UPDATE! It works! WOO! If anyone needs help, I spent two days working on my miner and speaking with technicians and can help people if they are having similar issues. I know how to diagnose the problems now..

Worst feeling when your miner is down and bitcoin is nearing $20,000 a coin. ! Thank g-d! Not having to ship it out and miss out on these incredible bitcoin gains!

So this is how I fixed it..


I spoke to a repair guy named Z at www.BitmainWarranty.com - The guy was extremely kind. He took over my computer screen on team viewer and we went through all the problems to diagnose the issue.


First Check KERNEL LOG to see what error message you are getting.. than isolate each part of Antminer Bitmain S9 to diagnose problem.

I tested everything on the Antminer S9 one by one.. First the main controller board with no hashboards.. than the hashboards one by one.. and than the PSU..

When the control board was connected alone (no hash boards); luckily it showed up on IP and there was no issues. I still didn't see hardware or firmware. So I than updated the firmware from the Bitmain Support Site. With no hashboards connected.

Than I connected one hash board at a time.

I was finding the miner would start hashing for like 10-15 seconds and than drop to 0. Socket Failure No Connection.. I tested each hash board to see if one of them was busted; but I got the same notice for each hash board. The technician said it is really rare for all 3 hash boards to die at once. I've taken great care of the machines, even cleaning them once a week with air duster - air compressor. The temperature and air flow has always been good. Not too hot or too cold. Plus it was a new machine. I have two S9's and one S4 and one S3, plus Spondoolies and other little toys; but Antminer S9's are my baby's and my powerhouses..

Than I tried a different PSU but same problem.. Socket Connection Failure - Can't Connect.

So I than knew it was not the PSU.. It was not the main chip board.. and the three hash boards would power up when i re-uploaded the firmware.. but would only start for 5-15 seconds.. I was so relieved to see it work, even for a few seconds..

At this point, I was talking to the nice man for a few hours on and off; and I didn't even buy my product from Bitmain Warranty. I got it from a reseller in Japan, straight from Bitmain. Mine is November 14T Batch.

I thought I had "autofreq edition", but the technician, who goes by the name, "Z," - definitely recommend him.. said I had "650 Set Freq Firmware."

I couldnt download the firmware from the website on my Mac, so he downloaded it and sent it over via 'Team Viewer' software..

If you call Bitmain, ask for "Z" and tell him Mike with the music studio in NYC - www.MasterKings.com, recommended him. He helped me even though I didn't purchase my product from them. I was worried when he asked where I bought it; but he was beyond kind, in Europe, based in Serbia!!

Back to the Fix!

So for some reason, the firmware that worked for me, was the '650 Set Freq.' But as I said, only worked for 5-15 seconds before dropping to 0...

Scratching our heads, not believing all three hash boards were broke, or if the main chip had something wrong with it we couldn't identify... we finally noticed that only ONE fan was showing up on the Miner Status Page during those initial 10-15 seconds of the Antminer hashing..

He said the Antminer has a 'Shutdown - Fail Switch,' which will shut the miner down if only ONE Fan is working.

I tried to unplug one at a time to diagnose the issue... but it wont even run at all if both aren't plugged in..

I asked him if my S3 Fans could be a replacement.. He said he didn't think so, as they are not as strong as the new S9 Fans..

I needed to diagnose the broken fan..I swapped where the fans plugged in to see if it was one of the Fan Plugin Ports on the Main Chip; but each time the Fan by the Internet LAN Port would work, and the other fan - where the exhaust "hot air" is ejected..

So I figured out the broken fan..

Not wanting to wait because i'm impatient, I took apart my Antminer S3 and hooked up the exhaust fan into the S9 Fan Port.. I noticed the wire is wayyy shorter on the S3 Fan versus the S9 Fan and I couldn't even put it on the front where it belongs.. I just wanted to see if it would work, so I plugged it in temporarily to see if it would start up... and voila!!! It worked!! Hashing as normal!!!

At the beginning, my issue was the Antminer S9 not identifying Bminer.. but I think the fan issue was the main problem all along..

I had the " Blank Hardware " and " Blank Bminer / CgMiner " - but after re-uploading the firmware - while ONLY the main chipboard was connected - and not the hash boards.. was able to get the firmware system back up and running.. No more blank hardware or Miner..

I need to order a new fan if anybody has any recommendations.. My plan is to order it online somewhere today..

I got two powerful fans and set them up where the original fan was and have been monitoring the temperature of the chips to make sure it's not going to overheat...

I brought the frequency down to 550 from 650 to slow down the machine a little while I wait for the new fan.. and noticed I have been getting way higher bestshares.. which is kind of weird but cool! I am in the billions now, instead of hundreds of millions, which was my previous highest, even though it's hashing between 11-12.5 Th/s...

My machine at 650 frequency hits 14-16 TH/S, but until I get a new fan, I don't want to overheat the chips while I wait for the proper piece.

I made a video showing the current temporary setup.

Chip Temperatures are 82, 75, 76... so I think i'm okay. After doing research, I read some people have temperatures over 100..

I plan on shutting down the system if the chips all reach mid to high 80's just to be safe..

I'm keeping a close eye on the machine since I know this isn't the best thing to do.. but I think it's safe to run it.. The front S3 Fan is plugged in to the S9 Chip board and spinning on the side of the machine...

Here is a video my Antminer S9 with the temporary Fan Fix. I don't know if I recommend this unless you can really monitor your miner 24/7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XixLSlflcU