User Guider for BiXBiT Whatsminer Custom Firmware

Here is the detailed user guide for installing BiXBiT Whatsminer custom firmware, including setting up the Whatsminer, upgrading Whatsminer firmware, overclocking the miner, and more.

1. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The power supply capacity, wiring, and automatic safety fuses corresponding to the characteristics of the device.
Computer network with Internet access.
A computer connected to this network.
Ethernet cable (“patch cord”. Not included)

The device does not have a wireless communication module and requires an Ethernet cable connecting it to a router / hub (“switch”) / modem in the network.
Your computer must be on the same network as the miner.

REQUIRED SOFTWARE

WhatsMinerTool
BiXBiT Whatsminer firmware corresponding to the device.
Any Internet browser.

2. CONNECTING A DEVICE

Before turning on, make sure that your electrical network, wiring, automatic fuses correspond to the power consumption of the device.

The device does not have a power button. It starts working immediately when connected to the network, while as a rule there is a short-term excess of consumption (“jumps”). It is highly recommended not to turn on the device by inserting the plug into a live socket to avoid damage to the power connectors, plug and socket. If possible, provide each device with a dedicated automatic fuse and turn on the device with it.

Insert the power cable into the device. Make sure the connection is secure.
Plug one end of the Ethernet cable into the appropriate socket on the device and the other end into an available socket on the hub/router/modem.
Plug the power cable into a socket and turn on the power.
Make sure the device fans are running and the LED indication is on. Also, after a few seconds, the indicators in the Ethernet connector should light up and flicker.
If the fans do not work, the LEDs do not light up – check the power supply of the device.
If the device turns on, and the Ethernet indicators do not work, make sure that the router / switch is turned on and the network cable is working.

3. INITIAL DEVICE SETUP

3.1 MINER IDENTIFICATION ON THE NETWORK

You will need to determine the IP address of the miner received from the router/modem.

Run the utility WhatsMinerTool
Press the button [ IP Monitor ]①
In the opened “Detect and Bind IP” window, click the button [ Start ] ②

User Guider for BiXBiT Whatsminer Custom Firmware

Press and hold the IP found button on the device panel until the green and red LEDs flash together several times.

At the same time, a line with our miner should appear in the Detect and Bind IP window.

Pay attention to the Source IP column (for example, 192.168.88.96) – this address must be remembered.

Close this window and confirm closing (press [Ok] in the pop-up question).

Now you need to add the network scan range of the utility WhatsMinerTool

Press the button [ Miner IP ]①

If there are already any entries in this window, you can delete them, modify them, or simply add new ones.

LET’S ADD A NEW ONE

In the Start IP field ②enter the previously obtained IP address, changing the last digit to “1” (192.168.88.1).
In the End IP field ③enter the received IP address, changing the last digit to 255 (192.168.88.255)
Press the button [ Add ]④
The entered range will be displayed in the list ⑤.

Close the window or click [Ok] at the bottom of the window.

Now you can run a network scan.

In the main utility window, click [ Start ]①

In this case, the button will change its name to “Monitoring”, scanning will start and after a while the found devices will be displayed in the list.

3.2 DATA DISPLAY SETUP

Press the button [ Settings ]①
Under List Column Display Mode, select Complete Mode ②
Press [ Save ] ③

3.3 POOL AND WORKER SETUP

This setting can be done both using the WhatsMinerTool utility and through the miner’s web interface.

3.3.1 CONFIGURATION OF POOLS THROUGH THE UTILITY WHATSMINERTOOL

In the main window of the utility, check the list of miners ① that need to change the pool and worker.
Press the button [ Pools ]②. An area with the corresponding form will open.
Fill in the fields ③ Pool, Worker, Pwd (password) by the required data.
If you have only one or two pools – just uncheck the unnecessary lines in the form.

Press the button [ Start Update ] ④, pool settings will be applied.
To hide the pools form – press the [Pools] button ① again.

3.3.2 CONFIGURATION OF POOLS THROUGH THE WEB INTERFACE OF THE MINER

Open the IP address of the miner in the browser (for example, https://192.168.88.96) and enter the login / password set on the device (by default – admin / admin)
Go to section ① Configuration > Miner Configuration, tab Pool
To set the pool in the Pool 1 drop down menu ②select custom. An input field will appear instead of the drop down menu.
Fill in the field that appears, as well as Pool 1 worker and Pool Password ③

If necessary, set the Pool 2 and Pool 3
Press [Save & Apply], to save settings.

After changing pools, you need to restart the miner.

4. MINER FIRMWARE UPDATE

4.1 UPDATE THE FIRMWARE USING THE UTILITY WHATSMINERTOOL

If it is not possible to flash the miner through the proprietary utility, you need to install the service firmware on the miner using the SD card method, then use the WhatsMinerTool utility again.

Download the appropriate firmware for your device to your computer.

Go to our Whatsminer Firmware page, and find the BiXBiT Whatsminer firmware.
Download custom firmware corresponding to your Whatsminer model.

Unpack the zip file, then you’ll get the bin-file of the firmware.

In the main window of the WhatsMinerTool utility press the button [ Upgrade ] ①.
In the area that appears, click the [SelectFile] button②and select the previously downloaded bin file ③ and open ④.

ос In the main area of the window – mark the miner whose firmware needs to be updated (“tick” to the left of the IP address) ①.
Press the button [ Start Upgrade ]②.

A confirmation of the operation will appear – click Ok. The firmware installation process will start.

Do not turn off the device during the firmware process, otherwise the miner may malfunction! The device may reboot during update!

At the same time, in the line with the selected miner in the Status column, the progress of the operation will be displayed: Transferring, Upgrading and then Success, which after a while will change to Running (normal operating mode).

4.2 UPDATING THE FIRMWARE USING THE SD CARD

4.2.1 PREPARATION FOR FIRMWARE

In this case, we will use the PhoenixCard, utility, which is located in the same archive with the image for the SD card.

To choose the right archive with the image, you need to find out the version of the control board of your miner.

The version of the board can be seen in the utility WhatsMinerTool

Open the utility WhatsMinerTool,in the Version Info column you will see the version of your board.

Also, the version number is displayed in the web interface of the miner in the section

Status > Overview:

Next, you need to download the archive with the utility and the image corresponding to your control board:

Go to our Whatsminer Firmware page, find the SD-card flashing program.
Download SD-card flashing program firmware corresponding to your miner
Extract it to a convenient place for work.

Archive content:

Folder with PhoenixCard utility ①to format and record image to SD card
Image with firmware ②(file with extension .img)

4.2.2 BURNING THE IMAGE TO AN SD-CARD

Go to the PhoenixCard folder and open the application PhoenixCard.exe

You may see an “unverified source” warning window. In this window, click “details” and then click on the button that appears “run in any case”.
A window will open with an interface and buttons without labels.
Insert an SD card. It will be displayed in the main window of the program.

Click the top left button ①, in the dialog box, select the img image file ②, click [Open] ③.

Save the data from the memory card, as they will be deleted!

Make sure that file managers are not using the memory card at the moment (close Explorer, Total Commander, etc.), otherwise the recording may end with an error.
Make sure the switch ① is in the left end position. is in the left end position.
Press the button ②

The process of formatting and transferring the image to the memory card will begin.

If successful, the line with the SD card will turn green.

If the recording fails, the line with the memory card will turn red. In this case, make sure that the memory card is healthy and is not currently being used by other applications.

When you try to view the contents of the memory card with a file manager, the memory card will appear empty. However, the data for the miner firmware is present on the card and is located in the unallocated area of the partition table, before the main partition, which you can see in the system

After successfully formatting the SD card, you can start miner firmware:

Turn off the miner.
Gently insert the memory card into the corresponding slot on the miner panel with the contacts up until a characteristic click, while you will feel a slight resistance of the slot mechanism spring.

This action does not require tangible effort. If the memory card is not inserted, try turning it over and inserting it the other way.

Turn on the miner.

The process of flashing the miner will begin, accompanied by a flashing red indicator ①(“Active” и “Alarm”) on the miner panel. After the firmware is finished, the green indicator②.

After that, you need to turn off the miner from the network and remove the SD card from it – otherwise, at the next start, the miner will start the process of writing the firmware again.

5. IMMERSION COOLING

5.1 PREPARING THE MINER FOR THE DIVE

Flash the miner with the BiXBiT firmware that matches your device.
Flash the power supply of the miner with BiXBiT firmware for the corresponding model or prepare a suitable fan simulator (“trick”).
Turn off and remove the main fans of the miner ①, ②
Open the power supply cover and remove the fan ③If it is impossible to flash the power supply at the previous stages, install the fan simulator in the appropriate slot ④.

Clean the elements of the case and the board of the miner from dust and dirt.
Immerse the miner in the immersion liquid.

5.2a UPDATING THE POWER SUPPLY UNIT FIRMWARE FOR M2X SERIES MINERS

The power supply of the miner is flashed solely for the purpose of immersion diving and disabling the check of the power supply fan.

Currently there is no option to roll back the power supply firmware for air cooling operation.

OPTION 1: AUTOMATIC PSU FIRMWARE UPDATE VIA MINER WEB INTERFACE

Open miner web interface
Go to the section Configuration > Miner Configuration
Select tab PSU Firmware
To automatically update the firmware of the power supply, press the button [Upgrade PSU Firmware] ①

In case of errors when updating the firmware of the power supply, instead of the standard fan of the unit, you must install a suitable fan simulator (“trick”).

OPTION 2: UPDATE THE PSU FIRMWARE USING THE UTILITY WHATSPOWERTOOL

Go to our Whatsminer Firmware page, and find the BiXBiT Whatsminer firmware.
In the section corresponding to the power supply unit of your miner, click Download

The file will start downloading with the extension Bin.

The process of flashing the PSU miner is completely similar to the process of flashing the miner itself, described in section 4.1, except that instead of the Bin-file of the miner firmware, you must use the Bin-file downloaded in the previous step for the power supply.

5.2b DISABLING POWER SUPPLY FAN CHECK FOR M3X, M5X SERIES MINERS

The disabling of the fan check of the miner’s power supply is for immersion purposes only.

Open miner web interface
Go to the section Configuration > Miner Configuration
Select tab PSU Firmware
To disable the power supply fan test, press button [ Disable Power Fan ] ①

6. MINER OVERCLOCK

6.1 OVERCLOCKING SETTINGS PAGE

To overclock the miner, you need to install the firmware BiXBiT. You can read the description of the firmware process in the corresponding section of the manual.

Let’s move on to the overclocking settings:

Open the web interface of your device in the browser, which is located at the IP address of the miner (example: 192.168.88.96) and enter the login / password installed on the device (by default – admin / admin)
Select the section in the menu ① Configuration > ② Miner Configuration
Click on the tab Overclock ③

6.2 OPTIONS AVAILABLE ON THE OVERCLOCK PAGE

Liquid Cooling
Set this option if you are using immersion cooling. In this case, the control board will not test the presence and speed of the fans. Otherwise, the miner will not start its operation.
Current Profile
Preset overclocking presets for this miner:

Advanced Options
Opens access to fine overclocking settings.

To adjust settings:

Make the necessary changes on this page.
Click the Save & Apply button at the bottom of the page.

6.3 ADDITIONAL OVERCLOCKING SETTINGS

Target Frequency
The desired average frequency of chips on the boards, which the miner will strive for during the auto-tuning process.
Target Voltage
The desired voltage applied to the boards, which the miner strives for during the auto-tuning process.
Minimum Voltage
The minimum voltage that the miner will apply to the boards during auto-tuning.
Maximum Voltage
The maximum voltage that the miner will apply to the boards during auto-tuning.
Target Board Temp
It is not recommended to change. The temperature of the board that the miner is guided by during auto-tuning and operation. If it is impossible to keep the temperature to the specified value, the miner will allow a deviation to the maximum possible (85), after which it will reduce the frequency of the chips and, accordingly, the hashrate.
Chip Ok Percent
It is not recommended to change.
PSU Power Limit
The power consumption in watts that the miner will strive for. May exceed the specified value during operation, but not more than PSU Power Max. Recommended value – 100-200 watts less than PSU Power Max, but not more than 3800-3900 watts.
PSU Power Max
Maximum allowable power consumption. If this value is exceeded, the Miner will generate an error. The recommended value is no more than the declared power of the miner’s power supply. As a rule it is 3900-4000 W.
PSU Power Rate
It is not recommended to change.

In the columns on the right, you can see a hint for the selected preset in the form

Default – the default value
Min – the minimum possibleЁ
Max – the maximum possible value in the field.

During overclocking, you need to monitor the temperature of the chips (not to be confused with the temperature of the boards, which is displayed in the web interface in the column Temperature)

This temperature can be seen in the ChipTemp column of the utility WhatsMinerTool:

In the utility settings, you must first set the List Column Display Mode parameter to “Complete Mode”, otherwise the ChipTemp column will not be displayed.

Deciphering the value of the line “93.81_70.75_83.58”: maximum (93.81), minimum (“70.75”) and average (83.58) temperature of miner chips.

The permissible operating temperature limit for chips by the manufacturer is individual for different models of the miner (see Appendix 2)., when it is exceeded, the miner reduces the frequency of the chips. Despite the fact that the temperature is considered acceptable, it is not recommended to operate the miner under such conditions in order to avoid malfunctions.

6.4 GENERAL OVERCLOCKING STRATEGY

During auto-tuning, which lasts from about 15 minutes to two hours (depending on the conditions and parameters), the miner takes into account the parameters set in the section Overclocking.

At the same time, for the miner, the priority overclocking parameters are listed in order of importance: PSU Power Limit, Target Voltage, Target Voltage. Chip temperatures are also an important factor for autotuning.

In other words, according to the available power and temperatures, the miner sets the appropriate voltage and, in turn, the appropriate frequency for this voltage. It is possible that the miner sets a different frequency at the same voltage.

However, in the case when the available power of the power supply unit (PSU Power Limit) exceeds (or, conversely, does not cover) the needs for the voltage and frequency set by the user, the miner can significantly deviate from the specified voltages and frequencies, both up and down. If the discrepancy is too large, errors may occur during the autotuning process (for example, “Slot0 Lost Balance”).

At the same time, the miner during operation can exceed the PSU Power Limit itself, but as a rule, by no more than ~ 50-100 W.

6.5 OVERCLOCKING RECOMMENDATIONS

Set PSU Power Max to the maximum power limit of the block, no more than 3900-4000W
Set the PSU Power Limit to “safe” power available for long-term operation, but not more than 3800-3900W. It is highly recommended not to exceed the factory limit.
The difference between PSU Power Max and PSU Power Limit must be at least 200W.
Set approximate Target Frequency and Target Voltage. You need to focus on stock values.
Set Minimum Voltage and Maximum Voltage within -50 and +50 of the desired Target Voltage.

In the process of auto-tuning, the miner will select the optimal mode of operation.

You can also set the same required, minimum and maximum voltage (for example, 1430 / 1430 / 1430). In this case, the Miner will not pick up the voltage and the auto-tuning time will be reduced. However, it is recommended to “give freedom” to the miner.

During overclocking, you can use reference formulas:

Target Frequency = F_Target_Normal * ( Percent + 100) / 100
PSU Power Limit = P_Limit_Normal * ( Percent + 100) / 100
Target Voltage = V_Target_Normal * ( Percent / 5.0 + 100) / 100

F_Target_Normal , P_Limit_Normal , V_Target_Normal: basic (initial or “stock”) values of the desired frequency, power and voltage.

Percent: overclock percentage.

EXAMPLE OF OVERCLOCKING WHATSMINER M32 BY 4.3%

Base (stock) values of this miner:

F_Target_Normal = 853

P_Limit_Normal = 3600

V_Target_Normal = 1380

Thus,

Target Frequency = 853 * ( 4,3 + 100) / 100 ~= 890
PSU Power Limit = 3600 * ( 4,3+ 100) / 100 ~= 3755
Target Voltage = 1380 * ( 4,3 / 5.0 + 100) / 100 ~= 1392
Minimum Voltage = 1392 – 100 ~= 1300
Maximum Voltage = 1392 + 100 ~= 1500
PSU Power Max = 3755 + 100 ~= 3850

7. ADDITIONAL OPERATIONS

7.1 EXPORT OF THE LIST OF MINERS OF THE MAIN WINDOW WITH TABLE DATA TO CSV FILE

Click [ Export ] ①
Save ② the suggested file to a convenient location.

7.2 LOGS EXPORT

Check ① the miners for which you want to export logs
Click [ Remote Ctrl ] ②
Select the item ( Export Log ) ③ with the switch and click [ Ok ] ④
In the dialog box, select the folder where the tgz archive will be saved and click [Ok]⑤

This will change the name of the [ Remote Ctrl ] button to [ Stop ]. It can be clicked if you want to interrupt the log export process.

After a while, a file (s) of the form 192.168.88.79.20220628161335.tgz

7.3 RESET MINER SETTINGS TO FACTORY VALUES

7.3.1 RESET MINER SETTINGS USING THE UTILITY WHATSMINERTOOL

Select miner(s) ①to reset
Click [ Remote Ctrl ] ②
Select ( Restore Factory Settings ) ③
Click [ Ok ] ④
In the pop-up window, confirm your intentions by clicking [ Ok ]

7.3.2 RESET MINER SETTINGS USING THE BUTTON ON THE CONTROL BOARD

You will need an object of a suitable diameter, because. the reset button is recessed into the body to prevent accidental pressing.

Press the button [ Reset ] ①and hold it down for at least 5 seconds.

LED ②will blink and the miner will reboot with default settings.

APPENDIX 1. ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY OF BiXBiT FIRMWARE IN THE MINER CONFIGURATION SECTION OF THE MINER WEB INTERFACE

APPENDIX 1.1 TAB PROXY

You can optionally specify a proxy server.

Check the box [ Enabled ] ①
In the SOCKS Proxy field, enter the server address of the form server: port ②.
Click [ Save & Apply ] ③

APPENDIX 1.2 HOTEL FEE

To enable Hotel Fee, check the box [ Enabled ] ①
Fill in the form fields ②:
URL: pool address
User: worker name
Password: password
Fee: commission amount.
Click [ Save & Apply ] ③

APPENDIX 1.3 AMS

To connect the miner to AMS, you need to login into the BiXBiT AMS control panel and get an API key.

➔ In the AMS control panel, click [ Add Miner ] ①
Press the [ Next ] button ②
Copy the API key ③ by pressing [ Copy ] ④

In the miner’s web interface, open Configuration > Miner Configuration, AMS tab
In the API Key ① field, enter the API key obtained from the AMS control panel and click [ Install ] ②
To delete an existing key, click [ Uninstall ] ①