After some more drilling and cleaning, the s/c disappeared. I connected some signal paths on the PCB by making some educated and some completely random guesses, and I used the thermal camera again to check that at least the last ASIC still worked. And it did!
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
After some more drilling and cleaning, the s/c disappeared. I connected some signal paths on the PCB by making some educated and some completely random guesses, and I used the thermal camera again to check that at least the last ASIC still worked. And it did!
After more drilling, the mf still wouldn't go away, so I took another video. Btw, drilling a PCB is no fun. I was essentially burning the material away and subsequently inhaling it instead of drilling it. It seemed to be a four-layer PCB.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
After more drilling, the mf still wouldn't go away, so I took another video. Btw, drilling a PCB is no fun. I was essentially burning the material away and subsequently inhaling it instead of drilling it. It seemed to be a four-layer PCB.
However, the s/c wouldn't go away, so it was time to take out my new thermal camera. I connected the board to a regulated power supply, set the voltage to 12V, and limited the current to 10A. Here's what I got.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
However, the s/c wouldn't go away, so it was time to take out my new thermal camera. I connected the board to a regulated power supply, set the voltage to 12V, and limited the current to 10A. Here's what I got.
I removed the SMDs related to the affected ASIC and drilled out the burned part to get rid of the s/c.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I removed the SMDs related to the affected ASIC and drilled out the burned part to get rid of the s/c.
And this is what it looked like under the heatsink.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
And this is what it looked like under the heatsink.
The same failure happened again on the same board. This is what it looked like on the other side of the board.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The same failure happened again on the same board. This is what it looked like on the other side of the board.
I recently managed to fix yet another failure of ASIC mining hw. The Z15 machine has three hashboards, each of which has three ASICs. This is what the hashboard looks like. The hole in the PCB is due to a previous failure in the power circuitry.
March 31, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I recently managed to fix yet another failure of ASIC mining hw. The Z15 machine has three hashboards, each of which has three ASICs. This is what the hashboard looks like. The hole in the PCB is due to a previous failure in the power circuitry.
Just came across this classic gem.
February 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Just came across this classic gem.
How it started and how it's going.
July 20, 2024 at 10:29 AM
How it started and how it's going.
This actually works, unlike the weird psy op with the flies.
June 13, 2024 at 6:28 PM
This actually works, unlike the weird psy op with the flies.
This fella has been going strong for a decade now. It went through many short circuits and occasional flame but still in service.
January 3, 2024 at 10:38 PM
This fella has been going strong for a decade now. It went through many short circuits and occasional flame but still in service.
I know you didn't ask, but this is what's inside a 9V battery.
September 17, 2023 at 10:17 AM
I know you didn't ask, but this is what's inside a 9V battery.
What the OS gets when you keep mallocing, but don't match it with free.
September 9, 2023 at 10:00 PM
What the OS gets when you keep mallocing, but don't match it with free.
Searching for 'error "Invalid search bound (wrong side of point)"' for the past month in Google doesn't return anything relevant. ddg.gg returns an exact match to a static html page in its first result.
August 5, 2023 at 12:14 AM
Searching for 'error "Invalid search bound (wrong side of point)"' for the past month in Google doesn't return anything relevant. ddg.gg returns an exact match to a static html page in its first result.