Thank you for the info regarding the USB serial numbers and how to reprogram, I was able to get 5 USB miners running today on an old XP machine.

The cost of air conditioning during the summer must be considered if you run anything more than one or two GPUs and it is hot outside. Right now for me it is just no good to run the GPUs anymore in Texas, even with a good low rate, because my apartment has an older less efficient air conditioner which I can not influence other than to move to another apartment.

It's possible that maybe nothing else changed, during winter running the GPUs would break even.

I am strongly considering purchasing some "USB Block Erupters" from BTC Guild. If I sell GPUs, which have earned their keep over time, it's like free money to spend on the USB devices - which would seem to use only tiny fractions of electricity. Then I can sell off other rig parts, since I only need one extremely modest computer to direct the USB and Bitcoin client. Seems like a good idea to just let these run virtually forever - until they fail otherwise or become unprofitable due to unpredicted advancements.

Well I guess only one is really purpose built - I forget the motherboard now, it's been so long, but it has 3 full length PCIe slots, one is 16x and the other are 4x, and they are all double spaced. Maybe it was MSI motherboard. I got the board with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz for about $80 from a local shop, secondhand. I paid another $20 for a used full height ATX case and $80 for a new PSU adequate enough to run 2x5770 and 1x5830.

The other one is an old Compaq that was given to me several years ago that happens to have one PCIe 16x slot. It was otherwise unused so I upgraded the PSU and installed a 5850. It also runs my Bitcoin program.

Average price per kWh I pay is $0.091. My last bill was only $133 but it is because I have been able to leave the windows open and I do not have to run any heat. Other than mining I use little other electricity, except during summer where I have to run air conditioning.

Although the Network Ghash goes up, and the PPS goes down (BTC Guild), price per USD of each bitcoin still goes up overall, which is one common comparison of the value of Bitcoin.

So my GPUs are still considered profitable, being already paid off many times, and thanks to cheap electricity rates here. As of right now, I can mine about $294 USD of BTC per month (0.07 BTC x 30 days x $140 USD) but my electricity bill is never more than $200. I check this every week or so. Sometimes maybe a week is bad, right now it is good.

Overall it has been very good, and my almost 2 year run has been profitable, starting with just one GPU in a Mac Pro (Radeon 5770), purchased for other reasons, that I didn't even know had such capability, and now with the Mac Pro and two purpose built machines, made with used parts acquired cheap.

When do the ASICs take over? We are told last year, November? No, it's rubbish! Still now, April 2013, it's profitable for old paid-off GPUs to run. I predicted I might have to shut down in March, but no! Does anyone know?

I am starting to think the wallet is not corrupted. I backed up the current wallet and deleted everything Bitcoin related from the computer. Then I installed again and let it download the blockchain with a new empty wallet. When it gets somewhere near the end, Bitcoin still crashes with exceptions!

So it could be a bad CPU (but I did not overclock), or more likely some bad RAM or a drive corruption.

No. This is a dedicated computer which only runs a mining program and Bitcoin. It is not overclocked, it is not a laptop. It is a well ventilated desktop.



Here is an exact error I received a few times:

EXCEPTION: 11DbException
Db::get: Not enough space
C:\Users\Owner\Desktop\Bitcoin\bitcoin.exe in AppInit()

Now when I load it, I get a "Runaway Exception" after it sits there for several hours not downloading any blocks.

Bitcoin 0.7.2 on Windows XP. A few days ago the computer crashed. When I rebooted it, Bitcoin would not run. It had some BS error about the database and not enough disk space, but there is plenty of space. So I trashed the blockchain and everything except the wallet.dat and let it download again. It runs fine, I can see all of my transactions in the list, unconfirmed, until it gets to the very end of the blockchain, then it crashes with several exceptions that do not detail anything specific. If you try to load again it might do a Rescanning that takes a long time and then crashes again. One time it said the wallet.dat was corrupted and then crashed.

Just now I tried to load the program and it does load but the blockchain stopped downloading from around 6/27/2012, around block 185,000. Now I let it download the other blocks while I sleep.

Is it really a corrupted wallet.dat? Is there any remedy? I have a backup but it is a few months old. How does that work if I have to use the backup? Does it "fill in" with the coins I sent and received since then? What about new address used to receive coins not in the wallet backup?

I'll transfer $100 to your Bank of America Personal Checking or Savings account in exchange for 7 BTC.

Bank of America lets you transfer money to other account holders online for free. These transfers are internal (not ACH). I have not heard of such a transaction being reversed. I've got $100 in my BofA Checking ready to go.

I've done this sort of trade once before, several months ago on the forum. Send a PM if you are interested.

I'm still running my GPUs because they provide heat during the winter. Otherwise I would have to run electric heat. I figure I'm breaking even when considering the cost of electric heat vs. the cost of miners - value of coins mined. Come next spring I am shutting everything down and selling most of the equipment for a final cash out. Maybe some ASICs will actually exist in real people's hands by then.

You're seriously saying a significant number of children (including young children) want to work?



I agree with the latter two points, but how does a low fixed price lead to higher prices?

So it's getting colder at least in the northern hemisphere. If you're, for example in a US southern state like I am you know that the cost of air conditioning is a factor with mining during the summer. When it gets colder of course you can just open a window instead to let all of that heat outside. Do you think this has any significant effect on the market, or is the distribution of miners diverse enough that this would not matter much? How many miners are in the southern hemisphere (I predict not many).

I've spent almost all of my mined BTC to purchase such things that are sold and require BTC for payment. So neither really "Hold" or "Sell" applies, I've "Spent", but I suppose "Sell" would apply more so since in effect I've generally sold my BTC for goods and services.

However, if I could ever actually purchase a real ASIC, say through eBay or Craigslist - maybe just a Jalapeno or something, I might sell my GPUs and such and/or sell BTC to buy that. But that would have to be in person where I could see it with cash or BTC, or online with a credit card and charge back protection and all of that kind of security, none of this "pre order" dodgy bullshit where for all we know the ASICs could be fake because I sure as hell haven't seen real proof either way.

Ultimately I'm not so committed as to take such a risk financially on something like that without proof. The only reason why I was initially successful in mining is that I just happen to own - arbitrarily - a workstation (Mac Pro) with an OEM Radeon 5770 and room to fit two more cards in the case, as well as favorable electricity rates.

I'm not sure what I'll do. My cards are paid for and my electricity is cheap ($0.088 per kWh) and with current prices I am profiting. I am in Texas and would run electric heat anyway come winter, so I may keep the miners on in various rooms of my apartment to provide heat as long as I still relatively break even.

No matter what, I need to keep one PC on to run the Bitcoin client, so if it comes down to that, I'll liquidate most of the hardware and see how many cheap ASICs I can afford. They have to be shipping though, no wait list BS.

See here if you want to buy top up codes. I have $10 codes in stock: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=94535.0

The $10 keeps your phone active for 4 months. The charge is 10¢ per minute and 50¢ per month. But there are better pins which I will also be stocking if there is any interest. I can order $80 pins which are only available from dealers like myself. The $80 pin includes a $4 bonus, it activates the phone for an entire year (12 months), and your rate is only $0.04 per minute. That's like getting about 170 minutes for $6.67/mo. and you don't have to fool with it for a year.

I am an authorized Page Plus Dealer (d/b/a Macintosh Liquidation)

Any off contract Verzion phone (except blackberry) I can activate. Dual band Sprint phones (must support 850 MHz) should also work, basically CDMA 850 MHz phones. I can port numbers and add credit and we can do all transactions in BTC.

I also sell used Verizon(/Sprint) phones because I recycle used cell phones. I pick out the good ones for resale with Page Plus Activation.

You can have a phone number anywhere in the United States if you buy a phone or activate your old Verizon(/Sprint/CDMA) phone.

You can see all the plans at http://www.pagepluscellular.com/ but obviously don't buy there, we can just transact with BTC here.

To activate your old CDMA compatible phone is $10 USD (1.15 BTC as of the time of writing). This does not include any airtime, so you would also need a $10 pin code. Total 2.2 BTC to reactivate your old Verizon phone just lying in a drawer. Any area code in the United States is available, just provide a zip code.

You can port a number but it requires paperwork (I need all of the information such as your billing address, old phone number, account number of old provider, etc.) so it costs $20. This is also much less anonymous in case that is of concern. It's easier to just pay the $10 and get a new number.

Used Phones For Sale
Nokia 6016i color screen bar phone, with charger and good battery (at least 48 hours stand by), pre-activated with $10 pin, with your choice of area code (based on zip code), Priority Mail shipping to the 50 states: $50 USD (5.7 BTC at the time of writing).
Details of phone: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=514

I also have a Motorola v325i that I am getting erased and prepared. It's a flip phone with Bluetooth, charger.

I also have a very old Qualcomm QCP-860 that works. All the numbers are rubbed off so you have to know which ones to push. But this phone does not have any GPS or E911 or location support at all. For some reason if you don't want to have location support in the phone then you may be interested in this phone. Good battery with aftermarket charger.

Data/text charges are extra as detailed on Page Plus website.

Send 1.15 BTC and receive a $10 Page Plus Prepaid Cellular top up code. (this will adjust according to the BTC<->USD ratio)

Send PM if interested. Page Plus is a Prepaid cell phone company. They have a very large network that they resell in the US.

I can also order other pin amounts. For example the $25 card is only 8 cents a minute, the $50 card is 6 cents a minute. The special $80 card available only from authorized dealers keeps your phone active for one year and is only 4 cents a minute.

I am an authorized Page Plus Dealer. See other thread for info about phones for sale. I can activate any used Verizon(some Sprint, CDMA 850 basically) phone that is off contract for almost any area code in the United States, shouldn't matter where you live. The Page Plus website details this information but you would order through me (authorized dealer d/b/a Macintosh Liquidation).

See here for phones for sale and more info: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=94540.0

I can get to the website but not any of the mining servers at all (1, 2, 3, de)

I don't know what I was connecting to before (just btcguild.com with no subdomain) but it worked for a long time until now.

Victory!

Maybe because of this post, or maybe because of all the sexually laden expletive replies I've made to their copy and paste replies to my tickets, $100 USD showed up on my account today. This was immediately converted to BTC and withdrawn.

The block on Dwolla ACH transfers has been removed and they will be paid as per terms but I'll be leaving the instant program.

Further trades will be conducted here as I have yet to have a problem. However I now have too much BTC for the purchased I wanted to make so I won't be trading for a while.

Looks like prices went up again. I can trade $100 BofA for 17.5 BTC. All BofA transfers are free and instant. Due to a financial shortfall I have to redact this offer. The MoneyPak offer still stands.

I also have a $80 MoneyPak, with receipt available. I'd like to trade for 13.5 BTC (bigger margin here since MoneyPaks are harder to get the cash out of them).

This was an attempt to make a deposit BTW, into Mt. Gox to purchase additional coins to supplement my small mining farm. I sent them $100 via Dwolla. Because they did NOT PROPERLY NOTIFY ME of the new changes, they have kept the $100 payment in limbo until I send them a picture of my penis and whatever other invasive bullshit they're demanding.

Essentially THEY HAVE STOLEN $100. Because it was Dwolla Instant Payment, which I qualified for due to good credit score, and Dwolla refuse to dispute the transaction because it is for "virtual currency", I told my bank to block any attempts of Dwolla to withdrawal from my account, and essentially told Dwolla if they want paid they need to reverse from Mt. Gox, because I will not be screwed out of my hard earned money.

So I did not actually lose any money but I can't use Mt Gox or Dwolla any more

Since I used Dwolla instant, no money was actually taken from my checking, I have instructed the bank to deny ALL Dwolla withdrawal attempts for 6 months. I WILL NOT BE RIPPED OFF $100 AND I DONT CARE WHO LOSES.

If anyone wants to trade with me PayPal, BofA, PopMoney, or MoneyPak for $100 worth of bitcoins please send a PM to me.