the passive protections and shutdown the regulator...while its very hot to the touch (near boiling temps) its still not hot enough to damage anything, so dont worry if it does happen to anyone else, just shut it down and wait 20-30 min for it to cool down and restart.

Another reason why we need Minimum Fan speed to be adjustable in Auto Fan mode.

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: huntingthesnark on January 16, 2019, 03:59:56 AM

Quote from: jstefanop on January 13, 2019, 02:59:46 AM

Quote from: Harbingold on January 13, 2019, 02:05:38 AM

I have a new Apollo. It works great for a few days then one of two things happen.
1. The fan stops completely and start smelling. I have to unplug and plug back in. Glad I?m around when that has happened because I fear it was heating up.
2. Fan speed jumps to full speed. Can?t log in to reboot. Have to unplug etc.
These happen regularly.
Glad I?ve been around in each case. Thoughts?

What mode are you running the miner in?

This is probably related to the MCU lockup issue we know about that can happen in a rare occasion. It should be fixed in the next update we are releasing soon.

I've just had number 1 happen for the first time in several weeks. Luckily happened to check on the Apollo, fan was off, very hot indeed (painful to the touch). Switched off and on again, front light wouldn't come back on (no boot?), left overnight and is fine this morning. Obviously did overheat significantly. Is this the MCU lockup?

(I'm running on Eco, everything auto, on a 200W Dell PSU brick)

Sounds like it. Probably will cut out some features for the next release to just get some bug fixes out quickly by the end of this week and hopefully resolve this.

Since the heatsink so so efficient even with no fan spinning the PCB does not get hot enough to kick in the passive protections and shutdown the regulator...while its very hot to the touch (near boiling temps) its still not hot enough to damage anything, so dont worry if it does happen to anyone else, just shut it down and wait 20-30 min for it to cool down and restart.

huntingthesnark

member

Activity: 357

Merit: 26

Quote from: jstefanop on January 13, 2019, 02:59:46 AM

Quote from: Harbingold on January 13, 2019, 02:05:38 AM

I have a new Apollo. It works great for a few days then one of two things happen.
1. The fan stops completely and start smelling. I have to unplug and plug back in. Glad I?m around when that has happened because I fear it was heating up.
2. Fan speed jumps to full speed. Can?t log in to reboot. Have to unplug etc.
These happen regularly.
Glad I?ve been around in each case. Thoughts?

What mode are you running the miner in?

This is probably related to the MCU lockup issue we know about that can happen in a rare occasion. It should be fixed in the next update we are releasing soon.

I've just had number 1 happen for the first time in several weeks. Luckily happened to check on the Apollo, fan was off, very hot indeed (painful to the touch). Switched off and on again, front light wouldn't come back on (no boot?), left overnight and is fine this morning. Obviously did overheat significantly. Is this the MCU lockup?

(I'm running on Eco, everything auto, on a 200W Dell PSU brick)

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: Buddy_hell on January 15, 2019, 10:05:18 AM

Tomorrow i join the Scottish contingent (!) of apollo miners.

I will have "fly me to the moon" playing the background as i watch the hashrate build up..........

Your Buddy Hell

You should post a vid of that Cheesy

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: crypto_curious on January 14, 2019, 05:39:30 PM

Quote from: stef942 on January 14, 2019, 04:57:54 PM

try to run only MMR, no failover

Spot on, mate. It worked Shocked

https://imgur.com/a/W2MKbxC

At least for now. Dashboard show status as "unknown", but Apollo continues to mine there. Thanks!

Yea the issue is how bfgminer handles failovers. Currently it assumes that everything its mining is the same coin (this is based from bfgminers original bitcoin origins, it was never designed to handle multiple coins of the same algorithm).

This gets pronounced when your on a multipoool, then have failover/donation configured to Litecoin. This ASIC is different from the Moonlanders and uses a midstate, so the midstate of one coin is injected into another and stuff gets confused.

Sadly bfgminer is starting to show its age, ill see if there is a short term fix, but for now if your on mutipool/rental pool make sure thats the only pool configured.

Buddy_hell

newbie

Activity: 15

Merit: 0

Tomorrow i join the Scottish contingent (!) of apollo miners.

I will have "fly me to the moon" playing the background as i watch the hashrate build up..........

Your Buddy Hell

crypto_curious

full member

Activity: 933

Merit: 175

Quote from: stef942 on January 14, 2019, 04:57:54 PM

try to run only MMR, no failover

Spot on, mate. It worked Shocked

https://imgur.com/a/W2MKbxC

At least for now. Dashboard show status as "unknown", but Apollo continues to mine there. Thanks!

Topic: Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread - page 56. (Read 49938 times)