Which Antminer Control Board Do I Have?
DCENT_OS: The current Experimental record lists exact-board status cards and their separate static availability. Identify your model suffix and board target, then read its package, verification and recovery card. A board-family match or SD slot alone does not authorize installation; other controller families do not inherit these downloads.
Before you flash, unlock, recover or replace anything on an Antminer, you need one fact:
which control-board family you are holding. Bitmain shipped four — Xilinx Zynq, BeagleBone
(AM335x), Amlogic (A113D) and CVITEK (CV1835) — and they differ in recovery media, firmware
options, and whether an open firmware can run at all. The identifier below gets you to a
confident answer in under a minute, then routes you straight into the right recovery entry,
dataset row and firmware path on this site. It works with JavaScript disabled: every question
and every outcome is on this page.
Four control-board families run the Antminer fleet: Xilinx Zynq, BeagleBone (AM335x), Amlogic (A113D) and CVITEK (CV1835). The family — not the model name — decides your recovery media, your firmware options and whether the board can be unlocked at all. One model does not equal one board: the S19j Pro alone shipped with all four board types across production batches. Never assume the board from the sticker.
Step 1 — Does the miner still boot?
If you can reach the web UI or SSH in, software identification is the reliable route — it reads the silicon directly instead of guessing from the enclosure.
- It boots — I have web UI or SSH access Software identification is the most reliable route. Two commands.
- It’s dead, or I’m holding a bare board Three of the four families have a Verified physical signature.
- Neither — it’s sealed, remote, or not in front of me What you can and can’t conclude without access.
Software identification — the reliable route
| Action | Command / location | You should see | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read the SoC over SSH Supported | cat /proc/cpuinfo |
Dual Cortex-A9 (Zynq) · quad Cortex-A53 AArch64 (Amlogic A113D) · single Cortex-A8 (TI AM335x BeagleBone) | The CPU string names the board family directly. |
| BraiinsOS platform key Verified | cat /etc/bos_platform |
A platform string such as zynq-bm3-am2 |
On BraiinsOS installs the prefix is the board family, stated by the firmware itself. |
| Web-UI build string Supported | Web UI → system / overview page | A build-target string naming the control-board build | Stock and custom firmwares embed the board target in the build name. If the string names CV1835 / CVITEK — that is your answer. |
| ASIC ChipID over the chain Verified | Chain enumeration (kernel log, or a firmware that reports ChipID) | 0x1387 = S9-gen BM1387 · 0x1397/0x1398 =
S17/S19-gen · 0x1362 = S19j Pro |
Identifies the ASIC generation only. It narrows the model — it must never be mapped 1:1 to a control board (an S19j Pro can carry any of the four). |
Read your result
Step 2 — Look at the board. Which of these matches?
Power the miner off and look at the control board itself — the small PCB with the Ethernet jack, separate from the three hashboards. Check for an SD/microSD slot, first on the board, then under the enclosure cover. Three of the four families have a Verified physical signature; CVITEK has none — it is identified by software or by elimination.
- There is an SD-card slot on the control board itself, with a 2-pin boot jumper (J3 / JP4) nearby → Xilinx Zynq Verified The on-board slot plus jumper is the Zynq signature.
- The SD card sits inside the enclosure cover — you must open the cover to reach it → BeagleBone Verified An internal SD card is the BeagleBone signature.
- No SD slot anywhere, but the board has a micro-USB (OTG) port → Amlogic Verified No SD slot plus a micro-USB recovery port is the Amlogic signature.
- None of these match / I’m not sure Use software identification — the reliable route. A dead-board fallback (the SoC part marking) is linked from there.
Ignore the 18-pin hash-board connector. The 18-pin (2×9, 2.0 mm pitch) connector is shared across the Zynq-era families — it is deliberately universal, which is exactly why it identifies nothing. Verified
Why we never ask where the port sits. Forum lore says things like “micro-USB on the faceplate” or “SD slot next to the Ethernet jack.” The presence or absence of these ports is documented; their placement is not verified across board revisions — so this identifier only asks questions with verified answers.
Fallback — read the SoC part marking
Inferred The part numbers below are verified per family, but whether the printed marking is legible on your board in-situ is not guaranteed — coatings and heatsinks get in the way. If you can read the main SoC:
Result: Xilinx Zynq control board
Silicon: Xilinx Zynq-7010 (XC7Z010) — dual Cortex-A9 @ 667 MHz with an on-die Artix-7 FPGA driving the hashboard UARTs; X19-generation boards (C55/C71) use the Zynq-7007S. Verified
Era / models: S9, S15, S17, T17, S19, S19 Pro, S19j Pro (Zynq batches). Remember: later S19j Pro batches moved to BeagleBone, Amlogic or CVitek — the family is per-board, not per-model. Verified
Recovery path: SD-card boot via the J3/JP4 jumper — non-destructive, NAND untouched; revert by pulling the card and restoring the jumper. Verified U-Boot serial console over UART is the second door. Supported
DCENT_OS: the current Experimental catalog
contains separate exact-model Zynq/Xilinx packages. Match the full suffix and board target;
a family identification alone does not authorize installation. Native raw SD trials, the base
S9 first-install-only archive and the S19j Pro existing-DCENT_OS update have different
installation and recovery boundaries. Earlier
project-reported accepted-share bench history does not qualify these current artifacts;
physical boot, mining, endurance and recovery qualification remain pending. The S17
am2-s17p listing does not authorize S17 Pro or another controller.
Continue:
Result: BeagleBone (AM335x) control board
Silicon: TI AM335x Sitara, single Cortex-A8, no FPGA — chain UARTs are software-driven (/dev/ttyO1–5). Verified
Era / models: late-2021+ S19j and S19j Pro on the
S19J_IO_BOARD_V2. Verified
Recovery path: reflash the internal SD card under the enclosure cover. Verified
DCENT_OS: the exact am3-bb-s19jpro developer route is an
AM335x SD payload requiring separately verified MLO, U-Boot, kernel and carrier-aware
DTB boot assets. Check the current catalog
for whether that payload is published. A signed payload, when listed, is not a complete raw
SD image or a supported consumer installer. It does not authorize NAND installation or
revert. Do not raw-write its tar archive. No supported consumer installation path is
provided here. Keep original firmware and media unless the external boot assets and
exact preparation/recovery are independently verified. Earlier lab history
does not qualify a current package for physical boot, accepted shares or recovery.
Continue:
Result: Amlogic (A113D) control board
Silicon: Amlogic A113D, quad Cortex-A53 (AArch64), no FPGA, a single UART multiplexed across all chains. No SD slot; the recovery rail is the micro-USB OTG port. Verified
Era / models: latest S19j / S19j Pro batches, S19 XP, S19k Pro, S21, T21. On the S21 the voltage path is TAS5782M DACs — there is no PIC on that board. Verified
Recovery path — date-dependent: micro-USB OTG reflash (USB_Burning_Tool) Verified — but Bitmain stock firmware from September 2025 onward disables the micro-USB recovery handler, and the March-2024 lock already gates custom firmware. Which stock build your board carries decides everything: check the firmware lock tracker before you plan a flash.
DCENT_OS: in-place install on stock Amlogic is blocked (AMLCtrl boundary); only a lab-gated runtime window exists. Not shipped for this family.
Continue:
Result: CVITEK (CV1835) control board
Silicon: CVITEK CV1835, no FPGA, chains multiplexed through
uart_trans.ko. Supported
Application CPU: dual-core ARM Cortex-A53 (aarch64) at a supported ~1.0 GHz — the
«RISC-V» figure some sources repeat traces to a vendor PDF mislabeled CV1835 that
actually documents the CV1812H.
Verified
Era / models: recent S21/T21 batches, T19, S19j Pro, S19k Pro, S19 XP, S19j XP, L9. Supported
Recovery path: the boot ROM loads bl1.bin + bl2.bin
from a FAT32 volume — an analysis path only. Persistent custom installs are
blocked (eFuse-locked signed FIP chain), and vendor “custom” firmwares
for this family run as parasitic overlays that revert to stock on cold boot.
Verified
Supported
DCENT_OS: blocked — marked not-attempted. No unsigned persistent boot path exists on this family, from anyone.
Continue:
Result: still unidentified
Without board access or network access there is no honest answer from the model sticker alone — the same model ships with different boards. A dead board with unreadable silicon is not a dead end either — it just moves the identification into the recovery workflow, which is organized by family for exactly this reason. If your board carries Braiins BCB100 or other aftermarket markings, it is not a Bitmain board and these terminals don’t apply — start from the reference dataset below.
When the firmware filename and miner label seem to disagree
After identifying the controller, cross-check three separate fields on the current DCENT_OS release card: the named miner model, the exact board target and the package method. A familiar model fragment in a filename is not enough. The beta20261002 catalog contains naming exceptions that make this check useful.
Example 1: a filename containing “s17pro” is listed for S17
The catalog names Antminer S17 for target am2-s17p. Its original filename is dcentos-s17pro-sd.img; the standardized alias is DCENTOS_XIL2_S17_beta20261002.img. Those names refer to the same recorded SHA-256, not two different compatibility promises. Follow the catalog’s S17 model and exact target; neither the “pro” filename fragment nor the target’s final “p” authorizes S17 Pro. The listed method is external-media boot, with no NAND installation permission.
Example 2: S19j Pro appears in two different controller packages
For Zynq/Xilinx, am2-s19j maps to dcentos-sysupgrade-am2-s19jpro.tar: a guarded update for an existing DCENT_OS runtime, not a first install from stock or a raw SD image. The running DCENT_OS firmware must already accept the approved development signing authority; selecting a host key does not change the miner’s runtime trust. For BeagleBone AM335x, am3-bb-s19jpro maps to dcentos-am3-bb-s19jpro-sdcard.tar: a developer payload requiring separate boot assets. The BB3 developer payload has no supported consumer installation path. The shared model name and .tar extension do not make these packages interchangeable.
Example 3: a matching hash answers a narrower question
A matching published SHA-256 connects your downloaded bytes to the catalog entry. A valid signature checked against an independently approved public key connects those bytes to the selected signing authority. Neither check identifies the controller in your miner, converts an update archive into a bootable card image, or proves physical boot, mining and recovery qualification. Read the card’s route prerequisites and qualification limits before choosing a method. The six scoped source bundles and coverage notes describe supplied source; they do not establish complete third-party corresponding source or a fully reproducible firmware image.
For other firmware projects, repeat the compatibility check using their own current documentation: Braiins’ supported-device table includes controller, hashboard and PSU details; LuxOS’ compatibility table also distinguishes controller and hashboard combinations. A supported combination in one project does not authorize a package from another. References checked October 4, 2026.
After you identify the board
The family decides the next move. Zynq boards recover over the SD slot with the boot jumper —
start at the SD-card recovery guide. Amlogic
boards live or die by their stock firmware date — check the
firmware lock tracker before planning anything.
Every family has a dedicated entry in the
control-board recovery playbook and a full dataset row
(SoC, models, chip family, host interface, flash notes) in the
ASIC control board reference. If the board itself is
the casualty, the replacement
board buying guide covers sourcing, and our repair bench covers
everything else. Symptom still undiagnosed? Walk the
Antminer troubleshooting decision tree —
its board-dependent forks link back here.
How do I identify my Antminer control board without opening the case?
If the miner boots, don’t open anything: read cat /proc/cpuinfo over SSH.
Dual Cortex-A9 means Xilinx Zynq, quad Cortex-A53 means Amlogic A113D, single Cortex-A8 means
BeagleBone AM335x. On BraiinsOS, cat /etc/bos_platform names the board family
directly. The software route is more reliable than any visual check.
Which Antminer control boards have an SD-card slot?
Xilinx Zynq boards carry an SD slot on the board itself with a boot jumper (J3/JP4) beside it.
BeagleBone boards boot from an SD card mounted inside the enclosure cover. Amlogic boards have no
SD slot at all — their recovery rail is a micro-USB OTG port, and stock firmware from September
2025 onward blocks it.
Does every Antminer S19j Pro use the same control board?
No — and this is the trap that bricks boards. The S19j Pro shipped with four different control
boards across batches: Xilinx Zynq, BeagleBone, Amlogic and CVitek. Recovery media and firmware
compatibility are properties of the board, not the model name. Identify first, flash second.
Does the hash-board connector identify the control board?
No. The 18-pin (2×9, 2.0 mm pitch) hash-board connector is shared across the
Zynq-era families — it is deliberately universal, which is exactly why it cannot discriminate
between board types. Use the SD-slot/micro-USB signals or software identification instead.
Installation path for this board
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Last reviewed October 4, 2026.