Topic: Swedish ASIC miner company kncminer.com - page 8. (Read 3049511 times)

How do you tell old version from new?  Heatsinks? The silkscreen on board is the same.

My rb pi is a rb pi 3 model B V1.2. Will this work with the Qberty board? Maybe this is why my board does not function? I did not think of this.

Do you think Tarkin can modify his code to boot with a later pi version? I would gladly pay to see this done, as I was the first to pay for custom work from him for the Titan miner project.

Vegas

Indeed. The problem seems to be that the video chip in use in the latest RPi B+ 512 1.2 Pi's requires the later bootloader and kernel than what is in the 2.00 release. The problem with this is the latest kernel totally breaks the SIO interface so things don't work for crap. It's possible someone can find the last kernel, bootloader, and elf that supported the old SPI standards we could try that. I spent all weekend screwing with this, someone else can help.

In the meantime I've picked up the "make the damn beaglebone work". After pounding for the rest of the weekend I have waas up, website up, I can configure the Titans (and Neptunes), and have bfgminer compiled to the point where it can see the knc0-4 devices but they don't initialize.

So close. There are a lot of errors in the KNC documentation, compiling this is a pain in the ass. I think the final issue is in asic.c.

C

Not good news at all. I try to keep up with the hardware issues on these things even though so far Ive been lucky and only had to deal with dead dies on my titan. No controller issues at all *knocks on wood*.

lightfoot, I took your advice (i think it was yours anyway) awhile back and only ran mine at 275mhz per die and have upgraded the cooling per searings advice just to get this thing to last as long as possible.

So when the 'old stock' of the labeled the same Raspberry Pi B+ 512mb units are gone. WE are screwed..because there is NO WAY to tell till you plug the puppies in
IF they are newer and won't work?

IS there any difference on the boards. The heatsink picture is what comes up on some  new sales I've seen but all else on the board is identical including the silkscreen of

v1.2 2014 tag

Gonna be really, really annoying if there is no way to tell old v1.2 from new version v1.2 Raspberry Pi 512 mb boards. I looked at my boxes for such, no code version on the boxes

I have either.

Anyway is the above where we are at? The units I found new with heatsinks mean nothing for identification? They were just an add on of no conseguence?

Again if so that will really suck

I think we're fucked. I just spent 6 hours working on this code trash heap they call KNC. The problem is when you update the damn OS it breaks all the I2C extensions and re-enabling them is a work of pain.

Somebody else fix this, ok? It's pretty obvious that even older revision technology is incompatible with itself. Because stupid. It looks like it might be in the device tree support; I was able to get at least something up with turning that off, but the one i2c driver does not see any of the devices on the Pi at all.

Whole day shot to hell.

You could be correct  Element 14 has them on eBay and they look like this with heatsinks built in



vs the old without heatsinks included version of Raspberry Pi B+ 512mb v1.2




Anyway ...the pic with the heatsinks may come with the CPU mod you specify. The dates on the board are the same. So maybe there is a way to tell the difference just by the
heatsinks?

Anyway, all I got. Others can chime in if they are getting Pi's w/o this heatsink mod which will make my above point moot. But what I saw on eBay at a quick glance.

So if correct we will have to avoid the NEW versions with the heatsink. (no way to tell used ones if someone added a heatsink thou).

Hopefully at least a guy will have that much as a hint?

And in the ter-fucking-ific category, it looks like the Rpi model B 1.2 models currently on Amazon.com have a slightly different CPU and will not boot the stock KNC firmware. So we're dead in the water there.

Stupid micro-code. This could be a problem.

Um.... No, not hostile, just working. I charge my time and effort which includes figuring things out. Remember I've spent part of a week taking this little bridge board thing apart, reverse engineering the leads, scratching my head at why the grounds are different from a rational design (most people don't route 3.3v from a charge pump to ground) figuring out the component using a scope, and risking my own gear (my bridgeboard, my pi, and my controller board which costs me $90 in parts and an hour of cursing and two reheats to swap the fpga every time I blow it out because KNC didn't #&$@*$@ put any buffers on the outputs).

That's totally independent of the time it takes to design (if I had the design I would be a big big big step ahead in life but I don't and that's that) and work with a firm to fab boards. If I had the mask files for any of this, it would be a snap.


It's different skills, and thus not comparable. I charge at least $150 an hour for professional work partially because I value my time and partially because I can get paid a lot more for my main line of work (and there are only so many hours in the day). So far this week I have spent a lot more than that figuring out some of these problems, so my bill rate is probably pretty low :-)

As for you not being able to say anything, well you can't and that's fine, I can figure it out myself. Just takes a long time, using fuzzers on these boards is a bitch on wheels  due to the 6-8 layers and the monster ground planes in there. Also stuff goes weird places and some of the design decisions don't match what I would call anything rational. Which is why I post my stuff on my fixing forum, because other people should (and have done) working on my work. Since I have no encumbrances I can do that.

As for value, let's just say rework is not something that can be done easily (I have reversed the damage done by at least one other person trying to rework SOT23's with a blowtorch somewhere in the world) and takes some skill. If people wish to undercut me on price then by all means please DO SO!, having more people fixing this stuff is good, and gives home miners options.


I appreciate this, that's why I fix this stuff. Big big customers have their own shops and have probably twisted KNC's arm for the schematics. I just help level the field for the home miners. I also dispense advice around here, mostly telling people to STOP RUNNING THEM AT FULL BLAST and run them at 60mh per cube. Cooler, less power overload, etc. Also this is a several thousand dollar item made of ultra cutting edge parts for a cryptocurrency philosophy that is the cutting edge of the future. Don't run it in a fucking barn (I say as I literally had to clean horse crap out of one board. Yes. Straw included. Yes, the Straw had caught fire. Several Times based on the burns on the board).


Sounds good. In the meantime if anyone is dead in the water drop me a line or read my other thread on fixing these things for fun and laughs. You can do the fix yourself on the stock KNC boards (I believe I documented it in my thread) if you can use a fine-tipped soldering iron, have good eyes or a 3x loupe, and can get wire wrap wire from Radio Slack. That and a steady hand will do it.

It feels like you guys are being hostile when i'm not. There's only so much I can do when it comes to crowdfunded products. You are providing a service to fix the boards for a price. That is not the same and comparable to what I did in making them. 0.2 BTC would literally cost a customer more than the price of the board itself and all the parts put together by anyone at the current rate of BTC to fiat right now. My point is, for the big bulk buyers that got it for 0.15 and the smaller buyers that got it for 0.20 paid way earlier in the year with the price being of lower value.

So unless you're saying that your fix is of higher value/comparable to someone designing a PCB, buying all the parts, and putting it together as a product, it just seems like you're taking advantage of people's need for the fix. I'd like to see you try and design it and source all the parts and have it manufactured (while controlling the fab) and still only charge 0.2 btc for your "tools and time". You know full well I can't just release a company trade secret yet you add the "/unwilling" end as if i'm purposefully trying to hide everything. If that were the case, I wouldn't even have made batch 1's and none of the big miners would be running their titans. I take offense.

Searing, I know you're venting, but you clearly don't understand the circumstances. A refund makes sense and is feasible when you make a product, have it mass produced, and sell it. Refunding can be done on a singular basis and can be taken out of the owners funds. A crowdfunded product was only possible using the funds from everyone combined to get the product to even exist. Refunds aren't feasible as there's no mass production, there's no development teams to deal with it easily, and there certainly isn't the capital to handle it. Again, you're treating me like i'm a self-contained company. I'm just a guy that's trying to help KNC customers. It worked the first time, failed the second time. So I learn from it. If I had the capital to offer refunds, then a crowdfunding thing wouldn't even be necessary.

I'm literally making titan mining still doable as it's rare that any big buying customers with more than 1 set, have their original bridges without burning them.

On my third batch I did say, if I get a bulk enough order than i'll be shipping the rest to batch 2 buyers for free and i'm sticking to my word. I'm waiting for a couple more people to get on board before I start however.

I'm also working on an extremely cheap closed loop liquid cooling solution that seems to be working nicely. Looks like I can reproduce stable 65-70 C temps on the VRMs reliably. I'll post some pics soon.

Again ..no slam on you...just saying no one getting the  batch 2 qberty boards as of *yet I hope still*  has been compensated for the fact they did not work..probably (my guess 20 folk?)

I was just a venting Likely if you get them to work I will FLIP the bridge boards with some Jupiter boards and a PI and maybe get what I got in out of this with someone who needs a complete bridge/titan board setup

but like most plans ..it is probably moot I have no control over any of this

We will see if qberty comes thru on 3rd batch and replaces the non working stuff as he says he may to the 2nd batch non-working folk  Again Qberty no slam intended but it has been months....so not exactly looking good from our end in the consumer dept of the product ...

Not much I can do about it at this point in time but send lightfoot the bridges and get something out of it

later

Well, since the batch 2 boards appear broken I would assume that the seller refunded the cost of the board as what was delivered appears to be (at least in the case of 2 received and reviewed so far) a non-working board. That's not my issue or concern, and doesn't affect the prices I charge for my tools and time.

By that logic the total increase in cost of ownership to the end user is only .05btc plus shipping. .2 also accounts for my time, effort, and the (one) Pi fried so far in troubleshooting this thing blind, as the maker of the board is unable/unwilling to provide information on it. So I have to do it the good old fashioned way (my brain and time), just like the KNC boards.

C

I contacted digikey ..the rep had no clue..had no luck..maybe they did not have something equiv to what I gave him off the crystal

heard some others were told the wrong part as well

likely you have more electronic chops and can get thru the FUD on this with them..just saying

OUCH ...... .2 btc per board.....(I paid .2btc for this also ....no redress on this those 3 non working 2nd batch qberty boards ...as yet.....) hmmm....


thanks for the 2 boards....still hope you can fix the WAS fully working orig Titan nov 2013 cube that just stopped working and now just ...on whatever you put it on....by itself or with
other cubes it just blinks the white light in a measured manner....and does zip to the board or other breakage....just passive/aggressively blinks the light in an attempt to dive me crazy.

(frigging Titan cube decided it wanted to be a LIGHTHOUSE for crying out loud...or at least be the device to set the pace of one ....on the light on an off...oddly mesmerizing...shudder)

Could be worse I guess I could have gotten an A4 Innsilicon that after more then a month FINALLY from what I gather can has stable at 230mh (they claim 280mh) for 1800 bucks plus shipping
that could be ugly.....took 3 months for the Titan to get its firmware stable...and the A4's have a 45 day warranty........man glad I punted on that at least...(maybe I've learned something about
pre-orders...er ...nah..unlikely)



least i managed to miss that bullet So worse things then having lightfoot fix stuff I guess




er... I paid 0.5 BTC for orig qberty board that worked by the by....and 0.2 BTC each for the 3 bridges I got 2nd batch FYI ....that arrived broke and non-working ....that lightfoot is currently destroying ONE in order to see if he can get the other TWO to work.

So unless some redress on this from qberty looking at more then 1 BTC out on all this..probably more on 2nd batch qberty stuff......not a slam......just saying at this time is where I'm at looking at these repairs.



 

Fixing the batch 2's for 0.2 btc would be worth it if it were batch one. I sold batch 2 for 0.15 BTC. You might want to price match the fix so batch 2 customers don't feel like they are paying for a whole new board.

Got the board to come up with a Pi, but that crystal is still wrong. I can order a few from Digikey, if I can fix this for .2btc is there any interest?

As for Searing I'm having fun with his boards and a blowtorch.... :-) (just kidding, well sort of, got 2 boards there fully hashing. Progress)

I thought about an auction but figured this would be better, especially if a few people want to team up and grab it..

I'm considering your offer, though 10 BTC is a little high (after conversion rates in my shizzy country). When I can afford it, i'd totally take you up on that if you don't have a buyer yet. I think there's only a small handful of Titan owners that can even make use of it. Maybe an auction would be more relevant?

Good points all around, will see what happens..

The biggest value is the lack of a bridge board, just take a controller and Beaglebone and you are good to go, I am tossing in all of the controllers I have (I think 8 but need to run another count) plus a Titan cube I held onto so whoever picks it up has a stack to move out with.. I did enough looking at GenTarkin's code to know they can be integrated fairly easily, I missed my window between projects to get it all done so it's here for someone else that may want to press independently, or tag back up with GenTarkin to put them together.

Probably too late in the game for that price now imho with Zcash mining taking LTC thunder and the A4's coming out 2nd batch Dec 15th

but hey I'd get what the hell I could for it soonest...maybe 10 BTC is fair...no clue..I don't code.

Most Titans are getting buy 6 to a controller if they need to...but they seem to run better 3 or 4 to a controller

Main reason folk want the titan bridge is to put their problem cubes on a separate controller..for example I sent 1/2 cube worth of hash to lightfoot to try and fix
and my has rate went down less then 10 ...so I figure if gen tarkin is bringing your 5 and 6 cube controllers up and down to tweak

If there were titan boards enough to put your 2 or 3 cubes on their own controller you'd make up the hash

in my case from past up/down with problem cubes between controllers on 4 rigs in my basement 1 6 cube 3 5 cube.....If these 2 problem ones come back and
another one to make 3 was put on there own little controller I'd gain 1 cube back in hash

i have a controller bridge KNC I got used worked so will do that ..but would be nice to have yet another as a spare and to use as a 1 cube test rig

that also is the draw on these 3rd party solutions to the controllers

but again.....if you have a Titan up  you are probably getting by....so not sure of the market anymore for such solutions....just what I've seen on my 'evil' knc 'we want to
brick ourselves if possible" cubes

the Gen Tarkin software keeps them in line..but lots of up/down/running around by the stuff to do so
 as
anyway I know zip just my 2c of what I've seen on my 90 day wonders that still run as of this month 2 years and 1 week