CraPE v0.3 beta - Boot from USB - Win8 PE Based Mining OS

[jdebunt]

very nice, will give this a try over the weekend

[1714824865]

1714824865

[litecross]

Your software is amazing, but a 7970 in stock do 550khash with litecoins (700-750 should be), with overclock only get 70khash!
I think something I´m doing wrong with configuration.(added scrypt but don´t know how to add
 setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1

I try with a .bat file with this conf:
timeout /t 30
setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1
cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us.wemineltc.com:80 -u litecross.2 -p x --scrypt --temp-overheat 80 --temp-cutoff 85 --shaders 2048 --thread-concurrency 8192 -I 13 -g 2 -w 256 --lookup-gap 2

but only I get 70khash

Other question: how can be persistent? I Install usb wifi drivers but restart and need to install drivers again in every restart

[crazyates]

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1

Setx doesn't natively work on a WinPE setting, but I've got a workaround set up for the next version. Very soon (within the week) I'll release v0.2 that will automatically have these parameters set, and LTC mining will work a lot smoother. Also enables high Thread Concurrency on GPUs. Before my 7970 could only go to 8192, and now I can go all the way to 21000+.

It's finally reached a point where BTC GPU mining is unprofitable, even undervolted, so I'd imagine that LTC GPU mining will be a lot prevalent.

Other question: how can be persistent? I Install usb wifi drivers but restart and need to install drivers again in every restart

Mind posting what kind of wifi card you have? I've tested this on 2 USB and 1 PCIe wifi card, and none of them require restart to activate the drivers. I'm still working on having wifi network settings remain persistent through reboots.

I also will add the drivers for a BFL's SC Singles. If anyone else has any FPGA or ASIC hardware they'd like to see added, please PM me with what hardware you have available. Thanks!

[lbr]

Btw, I've managed to install Windows Server 2008 R2 Core on 16GB USB Flash and it is working fine.
I've chosen "Core" since I was itching to try it out for the long time and mining rig(or any other headless server) seemed like the perfect environment for Core installation.

So, there are no issues with x64/x86, since basically it is a full blown Windows.
Out of 16GB 12GB are free, so it uses ~4GB.
Installation was pretty easy, though configuring took me a while, primary because it was my first time dealing with Core and sometimes it could be very annoying(installing drivers from command line for example was completely new thing for me).

I've also prepared Windows Server 2008 R2 full USB stick, but have not tried it yet.
And the utility I've used to create USB bootable Windows claims to be able to make also Windows 7/Windows 8 bootable from USB.

The only downside is that you need to have a license(not a downside for me).
Ofc 'Core' has some weirdeness(to the 'normal' Windows user).. like absence of taskbar/explorer/DirectDraw/etc ; )

Anyway.. if s1 is interested - feel free to contact me for assistance.

[litecross]

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1

Setx doesn't natively work on a WinPE setting, but I've got a workaround set up for the next version. Very soon (within the week) I'll release v0.2 that will automatically have these parameters set, and LTC mining will work a lot smoother. Also enables high Thread Concurrency on GPUs. Before my 7970 could only go to 8192, and now I can go all the way to 21000+.

It's finally reached a point where BTC GPU mining is unprofitable, even undervolted, so I'd imagine that LTC GPU mining will be a lot prevalent.

Other question: how can be persistent? I Install usb wifi drivers but restart and need to install drivers again in every restart

Mind posting what kind of wifi card you have? I've tested this on 2 USB and 1 PCIe wifi card, and none of them require restart to activate the drivers. I'm still working on having wifi network settings remain persistent through reboots.

I also will add the drivers for a BFL's SC Singles. If anyone else has any FPGA or ASIC hardware they'd like to see added, please PM me with what hardware you have available. Thanks!

I have enuwi-sg wifi usb, unofficial drivers for windows 7 here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nhrmvfwoe4w6963 (there is not official drivers for w7 yet :-( )

I´m waiting for v.02

[crazyates]

Alright, I finally finished v0.2. I'm finally happy with it for now, it's running really solid, and has some nice changes.

• Now launches 2 versions of CGMiner:
  
  • Akbash launches the normal cgminer.exe, and uses cgminer-ltc.conf for LTC mining.
  • Cgminer-nogpu.exe is launched with cgminer-btc.conf, and only uses USB devices (FPGAs/ASICs) for BTC mining.
• Fixes for LTC mining, including support for higher Thread Concurrencies.
• Tweaked and added software that runs in the background, smoothing everything out and making it a lot more stable. The startup scripts are about twice as long lol.
• No longer using the PortableApps Menu for anything. This was a clunky way of doing things anyways.
• Moved the config files to a much easier to find location: W:\Mining\. You shouldn't even have to go into the Akbash or CGMiner folders now. I've noticed some people occasionally throwing some small mining power at my credentials (and I thank you!), but I want it to be as simple as possible to add your own pool info in.
• I've been slowly making changes for almost 3 weeks now, so I don't remember all the changes I've made since I uploaded v0.1
• Unfortunately, all the same issue still exist at this time: Wi-fi networks are not remembered upon reboot, non-BFL USB devices have to be manually added every bootup, and remote management is still not working, as it is a WinPE system.

Let me know how v0.2 works for you, and I look forward to hearing more of your feedback!

[crazyates]

What Doesn't Work?

• Remote Management or even Remote Monitoring options are very sparse for a WinPE based system. A lot of the options I've found either simply won't work, or sort of work but never work quite right. Akbash can be configured to supply a simple web page with CGMiner's status, but I haven't set up much more than that.

I've lately been using This Site for remote monitoring, and it's working really smoothly. As long as each instance of CGMiner has it's own API port (which is very easy to directly from the CONF files already provided), you can monitor all your miners with ease, all in one status page. The way I have the stock .iso set up, the LTC Cgminer and BTC Cgminer-nogpu already have different API ports, so it should be pretty easy to add them into this site.

I would love to be able to get a local status page or remote monitoring application included by default, but almost everything I've tried just simply wont work on a WinPE system. Even the portable or standalone versions of a web server just crap out. You can grab a quick status page using Akbash, but this karasoft webpage lets you do a lot more. I'm trying to find the right tool for the job, and this seems to be it (at least for me).

If anyone else wants to try this out, please let me know how it works for you. Feedback is always welcome and even encouraged!

[litecross]

I´m using your v.02 version with litecoins, It works!

But I don´t know why crashed after a few hours, then mining 10%

I don´t know why 7970 cannot make 700 khash (only mine 550-570).

[litecross]

First problem, I get this error after a few hours mining:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wh1an65wu27rjpl/2013-07-30%2007.39.30.jpg

Rig has 4gb ram, usb drive 4gb too

When this happen you figured that khash down to 10% (7970 gets 700khash aprox in W7)

Other issue, I only get 550-570 khash with crape, I tried all options, no luck :-(

[hieu1010]

hi , please add new version with driver 12.6 + sdk 13.1 for rig 5 x 7970 .

[crazyates]

hi , please add new version with driver 12.6 + sdk 13.1 for rig 5 x 7970 .

I choose 12.8 and the included SDK (2.7) based off the CGMiner README recommendations. Is there a reason you want this specific driver/SDK combination? Is it supposed to work better for some reason?

[crazyates]

But I don´t know why crashed after a few hours, then mining 10%

First problem, I get this error after a few hours mining:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wh1an65wu27rjpl/2013-07-30%2007.39.30.jpg

When this happen you figured that khash down to 10% (7970 gets 700khash aprox in W7)

Other issue, I only get 550-570 khash with crape, I tried all options, no luck :-(

First, I think the reason you're only mining at 10% has something to do with MSI AB changing the clocks. Open up GPU-z and look at the sensors tab. What does it say the clock and mem speeds are at? I found if I played around with MSI AB too much, it would lock the card in the low power setting, 300 engine and 150 memory. You need to reboot, and try using MSI AB again. Make sure CGMiner isn't trying to do anything with the clocks as well.

Second, I'm not sure why you couldn't get 700KH/s. You get 700KH/s in Windows 7, but only 550KH/s using this, with the same settings? Am I hearing you right? My 7970 could never get over 550KH/s, but that's because it was a Gigabyte GHz Edition, and it never liked LTC.

[swiftshoot]

Great work Crazyates on CraPE.

I have played with CraPE v0.1 but had difficulty with my system as I needed additional software to be installed on the machine.  As a wishlist for future versions of CraPE, could you added the following applications?

- .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.0 (or 4.5)
- Corsair Link for the AX series intelligent digital power supplies (needs .net framework installed)
- Sapphire Trixx software (for Sapphire cards as it can force undervolting some locked cards in MSI Afterburner.
- CPU Miner (for those extra added hash rates to process)
- Sapphire, Gigabyte, Asus, etc Video card BIOS Flash Utilities

Thanks for all your work.  Hope to see the new additions for v0.3.

A donation will be coming your way once I got it working with my system and replace BAMT with CraPE.
It will need to do better than 2.468Mh/s and better than 1370watts at plug before I consider switching Softwares.

[swiftshoot]

hi , please add new version with driver 12.6 + sdk 13.1 for rig 5 x 7970 .

I choose 12.8 and the included SDK (2.7) based off the CGMiner README recommendations. Is there a reason you want this specific driver/SDK combination? Is it supposed to work better for some reason?

The reason why he was asking is that 12.6 was the last version that supported 8 GPUs.  12.7+ only support 4 GPUs.
However, it may be possible latest 13.6 versions may support multiple GPUs.  Could not find any confirmation yet on that.

[crazyates]

I have played with CraPE v0.1 but had difficulty with my system as I needed additional software to be installed on the machine.  As a wishlist for future versions of CraPE, could you added the following applications?

- .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.0 (or 4.5)
- Corsair Link for the AX series intelligent digital power supplies (needs .net framework installed)
- Sapphire Trixx software (for Sapphire cards as it can force undervolting some locked cards in MSI Afterburner.
- CPU Miner (for those extra added hash rates to process)
- Sapphire, Gigabyte, Asus, etc Video card BIOS Flash Utilities

Thanks for the feedback!

- I was going to add .Net 4.0 to be able to include CGWatcher, but adding it would almost double the size of the ISO. It won't even install on my 1GB USB drive cuz it said there wasn't enough room, but I could try on my 16GB.
- I will look into this if I ever get a .Net install on.
- I've always used MSI AB, but I'll look into whether Trixx can be installed. If I can make it work, I'll def add it as an option.
- I prolly won't include a CPU Miner, unless it's for PrimeCoin.
- BIOS Flash utilities is a great idea! I'll see what I can do. Would ATIFlash work, or are vendor-specific version required?

The reason why he was asking is that 12.6 was the last version that supported 8 GPUs.  12.7+ only support 4 GPUs.
However, it may be possible latest 13.6 versions may support multiple GPUs.  Could not find any confirmation yet on that.

I'm assuming you're going by this post? All 32-bit drivers are limited to 4GPUs anyways, IIRC, so I choose the driver that was most stable, which would be 12.8.

[lbr]

hi , please add new version with driver 12.6 + sdk 13.1 for rig 5 x 7970 .

I choose 12.8 and the included SDK (2.7) based off the CGMiner README recommendations. Is there a reason you want this specific driver/SDK combination? Is it supposed to work better for some reason?

The reason why he was asking is that 12.6 was the last version that supported 8 GPUs.  12.7+ only support 4 GPUs.
However, it may be possible latest 13.6 versions may support multiple GPUs.  Could not find any confirmation yet on that.

13.1 from techpowerup should also support 8 GPUs, at least it supports 6 GPUs.

[swiftshoot]

I have played with CraPE v0.1 but had difficulty with my system as I needed additional software to be installed on the machine.  As a wishlist for future versions of CraPE, could you added the following applications?

- .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.0 (or 4.5)
- Corsair Link for the AX series intelligent digital power supplies (needs .net framework installed)
- Sapphire Trixx software (for Sapphire cards as it can force undervolting some locked cards in MSI Afterburner.
- CPU Miner (for those extra added hash rates to process)
- Sapphire, Gigabyte, Asus, etc Video card BIOS Flash Utilities

Thanks for the feedback!

- I was going to add .Net 4.0 to be able to include CGWatcher, but adding it would almost double the size of the ISO. It won't even install on my 1GB USB drive cuz it said there wasn't enough room, but I could try on my 16GB.
- I will look into this if I ever get a .Net install on.
- I've always used MSI AB, but I'll look into whether Trixx can be installed. If I can make it work, I'll def add it as an option.
- I prolly won't include a CPU Miner, unless it's for PrimeCoin.
- BIOS Flash utilities is a great idea! I'll see what I can do. Would ATIFlash work, or are vendor-specific version required?

The reason why he was asking is that 12.6 was the last version that supported 8 GPUs.  12.7+ only support 4 GPUs.
However, it may be possible latest 13.6 versions may support multiple GPUs.  Could not find any confirmation yet on that.

I'm assuming you're going by this post? All 32-bit drivers are limited to 4GPUs anyways, IIRC, so I choose the driver that was most stable, which would be 12.8.

Some vendor Specifics would be preferable... Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire, Asus and ATIFlash.
Additionally, adding the Corsair Link software would be sweet for the next build.  It is the Power management software for the Intelligent Digital PSUs they have.  It will allow us to know the true Watts the system is using.  It connects via USB.

[shiny shoes]

I tested first version and had no problems. Now I dont know why, but cant make it work.

CGMiner LTC is loading cgminer-btc.conf (guess shortcut its wrong) and I think akbash is not loading gpu and usb miners.

[af_newbie]

I tested first version and had no problems. Now I dont know why, but cant make it work.

CGMiner LTC is loading cgminer-btc.conf (guess shortcut its wrong) and I think akbash is not loading gpu and usb miners.

Post your akbash config file.  Check that log file path and cgminer shortcut exist.  Shortcut should start by double clicking on it.
If it does not, check its properties and run cgminer from the command line.

Run akbash from the command line it should tell you what is wrong.

[shiny shoes]

I tested first version and had no problems. Now I dont know why, but cant make it work.

CGMiner LTC is loading cgminer-btc.conf (guess shortcut its wrong) and I think akbash is not loading gpu and usb miners.

Post your akbash config file.  Check that log file path and cgminer shortcut exist.  Shortcut should start by double clicking on it.
If it does not, check its properties and run cgminer from the command line.

Run akbash from the command line it should tell you what is wrong.

all default settings except BTC and LTC cfg.
cgminer shortcut exists (X/portableapps)

I will try reboot and post clean log file from start.