Antminer S19e XP Hyd. 251T Hardware Issue: Chip Not Accessible

The Antminer S19e XP Hyd. 251T has experienced a third of its hash rate decrease and now refuses to start after a reboot, with indications that one chip is inaccessible. The firmware appears to be a common version. The log reveals version checks and EEPROM data loads across multiple chains, with the firmware version being invalid at 5 instead of 4 initially. The system proceeds to load data successfully, and the miner type is recognized correctly. During startup, the device attempts to initialize temperature and power protocols, and after some retries, it detects ASICs but reports an incorrect ASIC number, leading to a shutdown sequence due to hardware inconsistency. This situation suggests a hardware issue, possibly with the ASIC chips or the communication lines, resulting in at least one chip being unresponsive or physically damaged. Firmware inconsistencies are less likely to be the root cause, given the successful data loads but hardware recognition failure. To troubleshoot, consider inspecting the hardware connections, verifying the integrity of the ASIC chips, and resetting or replacing problematic chips. Firmware reinstallation may be risky without confirming hardware health since the logs point to hardware recognition errors. Consulting the manufacturer's technical support or replacing the affected hash board could be necessary.