ANTMINER U3 Discussion and Support Thread

[Zich]

Just got a U3, my first piece of ASIC gear.  Installed and configured it correctly w/driver and zadig.  Downloaded latest cgminer (4.9.1), ran cgminer with the following:
cgminer.exe -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u MYADDRESS.0 -p xx3

No Devices Detected!

Any suggestions?  Thank you.

Did the zadig process run correctly?
And don't forget to give power to your miner.

FAQ and Technical Support

Setup requirements:

• Requires power via included AC/DC adapter. You will need to purchase a power cable for the AC/DC adapter.
• External controller [PC, Pi]
• USB cable is included

Dogie's comprehensive setup guide now up in super HD!

Configuration

Wiring:

• Plug in the USB cable from the U3 to your computer.
• Plug in the power supply into the mains.
• Plug in power supply into the U3.

Configuration:

• Download the latest version of CGMiner and Zadig.
• Extract, and run the zadig application.
• Select "CP21202 USB to UART Bridge Controller" and then click "Replace Driver". You only have to do this once per computer.
• Create a new file in notepad and enter pool information as below. Save it as a .bat in the same folder as CGMiner.
• Run the bat file to start mining.

[Mikestang]

Did the zadig process run correctly?
And don't forget to give power to your miner.

Hello and thank you for the reply.  Yes, everything was configured and setup correctly, my problem was two-fold:

1.  cgminer 4.9.1 will not recognize the U3 no matter what, but v4.9.0 does just fine.
2.  I restrict outgoing traffic thru my firewall and had to open the proper port to allow my machine to talk to the pool it was trying to connect with.

I am happy to report that I am now mining!

[Zich]

Did the zadig process run correctly?
And don't forget to give power to your miner.

Hello and thank you for the reply.  Yes, everything was configured and setup correctly, my problem was two-fold:

1.  cgminer 4.9.1 will not recognize the U3 no matter what, but v4.9.0 does just fine.
2.  I restrict outgoing traffic thru my firewall and had to open the proper port to allow my machine to talk to the pool it was trying to connect with.

I am happy to report that I am now mining!

Nice. Maybe CK forget something on 4.9.1 

[Mikestang]

Stable after ~16 hours mining with stock config, 54.8gh.  Although looking through this entire thread for the first time I wished I looked at the factory psu before I left for work, I hope it doesn't melt while I'm out.  Looking to wire it to my comp psu and adjust volt/freq to get over 60gh.  Fun product, perfect for a first time miner like myself who just wanted something to mess around with.  Go go magic lottery hash!

[dogie]

Stable after ~16 hours mining with stock config, 54.8gh.  Although looking through this entire thread for the first time I wished I looked at the factory psu before I left for work, I hope it doesn't melt while I'm out.  Looking to wire it to my comp psu and adjust volt/freq to get over 60gh.  Fun product, perfect for a first time miner like myself who just wanted something to mess around with.  Go go magic lottery hash!

My stock PSU is still going strong since pre release. Even if it was to fail, it won't can't cause a fire.

[Mikestang]

With respect to all the previous ZOMBIE reports, my unit would zombie with the usb cable it came with, but with one of my higher quality ones I haven't had any problems.

[FreeFelix]

by the way if you want an easier time the U3 works fine with cgminer using Minera 

[Mikestang]

It looks to me like Minera only runs on Linux, is that correct?

I ordered two more of these little UFOs to put on my desk, they're pretty fun little miners!

[Mikestang]

In the last 16 hours I have encountered the situation presented below twice.  Hash drops down to 10-20gh and the error message keeps popping up.  Both times I caught this happening I was able to correct it by simply unplugging the usb cable and plugging it right back in.  Any idea what is causing this?  Using cgminer.

[dogie]

It looks to me like Minera only runs on Linux, is that correct?

I ordered two more of these little UFOs to put on my desk, they're pretty fun little miners!

Minera is primarily used on Pis, correct.

[dogie]

In the last 16 hours I have encountered the situation presented below twice.  Hash drops down to 10-20gh and the error message keeps popping up.  Both times I caught this happening I was able to correct it by simply unplugging the usb cable and plugging it right back in.  Any idea what is causing this?  Using cgminer.

Two equally likely things causing this, intermittent power or less likely intermittent 'data'. Some have had success replacing the USB cable, while others by replacing the PSU. If you're not on a powered hub then its also worth trying that as there's a not insignificant amount of 5V draw.

[Mikestang]

In the last 16 hours I have encountered the situation presented below twice.  Hash drops down to 10-20gh and the error message keeps popping up.  Both times I caught this happening I was able to correct it by simply unplugging the usb cable and plugging it right back in.  Any idea what is causing this?  Using cgminer.

Two equally likely things causing this, intermittent power or less likely intermittent 'data'. Some have had success replacing the USB cable, while others by replacing the PSU. If you're not on a powered hub then its also worth trying that as there's a not insignificant amount of 5V draw.

I'm using my own USB cable, the one that it came with was junk and made the unit zombie.  I'm going to be powering it from an atx psu here shortly, so I guess that will take care of it.  In the mean time I'll plug it into my powered USB hub, thank you!

[Mikestang]

I'm powering my U3 with a pci-e to (3)-12v barrel plug, going to be adding two more so thus the extra plugs.  I played around with overclocking, stepping up in the smallest available increment to an eventual 800volt 250freq, it was running stable and cool at about 58-60gh.  I let it run over night, but in the morning it was ZOMBIE.  I had to pull the usb and power and let it sit for a while, then replug it in and zadig again.  It's running stable again at stock volt/freq about 46-52gh.  Guess this one doesn't want to be oc'd.

[Visvas]

I'm currently running stable actually  , giving me an average of 63Gh/s, with the following options. --bmsc-voltage 0830  --bmsc-freq 0982
Using the cgminer version from bitmain, february dated and a cleaned up U3 with a new power supply and new usb cable.

Note that this is just with a single unit attached. With another at the same time both units are really unstable. The other working unit i have is unstable alone as well though...

Going to try a raspberry setup with the other units now, just got it delivered, but  minera takes forever to download.

[Mikestang]

I'm currently running stable actually  , giving me an average of 63Gh/s, with the following options. --bmsc-voltage 0830  --bmsc-freq 0982

How long have you been running stable with such a high voltage?

[Mikestang]

I had my U3 plugged into a powered USB 3.0 hub plugged into a 2.0 port on my computer, it didn't like this, lots of LIBUSB errors.  Now running in a powered 2.0 hub, seems to be happy for ~24 hours (knock on wood).  Using a new power cable, too.  This one is a molex 4-pin to barrel plug and has thicker wires than the pci-e to barrel plug I was using (2.5mm vs ~2.1mm).

[Visvas]

I'm currently running stable actually  , giving me an average of 63Gh/s, with the following options. --bmsc-voltage 0830  --bmsc-freq 0982

How long have you been running stable with such a high voltage?

A couple of days. testing out different options/tunings in a not so structured manner;)
reducing volt to 800 and keeping freq and --bmsc-options 115200:0.54, see what i'll average on then.

Got my second unit up and running on Minera on a new Pi 2 now as well. Always had issues with that one, only giving me around 42Gh and a bit unstable.
But minera seems to handle it quite well, had some fall outs untill i enabled auto restart/reset. So far quiet happy with minera, expect i havent been able to get any of the parameters for tuning to work. Picked up the U3 like nothing at least.

[Mikestang]

Would be interested to see if anyone can get more than 2 to work together for more than a few hours.

Per my post two up (#630) my setup for a single U3 has been perfectly stable for like a week.  I've been running it slightly overclocked, 775v and 237.5freq and it's been performing like a champ at about 58-60gh.

I bought two more U3s, however, I cannot get more than one of my 3 to run at the same time (I have so far only tried to get 2 going at the same time).  I'm using cgminer 4.9.0 (4.9.1 won't see a U3 on my computer for some reason) with stock volt and freq while I try to get more than one going concurrently.  I've tried launching cgminer with 2 plugged in at the same time and I get constant LIBUSB from both devices.  If I unplug one the other runs just fine.  If I launch cgminer with just one running it hums along perfectly, then I'll hotplug the second one in and instantly the LIBUSB errors start.  I've tried with them both plugged into my powered USB 2.0 hub, and tried with one in the hub and the other in a separate USB port on my computer, but same results.

Is there something special that needs to be done to get multiple units running at the same time?  Any of the three work by themselves.  Thanks for suggestions.

Now running in a powered 2.0 hub, seems to be happy for ~24 hours (knock on wood).  Using a new power cable, too.  This one is a molex 4-pin to barrel plug and has thicker wires than the pci-e to barrel plug I was using (2.5mm vs ~2.1mm).

[Visvas]

I bought two more U3s, however, I cannot get more than one of my 3 to run at the same time

Is there something special that needs to be done to get multiple units running at the same time?  Any of the three work by themselves.  Thanks for suggestions.

Never been able to have more than one running "stable'ish" at a time on a windows computer. I can them both up and running if i only have one plugged in as I start cgminer, let it start and then hotplug the next one. But they wont run for as long then. Tried all combinations of usb ports, hubs, cables etc.
Seems to be an issue on Minera as well, but it handles the reset itself, at least sometimes.

[Phosphorous]

I managed to get 2 working but cannot get 3 (Windows 7, CGminer 4.9.0). I cleaned the extra thermal paste from all 3 and it did help to use a different USB cable. But gave up on getting 3 to work.