Is there a workaround for this issue?

Does anyone know how to deal with the Vnish firmware removal on Altairtech Asic miners? This firmware seems to be stuck on these miners, and they take a 2.5% cut from your mining profits. I've been searching online for answers but haven't found anything useful. I heard about using wireshark, but it looks like the miner will stop working until that developer fee kicks back in. So what's the actual fix? Has anyone been through this before? I’m also considering swapping out the controller. Not sure if that's a viable option though.

yeah the mara controller and the epic do not charge fees. also you can sell the vnish on ebay. switching to the mara or the epic fixes the problem https://altairtech.io/product/epic-umc/ https://altairtech.io/product/ucb2100-ltl/ if you ask them maybe they would take the vnish as a trade in. I use the epic on a lot of gear. 2 t21's modded to do a 240 volt 1 phase psu only 2 boards a case I got the psu and the controllers and a spare case all from Altairtech right now the room is too hot so it loses some efficiency but works well

Yea I've heard about Epic a lot of time, especially from you @philipma1957, I've completed my order this morning and I have also sent out a message about vnish trade in maybe that's possible but definitely not counting on it. I choose the first shipping payment option which is 3- 5 days before I get it, I will drop the result here after giving a try, I hope it will work, thanks for your support.

Is it possible that I got a defeat product? I installed the epic controller but it won't turn on, I noticed that something must have been wrong with the shipment because of the state I meet the item when I received it. Now I don't know if I should send back or blame the courier agent. I ended up asking from a friend just for testing and he sent me an OEM version from his own and to my surprise the Asic miner start working again now. I am thinking maybe I should just pay my friend instead and send back the new controller.

if the epic came in a damaged box I would return it. it may have been damaged in shipping