How to Start an ASIC Repair Business: Complete Guide

The ASIC Repair Market Opportunity

There is a quiet crisis unfolding across the Bitcoin mining industry, and it spells opportunity for anyone with a soldering iron, a sharp mind, and the nerve to build something real. The global Bitcoin mining hashrate crossed 800 EH/s in 2025 and shows no signs of slowing. That hashrate is produced by millions of ASIC mining machines — purpose-built computers that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, in environments that would destroy consumer electronics in weeks. Heat, dust, voltage transients, thermal cycling, vibration — these machines endure punishment that most hardware never faces. And they break. Constantly.

The average ASIC miner has a practical lifespan of 3–5 years before major component failures begin. Hashboard failures alone account for roughly 60–70% of all ASIC repairs. A single dead ASIC chip on a hashboard — a component that costs a few dollars — can take an entire $2,000–$8,000 machine offline. The manufacturer’s solution? Ship the entire unit back to China, wait 2–4 months, and pay a premium for a refurbished replacement. For most miners, that is not a solution — it is a death sentence for their operation’s uptime and profitability.

This is where independent ASIC repair technicians step in. The market is massively underserved. There are more broken miners in North America right now than there are qualified technicians to fix them. Mining farms with thousands of machines need local repair support. Home miners running one or two machines need someone who can diagnose a dead hashboard without requiring them to ship a 15-kilogram machine across the continent. Hosting facilities need on-site or regional repair partners. The demand exists, it is growing, and almost nobody is filling it.

Why Now Is the Right Time

Several converging factors make this the best moment in Bitcoin’s history to launch an ASIC repair business:

• Installed base is massive and aging. The S19 generation alone — S19, S19 Pro, S19j Pro, S19 XP, S19k Pro — shipped in the millions. These machines are now 2–4 years old and entering their peak failure window. The S17 generation is even older and failing at accelerating rates. Every one of these machines is a potential repair customer.
• Post-halving economics compress margins. After the April 2024 halving, miners earn half the block reward. That means every idle machine costs more relative to revenue. The incentive to repair rather than replace is stronger than ever. A $300 repair to bring a hashboard back online beats a $3,000 replacement machine.
• Home mining is exploding. The Bitaxe movement, Bitcoin space heaters, and the broader “pleb mining” ethos are putting ASIC hardware into thousands of homes. These home miners are not going to ship a machine to Shenzhen for repair — they want a local technician, a regional mail-in service, or at minimum a North American repair shop with fast turnaround.
• Manufacturer repair is broken. Bitmain’s warranty and repair process is slow, expensive, opaque, and designed for institutional buyers ordering containers of machines. The average miner with one dead hashboard is not Bitmain’s priority. Independent repair fills this gap.
• Recurring revenue is built in. Mining hardware does not break once and then work forever. Thermal cycling, capacitor degradation, fan bearing failures, solder joint fatigue — these are ongoing failure modes that create a steady stream of repeat customers. Mining farms on maintenance contracts are the gold standard of recurring ASIC repair revenue.

D-Central Technologies has been repairing ASIC miners through our ASIC repair service since 2016. We have seen this market evolve from a handful of S9s in Canadian garages to a multi-billion dollar industry with thousands of machines in need of qualified technicians. We built our repair operation from a single workbench. This guide is the roadmap we wish we had when we started — distilled from nearly a decade of hands-on experience, thousands of repairs, and every mistake worth learning from.

Skills Required

ASIC repair is not a profession you can fake. The machines will expose gaps in your knowledge immediately — a misdiagnosed hashboard, a botched BGA reball, a fried control board from incorrect voltage. You need a real foundation in electronics, and you need to build on it continuously as new models and architectures enter the market.

Electronics Fundamentals

You need a solid understanding of basic circuit theory before you touch a hashboard. This is not optional and it is not something you can skip by watching YouTube videos. You need to understand:

• Ohm’s Law and power calculations — voltage, current, resistance, and their relationship. Every diagnostic measurement you take relates back to these fundamentals.
• Component identification and function — resistors, capacitors (electrolytic, ceramic, tantalum), inductors, diodes, MOSFETs, voltage regulators (buck converters, LDOs), crystal oscillators, and of course ASIC chips themselves. You need to know what each component does, how it fails, and what it looks like when it has failed.
• Reading schematics — ASIC miner hashboards are complex multi-layer PCBs with dozens of voltage domains. You need to read a schematic and trace signal paths, identify power rails, locate test points, and understand the relationship between the control board, hashboards, and PSU.
• Power supply fundamentals — switching power supplies (SMPS), PFC circuits, LLC resonant converters. ASIC PSUs like the APW12 deliver 3,000+ watts and contain lethal voltages. Understanding their operation is essential for diagnosis and critical for safety.
• Digital logic basics — clock signals, SPI/I2C communication, serial protocols. ASIC chips communicate via signal chains, and understanding how data flows between chips is key to diagnosing “chain break” failures where one dead chip takes out everything downstream.

Soldering Skills

Soldering is the core physical skill of ASIC repair. You will perform three distinct types, and you need proficiency in all of them:

BGA work is what separates an ASIC repair technician from a general electronics hobbyist. ASIC chips are packaged in BGA (ball grid array) format — the chip sits on a grid of solder balls, each making contact with a pad on the PCB. When a chip fails, you must remove it (desoldering with controlled hot air or infrared), clean the pads, place a new chip with fresh solder balls (reballing), and reflow the solder to form reliable connections — all without damaging adjacent components or the PCB itself. This process requires temperature profiling knowledge, steady hands, good optics (microscope), and practice. A lot of practice.

Diagnostic & Test Equipment Skills

• Multimeter mastery — resistance measurement for identifying shorted voltage domains, voltage measurement for verifying power rails, continuity testing for broken traces, diode mode for testing MOSFETs and checking ASIC chip health through substrate diode readings.
• Oscilloscope usage — verifying clock signals (typically 25–50 MHz on hashboard clock lines), analyzing power supply ripple, checking SPI/I2C communication between chips, identifying signal integrity issues.
• Thermal camera interpretation — identifying hot spots (shorted components drawing excess current), cold spots (dead chips not drawing power), and thermal imbalance across a hashboard.
• Logic analyzer usage — for advanced diagnostics of serial communication between control board and hashboards, firmware-level debugging.

Software & Networking Skills

ASIC miners are networked devices. You need basic competence in:

• IP networking — static IP configuration, DHCP, subnet scanning, port access. Every diagnostic session starts with finding the miner on the network and accessing its web interface or SSH terminal.
• SSH/command line — reading kernel logs (dmesg), checking miner status, flashing firmware via command line, interpreting diagnostic output.
• Firmware management — stock firmware, custom firmware (Braiins OS, VNish, LuxOS), firmware recovery procedures, SD card flashing for bricked control boards.
• Customer communication — explaining technical failures in terms your customers understand, providing realistic timelines, managing expectations on repair outcomes. This is a business skill, not a technical one, and it matters enormously.

Essential Equipment & Investment

Your equipment determines your capabilities. A poorly equipped workshop limits you to basic repairs and forces you to turn away profitable work. Conversely, over-investing in equipment before you have customers and revenue burns capital you will need elsewhere. The right approach is to start with the essentials, prove the business, and reinvest profits into capability upgrades.

We break the investment into three tiers, each unlocking new repair capabilities:

Starter Tier: $2,000–$5,000

This is your minimum viable workshop. With this equipment, you can perform fan replacements, PSU diagnostics, connector repairs, basic SMD component replacement, and simple hashboard diagnostics. You can handle roughly 40–50% of the repairs that walk through your door.

Professional Tier: $10,000–$25,000

This tier unlocks BGA rework — the most profitable and in-demand ASIC repair skill. With a BGA rework station, thermal camera, and oscilloscope, you can tackle 80–90% of all ASIC repairs, including dead ASIC chip replacement, complex hashboard diagnostics, and PSU board-level repair.

Enterprise Tier: $50,000+

This is a full-scale ASIC repair facility. Multiple simultaneous workstations, automated BGA rework capability, X-ray inspection for verifying solder joint quality without destructive testing, and the capacity to handle volume contracts from mining farms.

Setting Up Your Workshop

Your workshop is your production facility. Its layout, electrical infrastructure, and safety systems directly affect your repair quality, throughput, and personal safety. Cut corners here and you will pay for it — in damaged customer equipment, in your own health, or in a fire.

Space Requirements

A single-technician ASIC repair workshop requires a minimum of 100–150 square feet of dedicated space. This is not a shared home office — you need a dedicated area where you can leave work in progress, maintain ESD discipline, and run 240V test circuits without sharing breakers with your kitchen appliances. A spare bedroom, basement workshop, or garage bay all work. Commercial or industrial space is ideal for professional-tier and above.

Your workshop layout should include:

• Primary workbench — where soldering, rework, and component-level repair happens. This is your ESD-protected zone with microscope, soldering station, hot air station, and hand tools within arm’s reach.
• Diagnostic station — a separate area for powering up miners and running test hashboards. This area needs 240V power, network connectivity, and adequate airflow because running miners produce significant heat and noise.
• Parts storage — organized storage for components, sorted by type and value. Anti-static bins for ASIC chips and sensitive ICs. Label everything.
• Intake/staging area — where customer equipment arrives, gets logged into your tracking system, photographed for condition documentation, and queued for diagnosis.
• Shipping/packing station — if you offer mail-in repair, you need a dedicated area for packing repaired units for return shipment.

Electrical Requirements

This is non-negotiable and frequently underestimated. ASIC miners run on 220–240V power. You cannot test a repaired Antminer S19 on a standard 120V/15A household outlet. You need:

• At least one 240V/30A dedicated circuit for your test station. In North America, this is typically a NEMA 14-30 or 6-30 outlet, the same type used for electric dryers. A single circuit can power one full ASIC miner (most draw 2,800–3,250W) plus your bench PSU.
• Multiple 120V/20A circuits for your workbench equipment (soldering stations, microscope lights, fume extractors, computers).
• Proper grounding — critical for ESD protection and your personal safety when working with high-voltage PSUs.
• As you scale, plan for 200A+ electrical service with a sub-panel dedicated to your workshop. A 4-miner test rack alone draws 50–60A at 240V.

Ventilation & Safety

• Flux fume extraction — soldering produces toxic fumes. A benchtop fume extractor with activated carbon filtration is the minimum. For heavy soldering volume, consider a ducted extraction system that vents outside.
• Miner exhaust — a single running ASIC miner pushes 200–300 CFM of hot air at 50–70°C. Your test station needs ventilation to handle this heat output. Ducting the exhaust outside or into an adjacent space is essential.
• Fire safety — fire extinguisher rated for electrical fires (Class C / CO2), smoke detector, and clear exit paths. You are working with high-power electrical equipment and hot soldering tools. Do not skip this.
• First aid kit — burns are the most common workshop injury. Keep a burn treatment kit and basic first aid supplies at your bench.
• ESD discipline — anti-static mat grounded to your building’s electrical ground, wrist straps worn whenever handling PCBs, anti-static bags for all boards in storage or transit. A single ESD event can damage an ASIC chip that costs $5 but requires $200 in labor to diagnose and replace.

Core Repair Services to Offer

Not all ASIC repairs are created equal. Some are high-margin, high-skill operations that justify premium pricing. Others are quick, straightforward jobs that build customer relationships and fill gaps between bigger repairs. Your service menu should span the full spectrum.

Hashboard Repair — The Bread and Butter

Hashboard repair is the highest-margin, most in-demand service in ASIC repair. A dead or underperforming hashboard is the single most common failure mode. Typical repairs include:

• Dead ASIC chip replacement (BGA rework) — the flagship repair. Identify the failed chip via diagnostic chain analysis or thermal imaging, remove it, reball or place a new chip, reflow. Revenue: $200–$500 per board depending on model and number of chips replaced.
• Shorted voltage domain repair — a common failure where a shorted capacitor or MOSFET pulls down an entire voltage rail. Diagnosed via resistance measurement, repaired by replacing the shorted component. Revenue: $150–$300.
• Broken trace / cold solder joint repair — thermal cycling causes solder joints to crack over time. Identified under microscope, repaired with reflow or jumper wire. Revenue: $100–$250.
• MOSFET and voltage regulator replacement — the buck converters that power ASIC chip groups fail from thermal stress. SMD replacement. Revenue: $100–$200.
• Temperature sensor and thermistor replacement — failed sensors cause false over-temperature shutdowns. Quick repair, low parts cost. Revenue: $75–$150.

Control Board Repair

Control board failures are less common than hashboard failures but still represent a meaningful revenue stream. Common repairs include NAND flash replacement (for firmware corruption), Ethernet port replacement, eMMC chip replacement, SD card slot repair, and voltage regulator failures. Revenue: $100–$300 per board.

Additional Services

Parts Sourcing

Your parts supply chain will make or break your repair business. Use genuine components and your repairs hold. Use counterfeit or substandard parts and your repairs fail, your reputation burns, and your customers never come back. Parts sourcing is a skill in itself.

Critical Components & Where to Source Them

The Donor Board Strategy

One of the smartest moves for a new repair business is to acquire “dead” or partially functional miners as donor boards. A miner with two dead hashboards and one working board can provide:

• Working ASIC chips harvested from the good board (for chip-level repairs on other boards)
• Working MOSFETs, capacitors, and connectors salvaged for parts
• A test control board for your diagnostic station
• A known-good PSU for your test setup

Buy dead S19s at scrap prices ($50–$200), harvest the working components, and use them to repair paying customers’ machines at full margin. This is how experienced repair shops maintain parts inventory without paying retail for every component.

Pricing Your Services

Pricing is where technical skill meets business sense. Price too low and you work 12-hour days without profit. Price too high and customers ship their boards to competitors. The sweet spot is pricing that reflects the genuine value of your expertise while remaining competitive within your market.

Recommended Pricing Structure

Pricing Philosophy

Flat-rate per-board pricing works better than hourly billing for most ASIC repair businesses. Here is why: your customer knows the maximum cost before they approve the repair. There are no surprises, no arguments about how long something took, and no incentive for you to work slowly. As you get faster and more efficient, your effective hourly rate increases — that is your reward for building expertise.

Set your prices based on the value of the repair to the customer, not the time it takes you. Replacing a single BGA chip might take a skilled technician 45 minutes including diagnostics, but it brings a $3,000 machine back online. That is worth $300 to the customer, regardless of your clock time. As your speed increases with experience, resist the urge to lower prices — instead, increase throughput.

Always charge a diagnostic fee. This is the most important pricing decision you will make. Without it, you will waste hours diagnosing machines for people who decide “it’s not worth fixing” after you have invested your time and expertise. A $25–$50 diagnostic fee filters out non-serious inquiries and compensates you for the diagnostic skill that took years to develop.

Finding Customers

The best repair skills in the world mean nothing without a steady flow of machines crossing your bench. Building a customer pipeline requires a multi-channel approach — online presence, community engagement, direct outreach, and word-of-mouth reputation building.

Online Presence

• Website with local SEO — a simple website targeting “[your city] ASIC repair” and “[your region] Bitcoin miner repair” keywords. Google Business Profile listing is essential for local search visibility. Most of your early customers will find you through search.
• Social media — post repair videos on X (Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok. Before-and-after thermal images, time-lapse BGA rework videos, and satisfying cleaning shots perform exceptionally well in the mining community. This content simultaneously demonstrates your expertise and markets your services.
• Google Business Profile — claim and optimize your listing. Include photos of your workshop, your equipment, and completed repairs. Actively collect Google reviews from satisfied customers. In local ASIC repair, reviews are everything.

Community Channels

• Bitcoin mining Discord servers — many active mining communities exist on Discord (Compass Mining, Braiins, various manufacturer groups). Be helpful, answer questions, establish expertise — do not spam your services.
• Telegram groups — mining-focused Telegram channels are active and engaged. Same approach: contribute value first, business follows.
• Reddit — r/BitcoinMining, r/ASICMining, r/CryptoCurrency mining threads. Answer repair questions thoroughly, link your services when relevant.
• Bitcointalk forums — the OG Bitcoin community. Mining sub-forums have been active since 2011. Your presence here signals legitimacy to experienced miners.

Direct Outreach

• Mining farms and hosting facilities — your highest-value prospects. A single mining farm contract for ongoing maintenance and repair can sustain your entire business. Reach out directly, offer a free diagnostic on their first machine, and demonstrate your turnaround time and quality.
• Local mining meetups — Bitcoin meetups happen in most major cities. Show up, talk about what you do, bring a repaired hashboard to show. Word of mouth in the mining community travels fast.
• Partner with ASIC resellers — companies that sell used mining equipment often encounter units that need repair before resale. Position yourself as their repair partner.
• Partner with D-Central — we regularly receive repair inquiries from regions where we do not have local technicians. Certified repair partners who have completed our training program get referrals from D-Central for customers in their area.

Business Structure & Legal Considerations

An ASIC repair business handles expensive customer equipment, works with high-voltage electrical systems, and operates in a niche where a single misdiagnosis can cost thousands of dollars. Proper business structure is not bureaucratic overhead — it is protection for you, your customers, and your livelihood.

Business Entity

• Sole Proprietor — simplest to set up, fine for testing the market with a few repairs. However, you are personally liable for any damage to customer equipment. Not recommended once you start handling valuable machines regularly.
• LLC (Limited Liability Company) / Canadian Corporation — strongly recommended once you are taking on paying customers. Separates your personal assets from business liability. In Canada, incorporation through a provincial or federal charter is the standard approach. Costs $500–$2,000 to set up with a lawyer or accountant.
• Insurance is not optional. You need commercial general liability insurance and, ideally, professional liability / errors and omissions (E&O) coverage. If a repaired PSU fails and damages a customer’s hashboards, or if a miner you are testing causes an electrical fire, insurance is the difference between a bad day and financial ruin. Expect $1,000–$3,000/year for adequate coverage.

Documentation & Tracking Systems

From day one, you need systems for:

• Intake forms — document the customer’s name, contact information, equipment model, serial number, reported symptoms, and the condition of the unit on arrival (photograph everything). This protects you from disputes about pre-existing damage.
• Repair tracking — track each unit from intake through diagnosis, repair, testing, and return. A spreadsheet works at first; dedicated repair shop software (RepairDesk, RepairShopr, or similar) is worth the investment once you exceed 10+ active jobs.
• Warranty terms — define your warranty in writing and have every customer acknowledge it. A typical ASIC repair warranty covers the specific repair performed for 30–90 days. It should explicitly exclude unrelated failures, physical damage after return, and power surge damage. Put this on your intake form, your invoices, and your website.
• Invoicing and payment — professional invoices with itemized parts and labor. Accept Bitcoin (obviously), credit cards, and e-Transfer (in Canada). QuickBooks, Wave, or FreshBooks for accounting from day one. Do not wait until tax season to figure out your books.

Tax Considerations

Your ASIC repair income is business income, fully taxable. However, virtually all of your equipment, parts, workspace expenses, training costs, and business-related travel are tax-deductible. In Canada, the CRA’s Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) system allows you to depreciate equipment purchases over time. An accountant who understands technology businesses is worth their fee many times over. See our Bitcoin Mining Tax Guide for Canada for the broader tax framework.

Common Repair Scenarios

After repairing thousands of ASIC miners since 2016, D-Central has catalogued the failure patterns that account for the vast majority of repair work. These are the repairs you will encounter most often — the skills you build around these scenarios will define your business.

Scenario 1: Dead Hashboard (No Hashing, Zero Chips Detected)

Symptom: Miner reports 0 TH/s on one hashboard. Kernel log shows “chain X: 0 chips detected” or “ERROR_NONCE.” The board powers on but produces no work.

Diagnostic process:

1. Check voltage domains with multimeter — look for shorted rails (any domain reading below 0.3Ω is suspect).
2. If no shorts found, power the board on a test fixture and use thermal camera — look for hot spots (shorted component drawing excess current) or cold spots (dead chip not drawing power).
3. Check the ASIC chain with an oscilloscope — verify clock signal propagation. A break in the chain indicates which chip is dead.
4. Identify the failed chip(s), remove via BGA rework station, clean pads, place new chip, reflow.
5. Test on fixture — verify full chip count restored and stable hashing for minimum 30 minutes.

Typical repair time: 1–3 hours depending on model and number of failed chips.

Scenario 2: PSU Failure (No Power, Clicking, Fan Spin-Up Then Shutdown)

Symptom: Miner does not power on, or PSU fans spin briefly then unit shuts down. No LED indicators on control board.

Diagnostic process:

1. Verify AC input with multimeter (should be 220–240V AC).
2. Disconnect all hashboard cables from PSU. Attempt power-on with only control board connected. If PSU starts, one or more hashboards has a short pulling down the PSU’s output.
3. If PSU still does not start with no load, the PSU itself is faulty. Common failures: blown fuse, failed PFC MOSFETs, dried electrolytic capacitors, failed PWM controller IC.
4. For board-level PSU repair, open the enclosure (after verifying capacitor discharge — lethal voltages inside), visually inspect for burnt components, measure key voltage rails.

Typical repair time: 30 minutes–2 hours.

Scenario 3: Fan Failure (High Temperature, Shutdown, Noise)

Symptom: Miner overheats and throttles or shuts down. Excessive noise or grinding from fans. Kernel log shows temperature warnings.

Repair: Direct fan replacement. Match the fan model (voltage, connector, CFM rating, physical dimensions). Test after replacement to verify temperatures stabilize within 55–75°C under full load. This is your quickest, simplest repair — and an excellent entry point for building customer relationships.

Typical repair time: 15–30 minutes.

Scenario 4: Firmware Brick (No Web Interface, No Network Response)

Symptom: Miner does not appear on the network. No web interface. IP scanner finds nothing. LEDs may show unusual patterns.

Recovery: Flash recovery firmware via microSD card (Antminer) or USB (some models). If NAND flash is corrupted beyond SD card recovery, NAND chip may need to be reflashed via SPI programmer or replaced entirely. UART console access via serial connection can help diagnose the boot failure.

Typical repair time: 30 minutes–2 hours.

Scenario 5: Water or Lightning Damage

Symptom: Visible corrosion, burn marks, or physical damage to components. Multiple failure modes across hashboards, control board, and PSU simultaneously.

Assessment: These are the most complex and time-consuming repairs. Evaluate each component independently. Water damage often requires ultrasonic cleaning, followed by component-by-component testing. Lightning damage frequently destroys the control board Ethernet port, power input circuitry, and one or more hashboards simultaneously. Be honest with the customer about repair economics — sometimes the repair cost exceeds the machine’s value.

Typical repair time: 3–8 hours (assessment + repair).

Growing Your Business

The first year of an ASIC repair business is about survival and skill-building. Years two through five are about growth, specialization, and building moats around your operation that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Expanding Model Expertise

Start with one or two miner families and master them before expanding. The S19 series is the ideal starting point — it represents the largest installed base, has the most abundant parts supply, and the diagnostic patterns are well-documented. Once you are confident with S19 repairs, expand into:

• S17/T17 series — notoriously fragile machines with high failure rates. High demand for repair, but the hardware is tricky (thermal paste issues, flex cable connectors).
• S21 series — the current generation, increasingly entering repair shops as warranties expire.
• Whatsminer M30S/M50S — MicroBT machines have a different architecture than Bitmain. Adding Whatsminer expertise doubles your addressable market.
• Avalon/Canaan — smaller market share but less competition for repair services.
• Open-source miners — Bitaxe, NerdAxe, NerdQAxe — growing rapidly in the home mining segment. Repair and modification services for these devices are an emerging niche.

Formal Training & Mentorship

Self-taught skill has limits. At some point, you will encounter failure modes that stump you, techniques that YouTube cannot teach, and diagnostic shortcuts that only come from working alongside experienced technicians. Formal training accelerates your growth, expands your capabilities, and — critically — gives you credibility that self-taught status does not.

Scaling Operations

• Hire and train technicians — document your repair procedures so they can be taught. The first hire is the hardest. Start with someone who has electronics fundamentals and train them on ASIC-specific skills. D-Central’s training program can accelerate onboarding for new hires.
• Mining farm contracts — approach hosting facilities and large mining operations with a maintenance contract proposal. Monthly/quarterly preventive maintenance plus priority repair service. These contracts provide predictable, recurring revenue that stabilizes your business through market cycles.
• Add parts sales — once you have established supplier relationships, selling replacement parts (fans, PSUs, cables, common components) to other repair technicians and DIY miners adds a revenue stream with minimal additional overhead.
• Offer remote diagnostics — guide less technical customers through basic diagnostic steps over video call. Charge a reduced fee. This identifies whether the issue requires shipping the machine to you or is something the customer can fix themselves (fan swap, firmware flash).
• Content and education — repair tutorials, diagnostic guides, and troubleshooting content on your website and YouTube channel build authority and drive organic customer acquisition. The more content you publish, the more customers find you through search.

Mistakes to Avoid

Every ASIC repair technician makes mistakes. The difference between a failed business and a successful one is which mistakes you make and how quickly you learn from them. Here are the costly ones D-Central has seen — and made — over nearly a decade of repair operations.

1. Taking on models you have not studied. Every ASIC miner generation has unique architecture, voltage domains, chip layouts, and failure modes. Attempting to repair an S17 hashboard with S19 assumptions will damage the board. Study the schematics, read the diagnostic guides, and practice on donor boards before accepting customer repairs for a new model.
2. Skipping proper diagnostics. Jumping straight to “replace the obvious dead component” without systematic diagnosis is how you replace one chip, power on the board, and immediately kill the replacement because the actual root cause was a shorted MOSFET on the power rail feeding that chip. Diagnostics before repair. Always.
3. Using cheap or counterfeit parts. A $2 counterfeit BM1397 chip that fails after 48 hours costs you the customer’s trust, a second repair at your expense, and your reputation. Source from verified suppliers. Pay the premium for genuine parts. Your margins are good enough to absorb the difference.
4. No warranty policy. If you do not define your warranty terms in writing before starting repairs, you will end up in disputes about what is covered, for how long, and under what conditions. Define it, print it on your intake form, and have every customer sign it.
5. Underpricing your work. New repair technicians consistently undercharge because they feel insecure about their skills. A hashboard repair that brings a $3,000+ machine back online is worth $250–$400. Do not charge $75 because you think you are “still learning.” The customer’s alternative is shipping to China and waiting months, or buying a new machine. Your local, fast, reliable service has real value. Charge accordingly.
6. Neglecting documentation. Photograph every machine on intake. Document every repair performed, every part replaced, every diagnostic measurement. This protects you in warranty disputes, helps you build a knowledge base of failure patterns, and becomes training material for future technicians you hire.
7. Ignoring the business side. Brilliant soldering skills do not compensate for sloppy bookkeeping, missing invoices, untracked parts inventory, and tax surprises. Set up proper accounting from day one. Track every dollar in and out. Your repair business is a business first and a workshop second.
8. Working on live PSUs. The APW12 contains 410V DC on its bulk capacitors. That voltage can and will kill you. Never open a PSU without verifying capacitor discharge. Never work on any power supply while it is connected to AC mains. This is not a reminder you should need twice.
9. Not investing in training. The ASIC mining industry evolves constantly. New chip architectures, new miner models, new failure modes. If you stop learning, your skills become obsolete within 2–3 years. Invest in ongoing education — courses, training programs, conferences, mentorship.
10. Promising what you cannot deliver. Telling a customer “I’ll have it fixed by Friday” when you are not sure you can source the part by Wednesday destroys trust faster than almost anything else. Underpromise, overdeliver. Give realistic timelines and beat them when you can.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Train with D-Central Technologies

You can teach yourself ASIC repair. People do. But the self-taught path takes 2–3 years of trial and error, destroyed components, frustrated customers, and missed revenue to reach the competence level that formal training delivers in weeks. Every board you damage while learning costs money. Every misdiagnosis costs time and reputation. Every technique you discover through painful experimentation is something an experienced mentor could have shown you in an afternoon.

D-Central Technologies has been repairing ASIC miners since 2016 — longer than most repair shops have existed. We have repaired 2,500+ miners across every major manufacturer and generation. Our repair facility in Laval, Quebec processes machines from across North America, and our technicians have encountered and solved virtually every failure mode documented in this guide — and many that are not.

Our Mining Training program is not a classroom lecture. It is hands-on, bench-level training on real customer machines with real failures, guided by technicians who do this work every single day. You will learn:

• Systematic diagnostics — the decision tree that takes you from “this board is dead” to “this specific chip on this specific voltage domain failed for this specific reason” in the minimum number of steps.
• BGA rework technique — temperature profiling, chip removal, pad cleaning, reballing, reflow, and verification. Hands-on practice until your success rate is reliable.
• Business operations — pricing, customer communication, intake procedures, warranty management, and parts sourcing from someone who has built and runs a successful repair operation.
• Failure pattern recognition — after thousands of repairs, you develop an intuition for what is wrong based on symptoms, model, and age. This “sixth sense” takes years to build alone. Training compresses it.
• Access to D-Central’s repair network — training graduates join a network of repair technicians across North America. We refer customers to trained technicians in their region, share technical knowledge on new models and failure modes, and provide ongoing mentorship.

The Bitcoin mining industry is decentralizing — not just the network itself, but the infrastructure around it. Home miners, distributed repair technicians, local expertise replacing centralized manufacturer dependency. By starting an ASIC repair business, you are not just building a livelihood — you are contributing to the decentralization of Bitcoin mining infrastructure. Every machine you repair locally is one fewer machine shipped back to a centralized manufacturer. Every technician we train is another node in the decentralized repair network that Bitcoin mining needs.

If you are serious about building an ASIC repair business, the fastest path from where you are to where you want to be runs through training with people who have already walked that road.