I am a complete newbie to Bitcoins, please help me out!

[jswk11]

Hello all!

I have downloaded the Bitcoin client about a month ago, and been running it for about 8 hours a day. However, my balance is still 0.00. Is this normal?

My speed (I assume the number at the bottom left of the client is my mining speed) is approx 550khash/s.

When can i expect to get my first payout?

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[mistersaturn]

if you run your computer 24/7 you will have your first block in about 125 years, with no difficulty increase. sounds awesome, doesnt it.

[Steve]

On average you can expect a payout (a block rewarding you with 50 bitcoins) in about:
140 years, 25 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 17 seconds

(seriously)

And that's only if the difficulty didn't rise in that amount of time...oh, and blocks will not be paying out any reward by that time...oh, and you probably won't live that long

If you want to get into mining...acquire some top end AMD graphics cards (Radeon HD5970 or 6990 currently).  They will very likely pay for themselves in a few months (look for some posts on how to correctly do the accounting for a mining business to get a true assessment of mining vs just buying bitcoins).  Mining has been less profitable than just investing in bitcoins recently, but there's no guarantee that will continue...and we need more miners!!!

[rezin777]

CPU mining is extremely difficult now. We use AMD GPUs to mine Bitcoins and most people do it in a pool. There is a guide at the top of the forums here.

[pdkd]

ouch! I have been mining 24/7 for almost a week, and I take it nothing will come of it. I know people run promotions  - any freebies or anything going on(all the ones I checked are expired.

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