Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[crypto_curious]

jstefanop, any news on standalone apollo-miner binary? It's been nearly 3 months since the release. Miner binary crashes a lot for everyone. GUI full package uses the same binary, so problems exist for everyone. For standalone users, Raspberry Pi binaries were promised, still no sight for it. I know GUI is important, but no reason to delay fundamental part of Apollo which is miner software.  Please at least compile binary for Raspberry and do nothing else, if miner package is not a priority. Thanks for all your work!

[crypto_curious]

Any suggestions for troubleshooting reliability of my units? After the latest update to 3.1 I seem to be babysitting my units checking on them multiple times a day to make sure all 4 are working (one full and 3 additional units). At least once per day on average I have to restart the miner or the entire system. Prior to 3.1 the need for attention was much less frequent.

Temps seem fine at 63 to 65C for the units and 65C for the CPU (which I think is good).

I have tried switching to an external powered USB hub instead of running all off the USB ports on the full unit. I read here that helps with reliability. That has made no difference in my case.

Wondering if I should just reimage my SD Card and start from scratch...

Thanks in advance!

Miner stopping hashing might be caused by crashed mining binary (please see my post above). USB hub won't fix it. It crashes a lot for everyone, for me, I haven't seen more than a few days uptime on my miner and it's been running since beginning. bitcoind has weeks uptime and doesn't crash spontaneously at all, and apollo-miner can last only days. That's why I put mining process in the bash loop script, so I mine 24/7 without problems, miner crashes often and it's being restarted immediately. I don't know if full package version can restart mining process, I reinstalled system on mine to have full control.

[devincrypt]

I simply popped out the SSD and I have no problems - hashing away, never stopping. The burden of hosting a node does absolutely nothing for me - no benefit at all. Just happily mining SHA-256 crypto, stuffing my wallet!

[tjlindholm81]

Alright I got my new Apollo today and have tried to set it up! It seems to be running but I can't get it to mine. I have put in my pool information, but it still shows just the generic pool information with (jstefanop.apollodefault). My hash rate is 0 and power usage is 0. I tried setting up with slushpool so far. What is wrong? Node shows it is still sinking at 56% after about 4 hours since I plugged it in. I am using a wired connection.

[heslo]

Alright I got my new Apollo today and have tried to set it up! It seems to be running but I can't get it to mine. I have put in my pool information, but it still shows just the generic pool information with (jstefanop.apollodefault). My hash rate is 0 and power usage is 0. I tried setting up with slushpool so far. What is wrong? Node shows it is still sinking at 56% after about 4 hours since I plugged it in. I am using a wired connection.

Are you leaving out the stratum+tcp:// and just putting in the address. I did that when I first got it then figured out it doesn't want that in there

[Muppet007]

I simply popped out the SSD and I have no problems - hashing away, never stopping. The burden of hosting a node does absolutely nothing for me - no benefit at all. Just happily mining SHA-256 crypto, stuffing my wallet!

I removed my ssd too as I already run full BTC and LND wallets/nodes via RASPIBLITZ on an 8 gig Pi 4.
My controller and two slaves have been working like trojans on 'balanced mode' for weeks with no problems.

[crypto_curious]

I simply popped out the SSD and I have no problems - hashing away, never stopping. The burden of hosting a node does absolutely nothing for me - no benefit at all. Just happily mining SHA-256 crypto, stuffing my wallet!

I removed my ssd too as I already run full BTC and LND wallets/nodes via RASPIBLITZ on an 8 gig Pi 4.
My controller and two slaves have been working like trojans on 'balanced mode' for weeks with no problems.

I removed SSD also, and put it into my PC   But in it's place I installed 1TB USB HDD drive I had spare, and pointed bitcoind to that, it's been working as a node beautifully ever since.   Apollo controller is a little computer, you can configure it as you wish, and you can run a node on any hard drive, speed doesn't matter to it.

[jstefanop]

Alright I got my new Apollo today and have tried to set it up! It seems to be running but I can't get it to mine. I have put in my pool information, but it still shows just the generic pool information with (jstefanop.apollodefault). My hash rate is 0 and power usage is 0. I tried setting up with slushpool so far. What is wrong? Node shows it is still sinking at 56% after about 4 hours since I plugged it in. I am using a wired connection.

Make sure you have not changed the default timezone in the desktop time and date settings as well.

If your still having issues just reach out to our support email (reply to your order email).

[OliveGreenHamster]

I got my miner yesterday and I've got it setup and working but I have a few questions.

• In one of the early posts, it says not to include the "stratum+tcp://" in the miner pool, I included that before I had read not to, my miner is online hashing away, seemingly without any issues. Did that bug get fixed in a subsequent release?
• On the dashboard, there are two temps listed, one at the top of the page next to the hash rate, and then another on the  hashboard. What's the temp at the top referring to?

Thanks.

[iolo_the_bard]

Just to say that I received my Full Package and Standard Unit.

They are both up and running and contributing to the slushpool.

I had to reboot the Full Package before it would see the hashboard from the attached Standard Unit.
If that is required, consider adding it to the instructions.

Great experience, love the products, keep up the great work!

[V3XED]

I got my miner yesterday and I've got it setup and working but I have a few questions.

• In one of the early posts, it says not to include the "stratum+tcp://" in the miner pool, I included that before I had read not to, my miner is online hashing away, seemingly without any issues. Did that bug get fixed in a subsequent release?
• On the dashboard, there are two temps listed, one at the top of the page next to the hash rate, and then another on the  hashboard. What's the temp at the top referring to?

Thanks.

I am not a particualarly savvy or wise person, but I can answer these questions to some degree.
1.  Yes, I believe it did because I also have included that text and am also mining successfully.
2.  The lower temps correspond to the actual dashboard, while the temp in the top is the CPU for the main unit.



Another follow up question of my own...
The reported hashrate at the top of the GUI shows consistently about 10% higher than the actual hashrate recognized by the pool.
I am assuming this is normal, and due to the nature of how these things are calculated? (or in reality estimated?)

The reason I am asking at all is because both numbers are surfaced within the GUI, one at the top of the screen (big) and another smaller number in-line with the pool information.
Seems a bit funny that it would contradict itself?

Cheers!

[OliveGreenHamster]

Hey there, I'm thinking of getting a FutureBit Apollo!
I have my own BTC node running on repurposed laptop hardware (having a builtin emergency battery is great ), so I would only need the USB Pod Miner and a PSU.

I am wondering though, since I couldn't find product pictures of the standalone USB Pod Miner, if it's also in a nice enclosure with cooling etc. in place just like the full unit or if it's just a PCB hashboard that is more DIY oriented.
Also followed the "open source firmware" discussion on the first few pages of this thread and wondering whether it's now all open source or not

Thanks in advance!

From what I've seen, they all look identical on the outside, the only difference you'll notice are the ports on the full node vs. the others, you won't have HDMI, etc. Not sure on the open source firmware, I don't think it's been open sourced yet. If it had been, there'd probably be links on the main futurebit site.

[fvineyard]

 What does it mean when a hash unit shows up as 'inactive' and what is the cause?

[pancakedeluxe]

works great, just the bug that others are experiencing with the dashboard not updating (perhaps bug due to timezone)

otherwise is mining rock solid, red and yellow lights flashing, mining on slushpool on eco mode, ~2 - 2.6 TH/s

anyone know how I'd go about starting fresh for the Node / nvme drive? I've removed it because I thought I corrupted the sync. I plan on adding it again for when solo mining on our own node is added

[heslo]

works great, just the bug that others are experiencing with the dashboard not updating (perhaps bug due to timezone)

otherwise is mining rock solid, red and yellow lights flashing, mining on slushpool on eco mode, ~2 - 2.6 TH/s

anyone know how I'd go about starting fresh for the Node / nvme drive? I've removed it because I thought I corrupted the sync. I plan on adding it again for when solo mining on our own node is added

Yellow light??? I've only got a red LED at the front, am I alone here?

[gt_addict]

works great, just the bug that others are experiencing with the dashboard not updating (perhaps bug due to timezone)

otherwise is mining rock solid, red and yellow lights flashing, mining on slushpool on eco mode, ~2 - 2.6 TH/s

anyone know how I'd go about starting fresh for the Node / nvme drive? I've removed it because I thought I corrupted the sync. I plan on adding it again for when solo mining on our own node is added

Yellow light??? I've only got a red LED at the front, am I alone here?

The yellow/orange light flashes through the side by the I/O. Its from the SBC.

[heslo]

works great, just the bug that others are experiencing with the dashboard not updating (perhaps bug due to timezone)

otherwise is mining rock solid, red and yellow lights flashing, mining on slushpool on eco mode, ~2 - 2.6 TH/s

anyone know how I'd go about starting fresh for the Node / nvme drive? I've removed it because I thought I corrupted the sync. I plan on adding it again for when solo mining on our own node is added

Yellow light??? I've only got a red LED at the front, am I alone here?

The yellow/orange light flashes through the side by the I/O. Its from the SBC.

Ah yep, I just thought he meant at the front but yes, there's definitely lights associated with the SBC

[gt_addict]

works great, just the bug that others are experiencing with the dashboard not updating (perhaps bug due to timezone)

otherwise is mining rock solid, red and yellow lights flashing, mining on slushpool on eco mode, ~2 - 2.6 TH/s

anyone know how I'd go about starting fresh for the Node / nvme drive? I've removed it because I thought I corrupted the sync. I plan on adding it again for when solo mining on our own node is added

Yellow light??? I've only got a red LED at the front, am I alone here?

The yellow/orange light flashes through the side by the I/O. Its from the SBC.

Ah yep, I just thought he meant at the front but yes, there's definitely lights associated with the SBC

I had to check twice this morning to make sure I wasnt misunderstanding lol

[garetjax]

I had a power outage and now my node won't start but my miner is running.  I get this error in the gui "Double-check your USB node drive is plugged in the USB port in the back of your Apollo, properly formatted with the folder name "Bitcoin" in the root directory, and press the Start button below"

No luck - any ideas?

Thanks

[dwood443]

I had a power outage and now my node won't start but my miner is running.  I get this error in the gui "Double-check your USB node drive is plugged in the USB port in the back of your Apollo, properly formatted with the folder name "Bitcoin" in the root directory, and press the Start button below"

No luck - any ideas?

Thanks

I had a similar issue. I powered off, flipped the miner over, loosened the screw that holds the drive in. popped drive out and reinserted. Powered up and all was fine.