New to bitcoins, need help with usb hub and miners

[ezratobit]

Hello, I am new here and new to bitcoin mining.

I am having a problem, and I have searched for an answer, with no success.

I recently bought 5 usb asic miners (333mh). I use BitMinter, and with all of the miners plugged into my pc's usb ports everything works fine. I want to buy more miners, and possibly a Raspberry Pi, so I bought a USB Hub. The one I got is an Anker 9 port usb 3.0.

I plugged it in to one of my pc's usb 3.0 ports. I waited for the pc to recognize it, then plugged in each of the five usb miners. I waited for the pc to recognize them all. The green LED lit up steady on all of them.

I started BitMinter Client and hit start.

Three miners started working (LED went out and only flashed slightly intermittently), the other two stayed lit solid. After a while one of the others that was working lit back up steady green.

I went through unplugging them and plugging them back in one at a time, tried many different things.

I finally got the BitMinter client to say that they were all hashing, but  after a few minutes the LEDs lit up steady green on all five. The client still said that they were hashing, so I let it go for a few hours.

I checked the BitMinter webpage to see what my work per shift was, and was getting about 160 mh.

I pulled all five and plugged them back into my pc's usb ports. They are all running fine again.

Question, is there some change I need to make to the BitMinter Client so that it works with the USB hub? Is there some usb 3.0 software/firmware that my pc needs in order for this to work? Is there some procedure of plugging the miners in to the hub that will make them all work plugged into the hub?

Any help or advice on where to look for an answer will be greatly appreciated.

[i3lome]

Sometimes I have similar issues. not sure what cause's the issue. I start mining like normal. then which ever miner stays green I unplugg it and plug it back in, some times i have to plug them into a diffent slot on the hub.

Id also look to be sure the hub gives enough power.

[Blackswan122]

Well it is maybe one of three problems.

Compatibility problems...Intermittent
Cooling?
Or overload of USB hub...but with a 9 port it should be ok.

I have 3 plugged into a 5 port Logilink USB 2.0...plus an Artic fan....I then linked another USB hub with first one...which runs another 3 which links to a USB 3.0 port on my Laptop.
I'm in the process of moving all to a Rpi...
I have fitted an LCD display to Rpi....Just need the time to set it all up....Should be Fun!

[marcotheminer]

You shouldnt have gotten into mining
Ive heard its VERY unprofitable nowadays!

[ezratobit]

Thank you for the replies

I have tried unplugging the ones that stop working and plugging them back in to a different port, one at a time... still have problems.

I do not think it is cooling, they run fine on the pc ports with no fans on them. When I had them in the hub, I has the hub sitting on top of my pc, with the top exhaust fan I put in the case blowing across them. The ones that were running stayed a lot cooler than they do on the pc ports. The USB hub has a 5 amp power supply, so power should not be an issue.

I was thinking that it could be a problem with compatibility between the miners and my hub, but I did research and a lot of people use Anker USB hubs for the same type of mining that I am doing.

I have read that mining is not profitable, and using the 333 mh usb miners is even worse. I am just trying to see if I can do it, and hey if BitCoins stay around for a while it will be profitable If I can work this out and get it working on a Pi, then I will be building a faster mining rig. I am only spending discretionary money out of my monthly budget. So instead of going to the casino in town or going out to bars with my friends, I am buying stuff to mine it is a lot more fun to me. Plus I am a techno geek, well I also like mechanical things. Besides electronics I also like working on old mechanical watches.

[Blackswan122]

Yeah using ASIC Usb is not going to make you rich but poorer. Remember the good old days when it was fun. Switch off client and switch on again. It will find them. I'm going to be using CGMINER... With Bitminter. Get free NMC! Lol... Buy an Artic fan... €7,00 very quite USB driven. Looks great too. I'm making a work of art not a miner!

[ezratobit]

No, it finds them. The PC and the client both see them. It is just I either get errors in the client OR the client says they are all working and they are not...

[Blackswan122]

Yeah using ASIC Usb is not going to make you rich but poorer. Remember the good old days when it was fun. Switch off client and switch on again. It will find them. I'm going to be using CGMINER... With Bitminter. Get free NMC! Lol... Buy an Artic fan... €7,00 very quite USB driven. Looks great too. I'm making a work of art not a miner! "What's that?"..it's a Bitcoin Miner "Uh!?"... A wax blob lamp was also a cult object.... At least a an asic miner will try and pay itself off. Using a Rpi will not make it faster... Just uses very little power as opposed to a laptop. Trouble is.. They don't come free either. I would like to go solar powered... Or wind powered... Just a project.

[Blackswan122]

Have you tried loading the latest driver for them?

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

[ezratobit]

Thank you Blackswan, I bought my first ASIC miner at the beginning of October and dl'ed the driver then, I didn't realize that a new driver was released so soon after. I just dl'ed the new driver and am giving the hub another try.

[ezratobit]

It looks like the USB 3.0 ports on my pc may have a problem. I plugged the Anker USB hub into a USB 2.0 port on my pc and it seems to be working now. I still had one ASIC that didn't start up, so i pulled it and plugged it into another port on the hub, all seems to be working now

Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice. I also have a fan on them now

[Blackswan122]

Good man! Have fun and try and stay interested.

[i3lome]

Glad to here your up and running.