Re: T17/S17 malfunction: cases, solutions, remedies, RMA history
Both units were really dirty on 1 side, like it was stored in some warehouse for 3 years, i haven't inspected the inside but fans appeared to be clean. Its not just regular dust you can wipe it out, this appeared like it was glued to the miner. You could scratch it out only. Bitmain sent out replacement units within 2 days of receiving ours, and units arrived in our country in less then 2 days via DHL, so that was fast, but our customs delayed it a lot. Also one thing to notice is that Bitmain extended our warranty period for 18 days.
If in addition to your statement, the miner was oily or dirt had oily/wet look to it. You can be damn sure they used it in immersion (either Bitmain (for testing or otherwise) or some other customer which returned it for repair).
Shipping didn't cost us very much. I think total will be 80$ for shipping, and about 62$ for customs (for both units total). But the trouble we went trough has no price. Since we ordered as company we needed to provide a total of 12-17 documents ( statements, invoices, confirmations etc etc ) regarding export and import.
So, i was aware that Bitmain sent out same crappy gear and that it is just a matter of time before same issue re-occurs. I plugged in both miners. Both worked fine but then...
After 5 minutes = 1 miner dropped a board.
After 4 hours of mining = the other miner dropped 2 boards.
So conclusion is, replacement units were DOA, One miner works with 1 board, the other one works with 2 boards ( for now ). Both miners have exact same issue ( temp sensors ). I have contacted Bitmain and they told me to try and replace firmware
and if that didn't work they suggested me to send them again for repair but this time they will provide me with coupons for shipping fees. I don't mind sending the units back again for repair, but whats the point if we are going to bounce back-and forward this shitty gear until warranty expires.
So, i was aware that Bitmain sent out same crappy gear and that it is just a matter of time before same issue re-occurs. I plugged in both miners. Both worked fine but then...
After 5 minutes = 1 miner dropped a board.
After 4 hours of mining = the other miner dropped 2 boards.
So conclusion is, replacement units were DOA, One miner works with 1 board, the other one works with 2 boards ( for now ). Both miners have exact same issue ( temp sensors ). I have contacted Bitmain and they told me to try and replace firmware
and if that didn't work they suggested me to send them again for repair but this time they will provide me with coupons for shipping fees. I don't mind sending the units back again for repair, but whats the point if we are going to bounce back-and forward this shitty gear until warranty expires. At this point (as you are a company ordering from other company), I'd politely ask for a big check of compensation for all the troubles (if they give you coupons, fight that as they are mostly useless unless you plan on supporting(buying from) them (which I wouldn't do if I had gone through all that) or ask to trade your DOA and broken machines for one of their new miners (if that works for you).
If politeness does not work, you could threaten them with a legal action for sending broken machines as "new ones" and then failing to repair them, but that is totally up to you and I do not know how would that benefit you as you will probably lose a lot of time if you actually go through with it. But a little threat could work out in your favour if politeness does not as I previously stated. But it's always POLITENESS>threat.
Also do not be afraid to politely tell them that even those units that are out of warranty need to be fixed. I paid only 40 USD or something silly like that for my S17 PRO (that broke twice in a span of 9 months). First repair was in warranty and was free ("only" 2 dead boards here) and second one was like 2-3 months out of INITIAL warranty (day when I got my first unit and not it's replacement) and as I said, I paid something silly while all three boards were dead (physically there was nothing wrong with them (I personally took them out, inspected them and filmed them from both sides and sent videos to Bitmain Support)). But they kept dropping at initialization 95% of the time. Also I should note that I tried with different control board but that did not fix or change the problem in any way. Only the PSU was untested as I didn't have a different one at that time.