WARNING! Avoid Buying Antminer S9k

The S9 series is pretty much on its last legs for most users, but they still have some appeal for those with low-cost or free electricity. I needed a few more miners for a small setup where voltage isn’t a problem, and S9s were really my only choice if I wanted something "new". So, I decided to give the S9k a shot after testing a couple of them, which worked fine initially. But then, the new units I got were just awful and the situation went downhill from there. Almost half of them lost a board after just a few days. The ones that didn’t lose a board were no better, with all sorts of issues cropping up. They’d hang, stop hashing, keep rebooting, or not even show the real hashrate on the pool side (we’re talking 20-30% less). And it gets worse. Some of these miners arrived in terrible condition. I’m super frustrated and could rant more, but I’ll cut it short here. Just so you know: 1- I have other S9 models running in the same location (S9, S9i, S9j) and they’re all doing great. 2- The internet connection is solid and there’s plenty of bandwidth. 3- The environment is cool with good airflow. 4- I’ve tried every firmware version available, and the latest from December 2019 only fixed the temp reading issue, nothing else. My setup is solid, so I can’t blame anything but Bitmain for these issues. Sending these miners back for RMA would cost more than they’re worth. Bottom line: DO NOT BUY ANTMINER S9K.

To be clear these are not the Sept 2019 batch. These are newly ordered. If so they are terrible. My 4 ordered for sept 2019 were new. You got used gear. Every once in a while they do this.

I have to ask. Have you ordered them recently? If they are still in warranty go back to Bitmain, start the ticket for the whole order and put them to pay to have them back and serviced at their expense... Also, go on their Facebook and Twitter, even LinkedIn if they have if they do not help out as this is inadmissible. No one should get used gear, let me correct that. If you get used gear it has to be within certain standards. I haven't dealt with used gear as much as other members in this community, but I have never, yet, seen a falling radiator... Again, really sorry to hear this has happened to you and hope you get through it

one of the issues is the cost of shipping it back.  it is dirt cheap item so shipping price kills him to ship it back. They are 97 dollar units.  if he spends 50 to ship it back he has to pay.  so now the unit is 147 not 97.

Yes it sucks but can you mix and match boards to get a fully working units? If you do that and then scrap the rest of the hash boards and sell the controllers you might be able to recoup a bit of your loss. All the while screaming at Bitmain for some sort of a credit. -Dave

I can't say these are used, maybe refurbishment or haven't passed their quality control, I hate Bitmain for doing this but I have to be honest in my complain/review. The gears seem and smell brand new, despite that some have different heat sinks colors I doubt these are used, at lease the once i tempered with attempting to fix them. Yes. I don't have to go that far, a single email is more than enough to get them to "admit their mistake" and ask me to ship the gears back to them, which is not an option as i have explained in the OP. There is nothing wrong with buying used gears if they are labeled as "used",  selling brand new miners and sending used once is another story, but as I have explained, I can't confirm that gears are used, they might be, but if that is the case then Bitmain did an amazing job making them look like brand new. It's nothing too serious, I think I had worse stuff happen to me before,  I am glad they weren't S17+ or anything like that. I now have a good amount of PSUs sitting there doing nothing, so next step would be sourcing S9s without PSUs and/or sell them along with the control boards, they don't worth much, but still better than nothing. I remember having a similar issue "on a smaller scale", it was an S9i IIRC, They refused to give me any coupons let alone credit, and asked me to send the miner back to china, after a few emails back and forth, they suggested that I send only the faulty hash board, which doesn't make any sense now given the cost of the miner.

How do you get bitmain to pay for shipping?  I've had a 20% failure rate with a shipment after 1 month in a climate controlled facility...  Shipping was 700$ and our electrician didnt blink at the price to ship them back (WTF).

On a case by case basis. For example, personally, I would chase them on common issues for miners in the exact circumstances I have encountered and allow them to answer on the lines of 'in this environment, the equipment should behave optimally'. Now, if the answer would be received would take it from there and find possible reasons (again coming from them) as to why the miners are not working. In a utopian society, would shift the blame and obtain an exception to the case on delivery charges on warranty returns, conditioned on the issues being solely theirs and not mine. This would ofc be conditioned again on the testing and if the report finds them at fault I would accept the shipping paid by me to be refunded, again, have it in writing as pre-agreed, and again, this costs time to achieve. It would be a back and forth process, requiring time, thus costing money, but for higher amounts, anything more than $£1000 for me, I would chase it, again personally I would, as everything that helps reduce costs impacts my ROI.

I would want to chase anything thing I could potentially get from Bitmiain, but I kind of lost hope, I once ordered Antminer L3+ and it have not arrived, the shipping status on DHL tracking website was stuck at the same location for days. I ended up contacting DHL themselves, and after a couple of days of Emails ,phone calls and even personal visits. DHL finally admitted that they have no idea where the shipment is and the local branch told me it's now considered lost and that I should proceed with the "insurance refund". And as you might already know, only the sender can claim the refund, so I went ahead and emailed Bitmain, I explained the situation in details and after a dozen back and forth conversation with their stupid customer service they offered to give me a coupon. At that point in time, Bitmain coupons were going for almost free, they had no value at all, and when I refused to accept their offer - they refused to do anything anymore and they said "The miner's ownership is transferred to you the moment DHL picks it up from us", they did not even want to bother with claiming the refund from DHL and send me a replacement for the miner I have not received. After a while from the last email I received from Bitmain (the whole thing took about 2 months from start to end) they sent another email saying DHL informed them that the miner was "found" and they sent me the new tracking number. The mining industry is a bad place when Bitmain is actually considered better than most other manufacturers, I have heard worse things about Whatsminer and others, terrible customer and after sales services is nothing out of the ordinary in China in general, with of course some exceptions.

I only have one Antminer S9K and haven't had any trouble with it whatsoever.  I purchased it from Bitmain beginning of November.

I have the same problem with an Antminer T17+ 64 TH/s. Minimum the halves of the heat sink have fallen off. The device was in operation for 1 month. Delivery December 2019. In the first step, the repair center said that it was my fault. I should pay 1599 USD. But: - The device was always operated correctly and has no signs of wear on the outside (you can see it). - We did not overclocked it (Kernel Log). - The hash boards are not corroded or oxidized (you can see it). - The device was not exposed to moisture and was sent to the repair center in its original packaging (you can see it). - We don't immersed the boards in oil or liquid (you can see it). According to their guarantee information there is no reason to deny the guarantee. Bitmain needs to replace the device. Otherwise it's fraud. I will report.

I get a replacement device. You have to be persistent and insist on your rights.

The s9s were like s3-s