Owners of A4 General Discussion and Help

[Steve Sokolowski]

Running out of things to try so thanks for info.... I am currently testing 795mv but set to mine only one coin and getting 261Mhs on Batch 1 0.0.3. Go figure

Well, maybe that means that you'll be able to keep the miners. So far, everyone I've heard from says that underclocking seems to make a significant difference in resolving these issues.

[GenTarkin]

underclocking is good, this diff increase is outrageous =(

[vinylwasp]

Guys, here's the latest from Chloe who has given me permission to share this with other A4 owners.

Hello Chris,

We have solved the restart and reboot problem in batch 3. No update in hardware but the firmware in STM32 MCU and SD card both have updates.

SD card firmware has been upgraded to v2.0.1. For ST MCU firmware, we will send you (and other batch buyers) a testing jig (which is expensive) and user manual to update.

For other batch one and batch two buyers who bought less than 50 units, we will send them new STM32 MCU for local replacement, but will need them to find local expertise to execute that.

I notice that you are so warm-hearted that you posted the latest news on the bitcointalk forum and shared your experience frequently. You can lend your jig to other users if you like. That would be really helpful.

Jig will be sent to you once ready.

Best regards,
Chloe Zhang

I was a bit confused by the statement that they're sending me a jig, because I only have B1 and B2 miners and the first line suggests this is only for B3 miners, but Chloe assured me that I'm being sent the jig so I assume she meant they 'found' and fixed the problem using Batch 3 miners, and now know how to apply this to Batch 1,2 and 3 with different MCU firmware and SD software for each Batch.

The worrying news is the line referring to smaller buyers replacing (not flashing) the MCU locally. I haven't clarified this and don't know how this will play out because who validates the local repairer and what happens to your warranty. I've yet to resolve that issue myself with respect to flashing them myself but I'm just taking this one step at a time at the moment. Once I get the jig, I'd be happy to co-ordinate shipping to others but I'm in New Zealand so we'll have to factor that in. GenTarkin - where are you located? Would you consider flashing these units for a small fee if we can get you a jig from Inno? This might be a better solution than replacing the MCU for many of the group-buy owners. I'd do it, but shipping to NZ is expensive.

HTH guys.

[CritterDog]

I am not that technical.. I have Batch one set and Batch 2 single but I was not in on pre-order. What would this mean for me? He says replace the STM32 MCU? What does that mean? Is it something inside the miner? I live in the USA so not sure how this will work out.. What would you do with a Jig? So confused here.

[vinylwasp]

CritterDog, we're all in a pretty bad place at the moment, though I think Inno are acting in good faith and have certainly been more responsive than KNC were back in 2014, so I'm trying to stay hopeful that we'll all get through this with as little pain as possible

The MCU is an Micro-controller (mini cpu) that's on the card somewhere.

Thinking it through, the best way would be if Inno paid someone in the US to do this work for them, but if there's no other way to get it done locally in the US, you could always send the cards to me and I'd flash the MCU's for you with the jig.

[excelerator]

CritterDog, we're all in a pretty bad place at the moment, though I think Inno are acting in good faith and have certainly been more responsive than KNC were back in 2014, so I'm trying to stay hopeful that we'll all get through this with as little pain as possible

The MCU is an Micro-controller (mini cpu) that's on the card somewhere.

Thinking it through, the best way would be if Inno paid someone in the US to do this work for them, but if there's no other way to get it done locally in the US, you could always send the cards to me and I'd flash the MCU's for you with the jig.

Lightfoot on bitcointalk would also be a great choice to do the work.

[vinylwasp]

Lightfoot on bitcointalk would also be a great choice to do the work.

Thanks, I've dropped Chloe an email and suggested both, as well as offering my services down under.

[fugju]

The diff goes to the moon, before A4 owner got ther patch

[tradewiz]

I have done something else now which seems to make sense, I am testing it on a small number now: I use "Awesome miner" - a program to control your miners. Every 30 mins the program will reboot any controller that is below 240 MH. Seems to work quite well, but its early days. At least a temp patch until a proper firmware is released. (Remember to open up the API access on the A4, easiest done in the index file)

[CritterDog]

I have done something else now which seems to make sense, I am testing it on a small number now: I use "Awesome miner" - a program to control your miners. Every 30 mins the program will reboot any controller that is below 240 MH. Seems to work quite well, but its early days. At least a temp patch until a proper firmware is released. (Remember to open up the API access on the A4, easiest done in the index file)

Looks like a nice program I wish they had it for Mac. My A4s on this site have not been to bad.. They seem to run fine for a long time maybe 12 hours with no problems but sometimes more sometimes less its not consistent. I just have to keep babysitting them and watch for dropped cards. Mainly I get reboots witch is not to bad because they come back on there own. It seems if I go to high with MV thats when I drop cards the most. I am using 815mv now and expect I will drop a card sometime today. But even with these problems I still make pretty good money after electric cost because these are very efficient miners way better then A2s. I still believe heat is some of the issue. The shoebox design has no room at all to breath.