How do I start working on a new blockchain??

[ghostface36]

Hi,

I went to bitcoin.org last night and downloaded the Bitcoin Wallet from there then began to work on my first blockchain. The blockchain is now finished and I earned a fraction of a BTC in my Bitcoin Wallet which I'm excited about. Now how do I start working on the next blockchain? Do I have to join one of those mining pools? Am I not using the right client to be mining with? How do I automatically start working on the next blockchain after one has finished?

Thank you for your help.

GF 

[scintill]

Welcome to the forum!   I think you're a little confused.  The blockchain is the record of all Bitcoin transactions, and there is only one.  You've finished downloading it -- your computer knows about all the transactions, so your Bitcoin balance is up-to-date.

As for the fraction of BTC you received, I assume you got it free from a "faucet" or something?  From what you've described, it's unlikely that you earned BTC just by running the program.  Did you paste a Bitcoin address somewhere?

As for getting more BTC, yes, you may want to consider joining a mining pool.  In order to make any progress in mining though, you will need some nice computer hardware, not just a simple computer.  You may have a graphics card that is capable of mining at a decent rate.  Check out https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison for more information on mining hardware.

Also see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ if you haven't already, for more answers to common questions.  That wiki site as a whole may be helpful to you as well.

Read around the forum and the wiki, and let us know if you have questions!

[Raoul Duke]

Follow the links posted here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=15918.0
I'm sure they'll clear some, if not most, of your doubts.

[ghostface36]

Thank you for the advice.

I downloaded the GUI Miner found here: https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=3878.0

Then I went to this https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1976.0 for Slush's Pool and signed up.

After I signed up and got a username and password I put them into the GUI Miner and pressed start. The GUI Miner began by saying "starting..." and then "connecting..." and that is where it has remained. In the bottom right it says: "Shares: 0 Accepted"

On the GUI Miner is also says two things I'm not sure of: Device drop down that says No OpenCL Devices (I think this needs to change right?). Right below that: CPU Affinity with check boxes ranging from 0 to 3 (currently the check box is in 0) and finally a field that reads "Extra flags"

Then I went to https://mining.bitcoin.cz/accounts/profile/ and put in my Bitcoin Address found under the "receiving" tab of my Bitcoin Wallet and set my payout to 0.005 Bitcoins
 
What else do I need to do? Am I mining or will it start to mine now? Now that I am in Slush's Pool can I join other pools and mine multiple pools from the GUI Miner client

Sorry, I'm a complete newbie trying to figure this out. I appreciate any and all help.

Thanks!

GF

[Gabi]

Do you have an ATI graphic card? Did you create a worker on the slush account and put that username and password in guiminer?

[Graet]

Do you have an ATI graphic card? Did you create a worker on the slush account and put that username and password in guiminer?

not just ATI, but ATI HD from the 5xxx, 6xxx or 7xxx range?

[ghostface36]

No, I don't have an ATI graphics card. Now I am trying to CPU mine. I went to: http://bitcoin.cripperz.sg/

And followed the directions for CPU mining but when I click "start mining!" nothing happens.

My GUI Miner looks like this:

Ext Path: C:\Users\<myname>\Downloads\guiminer\miners\ufasoft\bitcoin-miner.exe

Server: Triplemining

User Name: as copy and pasted from https://www.triplemining.com/workers but it's listed as username_username

Password: as copy and pasted from same place

Extraflags is blank and CPU Affinity is still checked on 0

But when I click start mining nothing happens.

GF