Help needed configuring a BFL single, bounty of at least 1 day's mining.

[adamdreaming]

I just got my BFL single, my first and only rig in the mail a few days ago. That is when I realized that I am an idiot. As most of the people here have built rigs from scratch or kits, I feel like I'm walking into an artisinal furniture maker's workshop and asking for help putting together the shelves I bought at IKEA.

First problem- BFL is not responding to my cries for help. They do not have a page called "how to set up your rig" or better yet "how to set up your rig for dummies." and they have not answered my e-mails in five days. Notorious bad service is being notorious bad service.

second problem- my computer keeps asking where the driver for my unit is. 1)BFL said that it comes with the unit (I assumed that that meant plug-n-play) 2)I have not been able to get my computer to agree that the driver downloads from BFL's website are really drivers.

Those are the specifics. What I really need are links to tutorials, threads, videos, or pages on how to set up a BFL Single from out of the box to working on a pool. I am not picky, I will happily mine on eclipse with Easyminer or on Slush's pool with Guiminer, whatever is the simplest to set up.

Thank you all so much. make sure to leave BTC wallet addresses, I will happily give the fruit of my first days of mining to the first people to respond with info that solves my problem.

[solareclipse64236]

You just got an ORIGINAL BFL SINGLE ?

That's crazy... what's it like to have just bought 800 megahash worth of equipment?

[BobbyJo]

Pretty annoying as he cant get it to work!

There are plenty of BFL threads in the mining section- hardware- custom hardware

I have seen some Q&A regarding the set up of BFL kit.  Not sure if it will answer your questions as I havent dug through them all but its a better place to post your questions than here!

[panda1]

Go to http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm and download/install the driver. I think you can use the D2XX driver also, but don't remember which one I ended up installing.  Then plug in your BFL and it should show up as a new Com port.

Then download/run cgminer or bfgminer, enter you pool URL, miner username/password, and off you go!

[Mushroomized]

I just got my BFL single, my first and only rig in the mail a few days ago. That is when I realized that I am an idiot. As most of the people here have built rigs from scratch or kits, I feel like I'm walking into an artisinal furniture maker's workshop and asking for help putting together the shelves I bought at IKEA.

First problem- BFL is not responding to my cries for help. They do not have a page called "how to set up your rig" or better yet "how to set up your rig for dummies." and they have not answered my e-mails in five days. Notorious bad service is being notorious bad service.

second problem- my computer keeps asking where the driver for my unit is. 1)BFL said that it comes with the unit (I assumed that that meant plug-n-play) 2)I have not been able to get my computer to agree that the driver downloads from BFL's website are really drivers.

Those are the specifics. What I really need are links to tutorials, threads, videos, or pages on how to set up a BFL Single from out of the box to working on a pool. I am not picky, I will happily mine on eclipse with Easyminer or on Slush's pool with Guiminer, whatever is the simplest to set up.

Thank you all so much. make sure to leave BTC wallet addresses, I will happily give the fruit of my first days of mining to the first people to respond with info that solves my problem.

You can download the driver here - http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/ (its the very last link, someone also posted this above me)

Assuming you know how to install it, (if not, open device manager with it plugged in, select the device and choose driver from disk, locate the downloaded driver and you're good ASSUMING WINDOWS HERE...)
you will now want to install a miner.

As for actually mining, you could download and install guiminer, join a pool (any pool!) and it will give you your address and such to put into the boxes, select your device from the dropdown menu and you are good to go!

Also you can use this - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=31163.msg877772#msg877772 I havent used it but it seems pretty straightforward to use.

If you have any questions about how to join a pool, or if the driver is still being wonky, let me know either here or in a PM and I will try to help you.

If  you want to pay me just donate the coins here - 1BTCorgHwCg6u2YSAWKgS17qUad6kHmtQW ( https://bitcoinfoundation.com/donate )

[c789]

How much time did it take from the time you ordered it to the time you received it?

[adamdreaming]

You just got an ORIGINAL BFL SINGLE ?

That's crazy... what's it like to have just bought 800 megahash worth of equipment?

I can't tell if that was an insult or a compliment. (obviously I need to lurk more.)

Well I bought it back in the begining of August.

It feels like a crazy move. 633 invested in the unit, it may be able to make $300 worth of BTC in the first three months, but then the bitcoin halves in dec, down to 50 a month, and then the BFL supercomputers will start going online oct-jan, quickly raising the difficulty by a factor of ten.

goldenretriverinasciencelabhavingnoideawhatheisdoing.jpg

[c789]

BFL has a buyback program. I don't know all of the details (I couldn't find them on their site). It it were me, I'd keep mining and wait to see what happens in December with the value of BTC. My guess is that the value will go up because usually the more difficult something is to obtain, the more it's worth.

Then in January or so when the ASICs go online, you'll need to reevaluate the market. It looks like BFL's buyback program lasts only until March or April, and you could probably use the buyback to get some ASICs.

I thought about ordering a Single, but if it takes that long to arrive, I wouldn't get it until late November or so, and that's no good.

[Rockey75]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76719.0


That about cover it?

[DrGuns4Hands]

here is the BFLabs trade in policy http://www.butterflylabs.com/bitforce-sc-release-notes/