Bitcoin mining company is puzzled why Bitmain changed the design of S19 Antminers.
Bitcoin mining company Compass Mining has announced that it has found three vulnerabilities in the ASIC design of its two new Antminer S19 miners, which are primarily used for Bitcoin mining.
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These issues can cause machines to overheat and sometimes break down completely.
The company’s mining team warned in a May 6 post that “miners need to be prepared,” especially those buying S19 90T and S19 XP Antminers built from 2022 onwards.
Although the company said that “other versions may be affected,” the three flaws identified by the company stem from the devices’ lack of a peripheral interface controller (PIC), the use of aluminum plating instead of laminated material, and component assembly. it is attached to the sideboard.
According to Compass Mining, Peripheral Interface Controllers, or PICs, are used to control and monitor a number of devices and systems in all types of electronics. Used in ASICs to communicate with individual hash panels, not as a unit.
But that has been removed from recent designs, the company said.
“In ASICs, the PIC sits on top of the hash panel and has to communicate with each hash panel separately. Or set the item as one item instead of three hash panels.
Compass Mining explains that this lack of a PIC means that if one hash panel fails, the entire rig will “completely go down.”
“But the miner is completely wrong. We have found this to be the case with the S19 XP 141 TH drives, which tend to fail completely if only one disc fails.
The mining company also said that coating the hash board with aluminum could cause it to overheat and therefore cause a higher “failure rate” than that produced on printed circuit boards (PCBs) – namely the creation of old S19s.
That would “require more services,” the company said.
Meanwhile, the company also expressed concern over the mining unit’s shift to aluminum, calling it a “net negative.”
“We view the decision to switch to aluminum plating the hash plates as a negative — it would increase ASIC failures and under-hashing, but also increase maintenance and service costs,” he wrote.
And the company also explains that the presence of aluminum can make it difficult to replace bad chips:
“Compounding on the absence of a PIC code is the sudden switch to aluminum plates on all dash panels. If one plate gets hot due to the hot cracking of the aluminum, the whole device will fall, not just one plate affected.
Compass Mining said they first noticed an increase in yield when they installed S19 XP at a partner company in Texas, which can be affected by humidity and hot weather.
As for the third step, the company pointed out that keeping the aluminum chassis—the ASIC’s main framework—intact can also contribute to higher failure rates.
Because aluminum absorbs so much heat, the metal causes “convective heating” inside the chassis, the company explains before offering some solutions:
“The solution to this would be to increase the airflow of the air mass in the air-collared area to dissipate the heat stored in the mine – a different design or more powerful fans.”
Related: Bitcoin ASIC Miner Prices Hit Lows Not Seen in Years
Other solutions offered by the company include finding third-party firmware that allows the frequency and voltage of the machine to be regulated within reasonable temperature and humidity ranges to ensure the mining machines run longer.
However, the company admitted that they may have just received a “bad batch” from Bitmain and that it is “common wisdom” when mining Bitcoin to not buy the first batch of Bitcoin ASICs.
“Unknown bugs will show up over time, so others should investigate them first,” it says.
Cointelegraph reached out to Bitmain, but there was no response at the time of publication.
Bitmain Antminers have been used to mine cryptocurrencies like BTC, Dogecoin.
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