Official FutureBit Apollo II/BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[tb303]

SSH into node, username is futurebit, password is your webgui password, then try:

sudo systemctl start ckpool

check with sudo systemctl status ckpool

[LeoFist]

SSH into node, username is futurebit, password is your webgui password, then try:

sudo systemctl start ckpool

check with sudo systemctl status ckpool

Thanks very much - here is the output (it’s still not starting btw):

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl start ckpool
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl status ckpool
● ckpool.service - ckpool
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/ckpool.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2026-01-23 10:49:48 EST; 13min ago
   Main PID: 2617 (screen)
      Tasks: 18 (limit: 4451)
     Memory: 3.7M
        CPU: 11.180s
     CGroup: /system.slice/ckpool.service
             ├─2617 SCREEN -dmS ckpool /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf
             └─2618 /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf

Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Starting ckpool...
Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Started ckpool.
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$

[tb303]

SSH into node, username is futurebit, password is your webgui password, then try:

sudo systemctl start ckpool

check with sudo systemctl status ckpool

Thanks very much - here is the output (it’s still not starting btw):

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl start ckpool
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl status ckpool
● ckpool.service - ckpool
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/ckpool.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2026-01-23 10:49:48 EST; 13min ago
   Main PID: 2617 (screen)
      Tasks: 18 (limit: 4451)
     Memory: 3.7M
        CPU: 11.180s
     CGroup: /system.slice/ckpool.service
             ├─2617 SCREEN -dmS ckpool /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf
             └─2618 /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf

Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Starting ckpool...
Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Started ckpool.
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$

this is good now , what shows node log? and is your node syncing the blockchain? with "htop" u can see the current processes running

[LeoFist]

SSH into node, username is futurebit, password is your webgui password, then try:

sudo systemctl start ckpool

check with sudo systemctl status ckpool

Thanks very much - here is the output (it’s still not starting btw):

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl start ckpool
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ sudo systemctl status ckpool
● ckpool.service - ckpool
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/ckpool.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2026-01-23 10:49:48 EST; 13min ago
   Main PID: 2617 (screen)
      Tasks: 18 (limit: 4451)
     Memory: 3.7M
        CPU: 11.180s
     CGroup: /system.slice/ckpool.service
             ├─2617 SCREEN -dmS ckpool /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf
             └─2618 /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool -B -c /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf

Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Starting ckpool...
Jan 23 10:49:48 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Started ckpool.
futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$

this is good now , what shows node log? and is your node syncing the blockchain? with "htop" u can see the current processes running

Doesn’t seem to be working. Node not starting, despite me trying to start it. Here are logs from node and system

Node logs:
[2026-01-23 13:49:36.305] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:49:36.305] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:49:41.306] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:49:41.306] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:49:46.307] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:49:46.307] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:49:51.308] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:49:51.309] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:49:56.309] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:49:56.309] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:50:01.310] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:50:01.311] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:50:06.312] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:50:06.312] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:50:11.313] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:50:11.313] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:50:16.314] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:50:16.314] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!
[2026-01-23 13:50:21.315] Failed to connect socket to 127.0.0.1:8332 !
[2026-01-23 13:50:21.315] CRITICAL: No bitcoinds active!

System Logs:
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     accessToken: 'eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpYXQiOjE3NjkxODM3ODcsImF1ZCI6ImF1dGgiLC JzdWIiOiJhcG9sbG91c2VyIn0.5528WB2RhQYnk0Qb3xrRX6h45gt90hRpZ2QbRQVRrXc',
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     iat: 1769195436,
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     exp: 1771787436,
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     jti: 'e7909bbe-99ae-44cf-8b4c-6c78bb151ff7'
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:   },
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:   user: undefined
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]: }
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: node.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 135.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Stopped node.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Starting node...
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 node_start.sh[113550]: [node-start] WARN: node drive not found at /dev/nvme0n1p1; bitcoind not started
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 node_stop.sh[113554]: No screen session found.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: node.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Started node.
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]: Service Status:
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - miner: offline (systemd: inactive)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - node: offline (systemd: inactive)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - solo: online (systemd: active)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - apollo-api: online (systemd: active)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - apollo-ui-v2: online (systemd: active)

[tb303]

Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     accessToken: 'eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpYXQiOjE3NjkxODM3ODcsImF1ZCI6ImF1dGgiLC JzdWIiOiJhcG9sbG91c2VyIn0.5528WB2RhQYnk0Qb3xrRX6h45gt90hRpZ2QbRQVRrXc',
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     iat: 1769195436,
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     exp: 1771787436,
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:     jti: 'e7909bbe-99ae-44cf-8b4c-6c78bb151ff7'
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:   },
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]:   user: undefined
Jan 23 14:10:53 futurebit-apollo-2 ApolloUIv2[1541]: }
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: node.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 135.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Stopped node.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Starting node...
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 node_start.sh[113550]: [node-start] WARN: node drive not found at /dev/nvme0n1p1; bitcoind not started
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 node_stop.sh[113554]: No screen session found.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: node.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jan 23 14:10:55 futurebit-apollo-2 systemd[1]: Started node.
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]: Service Status:
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - miner: offline (systemd: inactive)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - node: offline (systemd: inactive)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - solo: online (systemd: active)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - apollo-api: online (systemd: active)
Jan 23 14:10:56 futurebit-apollo-2 node[1539]:   - apollo-ui-v2: online (systemd: active)
[/quote]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output

[LeoFist]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output
[/quote]

Thank you for the assist - output is:

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk2     179:0    0 14.8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1 179:1    0 14.7G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                     /
zram0       252:0    0  1.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1       252:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2       252:2    0    0B  0 disk

[tb303]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output

Thank you for the assist - output is:

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk2     179:0    0 14.8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1 179:1    0 14.7G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                     /
zram0       252:0    0  1.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1       252:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2       252:2    0    0B  0 disk

[/quote]

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.

[bubbAJoe]

Has anyone tried to point NiceHash mining power to their solo node?  

I ran the NH pool tester on my node and it says difficulty too low (42). (Everything else passed). NH requires a minimum difficulty of 500,000.

Is there a way to set a minimum difficulty on the Apollo solo node?

You will need to change the starting difficulty here /opt/apolloapi/backend/ckpool/ckpool.conf and restart the pool.

Add this line to ckpool.conf:

"startdiff" : 500000

Yes if you are connecting a large amount of external hashrate you need to raise you startdiff, 2.1.1 we will release by next week has this added to the UI!

Update on release date?

Thanks!

[eagleye]

Have let it run for a bit this evening.

Here are the recent node specific logs -

Code:

2025-12-30T07:20:22Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:39658
2025-12-30T07:20:24Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:39616
2025-12-30T07:20:25Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:39616
2025-12-30T07:20:26Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:53436
2025-12-30T07:20:27Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:53458
2025-12-30T07:20:31Z ThreadRPCServer incorrect password attempt from 127.0.0.1:53478

I'm surprised nobody followed up on this.  I found it.  
I was upgrading from a v2.0.5 backup that was stable to v2.1.0 beta.  When doing these upgrades I found 2 things.  First you want to use the local display to see the CPU operations and load the system stats to see the progress.  You will see the cpu usage and memory fluctuate since when using your browser only shows you the percentage complete which is very slow and tedious.
I found a better way to view the progress.   Stop your node and load a command prompt to do a bitcoin node update.
"sudo /opt/apolloapi/backend/update_system"

This one is real cool and you programmers should look at this if you could include this kind of data when the update button is pressed.  This will show you a command line process of the update in progress, which for me provides very valuable information updates as the update progresses.  

Now for this fix.  Ends up being very simple but hard to find.  after the update the system started fine Then my bitcoin node wouldn't start.  the RPC password error above drove me nuts.

I have two different  nvme databases and verified they were both stable and working fine.  Even while the node was running with the error the bitcoin database and blocks were loading and running.   The problem is the internal password files crashed during the updates.  

I found the api.conf and user.conf that hold this password data were locked files and had 0 bytes of data. on microsd  /opt/apolloapi/backend/node

*******
Stop your node.  then delete the files.   I was able to successfully delete/move to trash those two files.   Just restarting the node seemed to lock up.  I had to reboot the system and the node came right back up working great, no more errors. and those files now show data and are not locked.

This beats refreshing the entire  nvme which is not the issue or restoring a plain futurebit update file.  I have a lot of stuff loaded into my browser that stay with the online update.  but when I refresh the entire microsd with the futurebit update file,  I lose all my saved settings.  The online update has kept my microsd data consistent on my browser.

[LeoFist]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output

Thank you for the assist - output is:

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk2     179:0    0 14.8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1 179:1    0 14.7G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                     /
zram0       252:0    0  1.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1       252:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2       252:2    0    0B  0 disk

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.
[/quote]

So I took out the drive and put it back, that didn’t work (tried few times). Then I reflashed the drive and that didn’t work either. Seems like there is no way to connect to my node. Miners are working fine and I can even connect to other nodes (Umbrel). But the node in the Apollo 2 is simply not starting. Any other ideas? Perhaps the drive has somehow gone bad?

[tb303]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output

Thank you for the assist - output is:

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk2     179:0    0 14.8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1 179:1    0 14.7G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                     /
zram0       252:0    0  1.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1       252:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2       252:2    0    0B  0 disk

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.

So I took out the drive and put it back, that didn’t work (tried few times). Then I reflashed the drive and that didn’t work either. Seems like there is no way to connect to my node. Miners are working fine and I can even connect to other nodes (Umbrel). But the node in the Apollo 2 is simply not starting. Any other ideas? Perhaps the drive has somehow gone bad?
[/quote]

your nvme drive is dead

[drangos]

summin bad with your nvme drive: please do a "lsblk" and post output

Thank you for the assist - output is:

futurebit@futurebit-apollo-2:~$ lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
mmcblk2     179:0    0 14.8G  0 disk
└─mmcblk2p1 179:1    0 14.7G  0 part /var/log.hdd
                                     /
zram0       252:0    0  1.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1       252:1    0   50M  0 disk /var/log
zram2       252:2    0    0B  0 disk

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.

So I took out the drive and put it back, that didn’t work (tried few times). Then I reflashed the drive and that didn’t work either. Seems like there is no way to connect to my node. Miners are working fine and I can even connect to other nodes (Umbrel). But the node in the Apollo 2 is simply not starting. Any other ideas? Perhaps the drive has somehow gone bad?

your nvme drive is dead
[/quote]

It appears that you have already done all the common troubleshooting steps, such as reseating the NVMe, reflashing the drive and the drive is not recognized by the system. The NVMe, not being seen at all by lsblk, and all other operations (such as miners, connection to other nodes, etc.) going on satisfactorily, regrettably indicates that the NVMe drive itself is not functioning. The next sure thing to do at this stage is to substitute the NVMe with a proven drive. Ensure you get one that is compatible with the Apollo II and you should be in a position to have your node up and running.

[LeoFist]

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.
[/quote]

So I took out the drive and put it back, that didn’t work (tried few times). Then I reflashed the drive and that didn’t work either. Seems like there is no way to connect to my node. Miners are working fine and I can even connect to other nodes (Umbrel). But the node in the Apollo 2 is simply not starting. Any other ideas? Perhaps the drive has somehow gone bad?
[/quote]

your nvme drive is dead
[/quote]

It appears that you have already done all the common troubleshooting steps, such as reseating the NVMe, reflashing the drive and the drive is not recognized by the system. The NVMe, not being seen at all by lsblk, and all other operations (such as miners, connection to other nodes, etc.) going on satisfactorily, regrettably indicates that the NVMe drive itself is not functioning. The next sure thing to do at this stage is to substitute the NVMe with a proven drive. Ensure you get one that is compatible with the Apollo II and you should be in a position to have your node up and running.
[/quote]

Thanks for the support, final question please. The only indication on the node that I have is in the System page, it does show that the Node disc usage is at 42% (770 / 2TB). Wondering how it’s reading the disc capacity/usage if there is no connection at all. Anyway, will go for replacing it - appreciate the support!

[tb303]

your nvme is not visible, try to re-seat it. open the node , and reseat the drive.

So I took out the drive and put it back, that didn’t work (tried few times). Then I reflashed the drive and that didn’t work either. Seems like there is no way to connect to my node. Miners are working fine and I can even connect to other nodes (Umbrel). But the node in the Apollo 2 is simply not starting. Any other ideas? Perhaps the drive has somehow gone bad?
[/quote]

your nvme drive is dead
[/quote]

It appears that you have already done all the common troubleshooting steps, such as reseating the NVMe, reflashing the drive and the drive is not recognized by the system. The NVMe, not being seen at all by lsblk, and all other operations (such as miners, connection to other nodes, etc.) going on satisfactorily, regrettably indicates that the NVMe drive itself is not functioning. The next sure thing to do at this stage is to substitute the NVMe with a proven drive. Ensure you get one that is compatible with the Apollo II and you should be in a position to have your node up and running.
[/quote]

Thanks for the support, final question please. The only indication on the node that I have is in the System page, it does show that the Node disc usage is at 42% (770 / 2TB). Wondering how it’s reading the disc capacity/usage if there is no connection at all. Anyway, will go for replacing it - appreciate the support!
[/quote]

well now it seems it sees your drive again. whats the status now?

[bubbAJoe]

Yes if you are connecting a large amount of external hashrate you need to raise you startdiff, 2.1.1 we will release by next week has this added to the UI!

Status of 2.1.1 release??

[jstefanop]

Yes if you are connecting a large amount of external hashrate you need to raise you startdiff, 2.1.1 we will release by next week has this added to the UI!

Status of 2.1.1 release??

In final testing, trying to fix all the beta bugs before release and get it out by EOW, but with the Apollo III launch next week things are getting hectic..

[johnstewart]

Hello Everyone !

I have an apollo II usb version (used always in eco mode)  to sell in europe ! Pm me if you want it ! 

[eagleye]

Running futurebit v2.1.0-beta

The chart on the home page only shows the pool from the miner.  When I have other miners connected even with the same address the graph only shows the hash rate for the apollo II.  The pool is missing the pool hash rate for all miners connected.  IT shows apollo II hash rate and Pool rate looks the same as the apollo II miner rate.