[Guide] Dogie's Comprehensive Bitmain Antminer S3 Setup [HD]

[Stratobitz]

Thanks for your answer!!!

My system shows in Status\Overview:

Hostname              antMiner
Model                    TP-Link TL-WR743N/ND v2
Firmware Version    OpenWrt Barrier Breaker r38031 / LuCI Trunk (svn-r9909)
Kernel Version        3.10.12

And the file I used to update firmware was [antMiner_S320141013.bin] I believe. This one was 10/13. Should I retry the next up?

Mayitzu

Go up to 20141219, its a critical update. Download is here.

Dogie... Ok different topic. I have 60 S3+ units running the previous firmware. Im having no issues. Why upgrade if they are hashing as expected?

Strato

[dogie]

Thanks for your answer!!!

My system shows in Status\Overview:

Hostname              antMiner
Model                    TP-Link TL-WR743N/ND v2
Firmware Version    OpenWrt Barrier Breaker r38031 / LuCI Trunk (svn-r9909)
Kernel Version        3.10.12

And the file I used to update firmware was [antMiner_S320141013.bin] I believe. This one was 10/13. Should I retry the next up?

Mayitzu

Go up to 20141219, its a critical update. Download is here.

Dogie... Ok different topic. I have 60 S3+ units running the previous firmware. Im having no issues. Why upgrade if they are hashing as expected?

Strato

Pre 12/19 the reset button's functionality is broken. I'm not sure at what point that problem occurred so if you have extremely old firmware [august??] you won't have that bug. Its very important to fix it as if you get network locked out etc, the controller is as good as bricked.

You'll also get a cgminer update if you're coming from a much older version. [12/19 is very similar to 10/24 but with fixed reset button.]

[dogie]

i just stumbled onto this support thread, perhaps a bit late it seems. i have quite a few S3's nearly all purchased directly from bitmain. they have worked without issues for many months. just yesterday one starting beeping for no reason, so i powered it off and on. now it is stuck with the two lights on (green and amber). no amount of pushing or holding the reset button does anything to get me back into it. i do believe it was running 24 Oct as all the rest (about 20) also have this same firmware. am i dead in the water or is there some other hitherto unknown miracle cure for my predicament? thanks to all for your time and considerate reply. cheers! ;-)

i read on another thread, a user named Pautado claimed that "For MY s3 the best firmware is 10/24 it is the one that gets me higher hashrates and the most stable. And yes, I know about the not working reset button and I really don't care about it... If anything goes wrong I can always flash it by serial/jtag..."

how would one go about doing the above as he suggests? thanks again...

And this case is exactly WHY these people making misinformed decisions and trying to convert others are dangerous. Always listen to the manufacturers / experts, its like antivaxing....

Anyway, the thing is if you're not already comfortable with serial/jtag flashing then its not going to be cost efficient to learn. If you PM BitmainWarranty, they'll sort you out with a return for the controller and reflash it for you. There may be a small (reasonable) fee if the unit is out of warranty, but its worth your time if you are in the US as they can turn you around quick. Remember to include your Bitmain order number and a description of your problem [you can just quote this].

[RanjithHarsha77]

hello sir,
i have antminer s3, and i have corsair 450w psu 2 piece. it running smoothly until yesterday, today i have checked the miner. the PCI-E cable's neck was too hot to touch. what is problem with that.? plz help me

visit this link, i have posted photo of where my psu cable is hot.
http://imgur.com/6OjaFmH

sorry for bad english

thank you

[rpandassociates]

a 450w PSU is kinda small for the S3 I would think your maxing that out for sure

[dogie]

hello sir,
i have antminer s3, and i have corsair 450w psu 2 piece. it running smoothly until yesterday, today i have checked the miner. the PCI-E cable's neck was too hot to touch. what is problem with that.? plz help me

visit this link, i have posted photo of where my psu cable is hot.
http://imgur.com/6OjaFmH

What is the exact model of the PSU you were using? Your english is fine.

[RanjithHarsha77]

#rpandassociates i am runing antminer s3 with 2X 450W psu = 900W to 1 miner

[RanjithHarsha77]

#dogie

i have 2X Corsair 450W psu.

for model please visit this link : http://www.corsair.com/en-in/vs-seriestm-vs450-450-watt-power-supply

[dogie]

#dogie

i have 2X Corsair 450W psu.

for model please visit this link : http://www.corsair.com/en-in/vs-seriestm-vs450-450-watt-power-supply

Was it just one connector or one set of connectors that was too hot? If you're running 2x PSUs per S3 then there is no reason it should be getting hot at all.

[RanjithHarsha77]

#dogie
1 psu has 2 PCI-E conectors and i have connected 1 PCI-E to blade A from 1st psu and connected 1 PCI-E to blade B from 2nd psu. another 2 sockets from miner in empty only

[dogie]

#dogie
1 psu has 2 PCI-E conectors and i have connected 1 PCI-E to blade A from 1st psu and connected 1 PCI-E to blade B from 2nd psu. another 2 sockets from miner in empty only

Connect 2 PCI-E from 1st PSU to blade A and 2 PCI-E from 2nd PSU to blade B.

[usukan]

Thanks for the beep reduction idea.  My wife says your a smart guy and also thanks you.

Cheers - usukan

I like the guide.   I did a small how to on reducing the beep.

Simple easy low cost and fully reversible.


feel free to use the photos.

https://asktom.cf/index.php?topic=701338.0

[Zich]

. I happened to sabotage the beeper on the board on antminer s3. assuming that the beeper will stop working and everything else will be fine ... but that was not the case .. looks like it is not mining at all now .

Does anyone know the model number of the beeper that is being used .. so that I can buy one and solder it back .

I guess any similar size buzzer will work.

[Ecnad]

Thanks Dogie! First-time miner here and got up and running in minutes using your guide. Only delay was a thin plastic coating on my paperclip keeping it from working on the PSU. Fixed it with a metal clip from my RC cars

[dogie]

Thanks Dogie! First-time miner here and got up and running in minutes using your guide. Only delay was a thin plastic coating on my paperclip keeping it from working on the PSU. Fixed it with a metal clip from my RC cars

No problem, damn those acrylic'ed paper clips

[dmwardjr]

Thanks Dogie! First-time miner here and got up and running in minutes using your guide. Only delay was a thin plastic coating on my paperclip keeping it from working on the PSU. Fixed it with a metal clip from my RC cars

Very familiar with the plastic paper clip covering.  I wasted approximately 6 hours [Along with a lot of hair pulled out] because of those damn things.  LOL  

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.

I was up until 8:00am this morning [All nighter!] installing the new fan, setting up the rack, PDU's, PSU's with PCI-e cords and rigs.  I still have more rigs to bring over into the new closet.  I'm waiting on a couple more 240 VOLT/30 AMP outlets to arrive from Amazon tomorrow so I can add another PDU.  Then I will be able to bring my router, switch and other rigs into the new closet.  I have to leave the door with grilles open at the moment to allow the 15 feet ethernet cords to reach from the switch to the rigs in the new closet.  I will be very happy to get those outlets in the mail so I can get that switch inside the closet to close the door with grilles.


Pictures of what I've done in the transition over to the new closet thus far [I will clean up the wiring with zip ties once all of the rigs are moved inside the new closet]:



Still working on it.  Please don't mind the mess.  I went ahead and pulled a spare 10/2 just in case.  That's the orange wire you see hanging down at the moment.  It will all be cleaned up after taxes.




Don't be fooled... The fan is not held up by zip ties [lol].  The next picture shows the clips holding it in place.  The entire fan is resting inside the circle I cut in the wood with a jig saw.  The clips are holding the fan in place while it rests on the wood.  I found there was no need to screw a bolt through the black hanger into the joist above.  The fan rests perfectly on the wood while it is pushed through to the outside approximately 6 inches to where the handle rests against the wood.  So I decided to attach the handle to the wood to hold the fan in place.

The reason I have more wood to the left of the fan is to allow space to mount my power outlets, etc.  I will mount the outlets in place later.  I was tired last night!



You see the clip I have on the handle in this picture to hold the fan in place.  I have to put some 3 inch wide aluminum duct tape around this fan to seal in the quarter inch gap around it.  This will keep out bugs that may want to come in.




The next two pictures show you how I hanged the IBM 2880W PSU's with tie wraps to keep them off of the SP20's.  

[Real-Duke]

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.


I also have older S3's [5 of them].  They too have the most recent firmware upgrade to allow adjustment of the frequency and voltage.  They average 370 GH/s at approximately .63 watts per GH/s.  I thought I would save space by not posting a screen shot of them as well.  Even your old S3's can be upgraded with the most recent firmware.  You have to make sure you upgrade the one dated for August first.  Then do the october update next and the January 2015 update last.  If you try to go out of order, you may brick an old S3.  If you get the following screen [screen shot below], do not panic.  Just do a hard reset to factory defaults [entering in your pools, etc...] and pick up where you left off in the order of the updates.  You may have to reboot once you're finished.  If you get that same screen again after reboot [shown below] do not panic.  Your old S3 should come back after a reset to factory settings.

Many thanks for sharing your experience dmwardjr, I have updated my 2 S3+ and my 2 S3 today to the newest firmware and copied your settings without any problems!
Miners running nice quiet now in my garage and I will have a look at the power consumption tomorrow after 24h running.

Have a nice evening (in Germany its 21.14 now) 

[dmwardjr]

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.


I also have older S3's [5 of them].  They too have the most recent firmware upgrade to allow adjustment of the frequency and voltage.  They average 370 GH/s at approximately .63 watts per GH/s.  I thought I would save space by not posting a screen shot of them as well.  Even your old S3's can be upgraded with the most recent firmware.  You have to make sure you upgrade the one dated for August first.  Then do the october update next and the January 2015 update last.  If you try to go out of order, you may brick an old S3.  If you get the following screen [screen shot below], do not panic.  Just do a hard reset to factory defaults [entering in your pools, etc...] and pick up where you left off in the order of the updates.  You may have to reboot once you're finished.  If you get that same screen again after reboot [shown below] do not panic.  Your old S3 should come back after a reset to factory settings.

Many thanks for sharing your experience dmwardjr, I have updated my 2 S3+ and my 2 S3 today to the newest firmware and copied your settings without any problems!
Miners running nice quiet now in my garage and I will have a look at the power consumption tomorrow after 24h running.

Have a nice evening (in Germany its 21.14 now)  

You're welcome...

My Kill A Watt meter burned out on me a couple of days ago.  I got a buddy of mine to do the same things with his S3's and he has a Kill A Watt meter.  It turns out my reading on my Kill A Watt meter was defective.  The rigs are still more efficient at the new settings.  They just are not as efficient as I had first anticipated because of a defective meter.  That' 2 Kill A Watt meters gone bad on me now.    

Anyhow... I'm glad I could be of help.  I wasn't sure if all of the firmware updates had to be done in order to get the rigs to work properly.  I just heard so many stories of people jumping straight from their present firmware to the most recent with sob stories.  So, I thought I would just go up the ladder [in order] and everything worked fine with all 18 S3's [Some of them older S3's and not S3+'s].  I'm absolutely loving the faster interface with these now.

[Real-Duke]

I don't have power meter on my own but what did your mate found out on your setup?

[dmwardjr]

I don't have power meter on my own but what did your mate found out on your setup?

I copied only the portion where he mentioned it.  Here it is:

Anyways, I was running the numbers using some kill-a-watts and when I downclock the S3's to 175Mhz and lower the voltage to 0.68, they seem stable at about 340-360Gh/s but still run about 270watts each. When I run them slightly overclocked at 237.5Mhz, I get around 460-500Gh/s and uses 380watts.

So after calculating it (I pay $0.12 per Kwh here in CT) I make an extra %40-50 income per day.
The larger SP20's I can run with no electricity costs, so that should be much better.