I've noticed some days I'm getting what I would call extremely high orphan rates on the posted shares for FPPS. I've read through the help/documentation a few times on it and can't seem to pick out whether it's an issue with my mining software, or the pool, or something else.
At its peak, I was seeing orphan rates of above 20%. I took a break from ETH to mine RVN for a few days after the hard fork, and upon returning to prohashing saw that my orphan rate was about 0.5%. A few days later it's back up to ~15%. It also most days starts lower, and climbs incrementally through the day. I don't see any errors in TRM or PhoenixMiner. Periodically my suboptimal shares will go from zero to 3-4% but it's rare from what I've seen.
Can you elaborate on how orphan rate is calculated, whether it is impacted by my mining or the pool (or both)? Does it "reset" daily as it seems to drop overnight sometimes. Is it tied to suboptimal shares reported in the dashboard? Trying to figure out if I can do something to lower it as taking a fifth of my earnings as penalty obviously is a problem.
Thanks!
High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
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Welcome to the System Support forum! Encounter a problem related to the pool? Post your issue here and we will help you out.
Keep in mind that the forums are monitored by PROHASHING less closely than the official support channels, so if you have a pressing issue, please submit an official support ticket so that our Support Analyst can look into your issue in a timely manner.
We cannot answer financial questions related to your account on a public forum, so those questions should always be submitted through the orange Support button on prohashing.com/about.
For the full list of PROHASHING forums rules, please visit https://prohashing.com/help/prohashing- ... rms-forums.
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HelloMrThompson
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:23 am
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
Though I can't speak for the pool, here's my .02:
TLDR; This is a pool issue and has nothing to do with your miners.
By "orphan" I believe you are referring to "orphan blocks". If a pool receives a proposed solution for the current block from one of its miners, it is responsible for submitting this solution as fast as possible to the blockchain in the hopes that it is accepted as the actual solution by all of the blockchain participants. If multiple solutions are submitted to the blockchain at the same time, one is selected as the winner who gets the reward while the other solution(s) are "orphaned". ETH and some other coins have a unique construct in that they also pay a "consolation prize" in the form of an uncle block to some of the losers. See: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/un ... rrency.asp
With the low blockchain TTF on ETH blocks (<15s) and a high nethash, it is quite common to see uncle and sometimes orphan blocks on pools. However, a well configured pool with good low-latency connection to the blockchain usually has a very low orphan rate (< 2%) and a reasonable uncle rate (5%-ish).
TLDR; This is a pool issue and has nothing to do with your miners.
By "orphan" I believe you are referring to "orphan blocks". If a pool receives a proposed solution for the current block from one of its miners, it is responsible for submitting this solution as fast as possible to the blockchain in the hopes that it is accepted as the actual solution by all of the blockchain participants. If multiple solutions are submitted to the blockchain at the same time, one is selected as the winner who gets the reward while the other solution(s) are "orphaned". ETH and some other coins have a unique construct in that they also pay a "consolation prize" in the form of an uncle block to some of the losers. See: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/un ... rrency.asp
With the low blockchain TTF on ETH blocks (<15s) and a high nethash, it is quite common to see uncle and sometimes orphan blocks on pools. However, a well configured pool with good low-latency connection to the blockchain usually has a very low orphan rate (< 2%) and a reasonable uncle rate (5%-ish).
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
On the flip side, I have no orphans on my FPPS. I average about 1% suboptimal. But no orphans.
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HelloMrThompson
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:23 am
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
Thanks guys for the insights. Appreciated.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. If I check my mined shares, and drill into the details (below). I tend to hover around 8-14%, and I've seen as high as 23% or so. Seems... undesirable. But at the same time I'm just a hobbyist and only been mining a few months so wrapping my head around some of this is rough
![Image]()
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. If I check my mined shares, and drill into the details (below). I tend to hover around 8-14%, and I've seen as high as 23% or so. Seems... undesirable. But at the same time I'm just a hobbyist and only been mining a few months so wrapping my head around some of this is rough
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Steve Sokolowski
- Posts: 4585
- Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:27 pm
- Location: State College, PA
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
I'll add a support ticket to the system to examine what could be causing so many uncled blocks, and someone will get back to you during the weekend.HelloMrThompson wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 2:01 pm Thanks guys for the insights. Appreciated.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. If I check my mined shares, and drill into the details (below). I tend to hover around 8-14%, and I've seen as high as 23% or so. Seems... undesirable. But at the same time I'm just a hobbyist and only been mining a few months so wrapping my head around some of this is rough
![Image]()
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
Ah yeah looking there it says 14% I'm guessing that is for the whole pool. I myself don't have any reports by my miner.
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HelloMrThompson
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:23 am
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
Thanks Steve I really appreciate that. Also glad to better understand the possible sources and knowing that it appears not to be an issue with my mining setup.Steve Sokolowski wrote: ↑Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:26 pm
I'll add a support ticket to the system to examine what could be causing so many uncled blocks, and someone will get back to you during the weekend.
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Steve Sokolowski
- Posts: 4585
- Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:27 pm
- Location: State College, PA
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
This issue has been resolved. It seems that the system was being overly conservative with estimating the Ethereum uncle rate. The orphan rate is now accurate, at around 0.9%.
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HelloMrThompson
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:23 am
Re: High orphan rates on FPPS Ethash
Hi Steve just a fyi the orphan penalty rate at 11 am this morning was 17.32%.Steve Sokolowski wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 7:22 am This issue has been resolved. It seems that the system was being overly conservative with estimating the Ethereum uncle rate. The orphan rate is now accurate, at around 0.9%.
I'm on mobile so I can't easily post a screen this time. Doesn't seem to be resolved yet.