Hi

I'm now unfortunate enough to be part of the people who've been scammed by BTC-E.

They locked my account due to inactivity but I don't see the problem in being inactive... I had all the previous login details stored in a safe place and when I tried to login, I couldn't.

I have sent them the documents they requested (all I could provide) and all they did is ask me for more.
I sent them more documents and now I'm wondering if I should keep proceeding... if they are scammers what are they going to do with the documents

Also I don't think I ever sent them any ID before so what are they going to compare these documents with ? And what's the link between locking an account for inactivity and asking for ID ?? Either ID is required and they should block all accounts to ask for ID, or they are simply finding excuses to block accounts and make it harder for people to recover their funds.

I advise people, if you can access your account, remove your funds immediately, and stop using them.
I wasn't wise enough to do that before. I don't have much there fortunately...

I will remove this post if they unlock my account. But otherwise, I want the world to know to be very careful with these guys.

uski

Hi there !

Mounting a Chili inside a KnCminer case :
http://forum.kncminer.com/forum/main-category/hardware/18244-hack-knc-bfl-bastard-miner
(and using the KnCminer control circuit to also control the Chili)


uski

I confirm BertMod ignores the BBB and also that the readings from the DC/DCs might be a few percent off (I'm not sure if the readings are temperature compensated, and the DC/DCs usually run quite hot, so there might be some error induced by that)

72% efficiency for a cheap power supply sounds totally possible.

Hi,

Fault 4 means "overtemperature".

Try adding some small RAM heatsinks on the top of the DC/DCs.

Also check the front fans and ambiant temperature.

PS: This fault code activates when then DC/DC converter exceeds 130'C. It will shut down at 145'C. It is not OK to continue running your miner that hot !

73'C for the board temperature is a lot too. You are stressing the components.

uski

Hey guys,

Just to let you know that I have released BertMod 0.3 :
http://forum.kncminer.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/13938-bertmod-0-3-unofficial-firmware-mod-feedback-thread

It now includes bfgminer from Nov 1st !

Happy mining
uski

Hi folks

I'm the author of BertMod and I'd like to mention that some people seems to get a bit confused by the output of BertMod.

So I wrote a quick explanation :
http://forum.kncminer.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/6183-bertmod-0-2-unofficial-firmware-mod-feedback-thread?p=13503#post13503

In short :

- Sometimes BertMod doesn't detect any DC/DC module, it can happen if the DC/DC modules are purely analog and not digital, this is NOT a problem, the boards will be working as expected. It's just that they are using a type of DC/DC module that I don't support. Hey, after all BertMod is unofficial, sometimes it doesn't work

- It is normal to get some "No DC/DC module detected". KnC can change the number of DC/DC modules per board (initially they used 8 then moved to 4 as 4 was totally enough to power the ASIC). As a result, "No DC/DC module detected" is NOT an error, just some info to let you know that there is no DC/DC module in that slot, and that is fine

When I wrote BertMod i wanted to give people extra info about their miner. I didn't want to confuse anyone. Maybe I should have wrote that explanation immediately. Anyway, now I hope it's clear ! If not, let me know.

Happy mining,
uski

This really does not make sense to me.
A powered USB device does not send power back to the USB port it is connected to.

It must be something else - I don't think about something fishy, they must have a valid reason, it's just that I don't see it now.

I really wonder :
- WHY they removed it
- WHAT they precisely removed from the BBB PCB

Removing a connector, or having a special run of BBB without the connector, adds complexity to the process.
If KnC did that, they must have a really serious reason.
Or maybe there was a shortage of USB connectors, but I don't believe this.

If they removed only the connector, AND there was no reason to remove it (unlikely), then it should be easy to add a connector and plug a USB device.
If anyone feels brave enough to do it, let us know how it turns out

Same for the mini HDMI connector, it looks like it's been removed : it would be nice to connect a small LCD screen to show cgminer.
It might require some small changes to the firmware so that the "screen" process running cgminer outputs to the framebuffer, but that can be done.

I'd love to work on all this, but I need to get my miner first.

You're using bertmod 0.1,which does not yet support boards with 4 DC/DCs : ignore the "OK" for the ASIC slots which are not there (those with voltage 0 and "OK").

It's normal for the boards with 8 DC/DCs to "see" voltage at their output even while they are not active : when they are not active, they don't supply current, but they are still able to measure voltage.

uski

If you look into the strings in the firmware, there's the name for the unit depending on the number of ASICs :
0 ASICs: 0_The_Headless_Horseman
1 ASICs: Mercury
2 ASICs: Saturn
3 ASICs: 3_Cerberus
4 ASICs: Jupiter
5 ASICs: 5_Five_Headed_Monkey
6 ASICs: 6_Hosted_Max_Speed

The name of the 6 ASICs miner makes me think (pure speculation) that they actually host miners with 6 ASICs and, using a modified cgminer, they distribute the hashing power depending on what "miner" the customer bought initially. When you ask to get "your" miner out of the hosting, they just send you a miner with the correct number of ASICs (pure speculation again).

That would make sense : more uptime for the customers (no problem if just one miner goes down), less costs for KnC (less controller boards), easier to manage for KnC (just run a huge "cloud" mining farm and distribute the hashing power through software only, it's much more flexible).

It would also explain why they have a "private pool" which is actually their way to redistribute the earnings.

I could be all wrong... or totally right

Hi,

I just posted a firmware mod for KnCminer 0.93, I thought you might be interested in it :
http://forum.kncminer.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/5712-bertmod-0-1-announcing-the-first-kncminer-unofficial-firmware-mod-available-now

uski

Hi,

I see people asking if 5V power is needed, here is an unedited email reply from KNC from a few weeks ago when I asked them about this :


So YES, the miners will require a 5V power in addition of the 12V PCIe connectors.

(and YES, it would be much better for me and a lot of people if they generated the 5V from the 12V; and NO, I don't think it would have been that hard, and I'm an electronic engineer - well, room for improvement in the next gen )

Hope this helps
uski

Hi,

Just got a refund a few days ago.

I started a PayPal dispute at day 44 (I ordered and knew that if they did not ship by 45 days I will start a dispute on time).

I do not consider the rate at which they are shipping to be really shipping, because they lied on their shipping rates.
I don't have ANY problem with getting a refund by any mean under those circumstances.

And it's funny because BFL just announced the Monarch - I won't order from them but there is a shift toward more powerful devices, so I'm glad I got my money back.

I will NEVER AGAIN order from BFL. In 10+ years doing online e-commerce I've never seen people behaving like them.
The people in the BFL forums are like affected by the Stockholm syndrome : every time there is the slightest hope for something positive, they all get happy, and they don't see the big picture.

uski

Seems legit.
...or not...

I don't get it why Ripples get so much publicity.
OK, it's probably a scam, but what makes it so interesting that people are interested in it more than any other altcoin ?

=> When it comes to BFL you CANNOT say that it's just a production delay.

I work in the electronics industry and there is ABSOLUTLY NO SINGLE WAY you can legitimately encounter a delay of more than 6 months WITHOUT being able to find a solution.

The only possible delay in the case of BFL is on the ASIC chips, but according to them it's not the delay, so.... it must be something else.

_they are not shipping_.
Shipping a few products a week is NOT really shipping, when you have tens of thousands of orders waiting to be sent.
It's like a company sending out a few samples and saying "we're in full production".

I don't have any legitimity to tell people whether to order or not - do your own research and assume the risks you take.
But I can give you one advice : USE PAYPAL. It will protect you during 45 days.

At least if BFL goes bust within the next 45 days, which is possible, you will have a chance to see your money back.

This "newbie" forum is interesting.
It should be renamed to "scammers".

It's a strange place where real people HAVE TO be tortured before being allowed to escape to the real world

This is a useless post to get past the useless protection against spammers

Actually, I'm also having the problem that says "last activity < 360 secs". Not sure if this post will go through.