New miner getting started!

[CNPurvis]

Hi. I'm a brand-spanking-new miner. I'm trying to get set up, and having issues with my miner.

I have a custom-built PC with an AMD 3-core processor, and on-board graphics. I'm using GUIminer for my mining software. (I'll note that I'm not married to it.)

I think I have everything set up except for the settings in GUIminer. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that too. In guiminer, I chose File> new CG miner. I used this one because I want to make a CPU miner. It seems my GPU doesn't support mining. Or it isn't supported by GUIminer? Next, for the server, I choose Other and manually input prohashing.com. I had 3334 as the port. Username and password are what they are. I leave "extra flags" blank. Underneath that, I have the CPU affinity. Its options are 0, 1, and 2. I choose 2 because my CPU has 3 cores. When I click "Start mining!" nothing happens. The status in the bottom right says 'Stopped.'

The first thing I tried was just filling in the settings boxes without choosing "new" anything from the file menu. I chose prohashing for the server; 3333 for the port (I saw that number listed in some instruction); same name and pass; nothing for "device" because it reads "No OpenCL device" and nothing for extra flags. Again, I clicked 1 and 2 for CPU affinity. With this option, I do get stuff in the status field. Left side reads "Shares: 0 accepted, 1 stale/invalid." Right side reads "connecting." (At times, the bottom left reads "ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack." Very perplexing to me.)


I'm eager to get this solved so I can start my mining. Thank you in advance.

[GregoryGHarding]

for cpu mining, you need to use minerd, keep in mind cpu mining this late in the game is not profitable, unless youre just getting your feet wet

[CNPurvis]

Hi. I am getting my feet wet. But I want to make some coin too. What's your recommendation as far as an alternative? GPU mining? It a big machine with an ASIC board?

[GregoryGHarding]

you can either buy a decent GPU but your electricity cost might outweigh your earnings.. if you have existing funds you can check out mining righ rentals, i can link you there if you like, you can rent a full mining rig for x hours and set your pools. its good for beginners to test the waters and for pros who know how to make good profit. did you try out minerd? if not i can link you to my recommended branch

[CNPurvis]

I haven't tried minerd. I actually haven't been back home long. Please recommend away. And if possible, direct me to a step-by-step setup.

Many thanks

(I'm pricing graphics cards right this moment. )

[GregoryGHarding]

I haven't tried minerd. I actually haven't been back home long. Please recommend away. And if possible, direct me to a step-by-step setup.

Many thanks

(I'm pricing graphics cards right this moment. )

minerd-multi:

Code: Select all

https://github.com/lucasjones/cpuminer-multi/releases/download/v1.0.3/cpuminer-multi.zip

.bat examples:

Code: Select all

minerd -a scrypt -o stratum+tcp://prohashing.com:3333 -u phusername -p "n=test a=scrypt"
minerd -a x11 -o stratum+tcp://prohashing.com:3333 -u phusername -p "n=test a=x11"

[CNPurvis]

Beautiful. Many thanks. How do I proceed with these? I've never used batch files more than an average user, even though I'm not an average user.

[GregoryGHarding]

Beautiful. Many thanks. How do I proceed with these? I've never used batch files more than an average user, even though I'm not an average user.

-in the folder you unzipped minerd to: right click > new > text document
-change the filename from New Text Document.txt to prohashing.bat
-then open the file with notepad, then paste one of the two lines in the file, x11 to mine x11 algo, scrypt, for scrypt. and change the "-u phusername" to your username
-save the changes
-now double click the bat file, and minerd should start with the settings in the bat

[CNPurvis]

Thank you! Should it run as a command line?

I followed your directions, and have a file whose contents look like this:

minerd -a scrypt -o stratum+tcp://prohashing.com:3333 CNPurvis -p "n=test a=scrypt"

I saved the file, and when I double click, it just reopens the text doc.

Does my pw need to be in there? I believe I already opened port 3333.

[GregoryGHarding]

yes