Litecoin mining, Issues.

[Electricbees]

I have been experiencing issues with litecoin mining.
I've been digging through the forums looking for a definitive answer, but can't seem to locate one.

How can I connect to a litecoin mining pool? So far, I've tried the in-client litecoin miner, and some other variations of Minerd.exe,
but Minerd always crashes upon start-up.

I am running an i7 mobile proc, with Windows7 x64. I read somewhere that minerd and x64 do not agree, but now, I cannot find anything on this...

Anyone have any info for me? Do I need to boot up some tried-and-true 32 bit windows?

Thanks,
-Bees

[tacotime]

download vmware player
install x64 ubuntu using an iso
do this:

1.Open terminal
2.Type: sudo su
3.Type: apt-get install gcc libcurl4-nss-dev automake autoconf git make
4.Type yes if asked
5.Type: git clone git://github.com/Lolcust/Tenebrix-miner.git
6.Type: cd Tenebrix-miner/
7.Type: ./autogen.sh
8.Type: CFLAGS="-march=corei7 -O3 -Wall -msse2 -msse3 -msse4 -msse4.1 -msse4.2" ./configure
9.Type: make
10.Type: ./minerd --algo scrypt --url http://lc.ozco.in:9332 --user username --pass password

avoid running minerd on windows altogether, even if it runs it tends to be much slower

[pooler]

avoid running minerd on windows altogether, even if it runs it tends to be much slower

Personally I have never tested minerd under Windows (I don't have a Windows box), but if what you say is true, does anybody have an explanation for this?
The performance should not depend on the operating system (unless of course you run 32-bit software on top of a 64-bit arch).

[Electricbees]

Is there a way to make this work within windows that someone knows about?
I'm just desperate enough to try the linux, but really just want to have a working windows solution. As stated, the gains from windows to linux SHOULD be minimal, though I know there is a difference.

This is more of those situations where I can't get it to work under x parameters, but know there's a way to, and would like to know how.

Regardless, I will be trying your linux suggestion after dinner. Thank you for that, Taco. 

[BitcoinPorn]

There are a lot of Linux builds where people shouldn't fear it as much, highly graphical interface, and if you aren't afraid to type or copy and paste code every once in a while, it's not bad.  You can dual boot in Windows, I did it with Ubuntu.

[grue]

avoid running minerd on windows altogether, even if it runs it tends to be much slower

but what's the net gain in performance? virtualization will surely carry a lot of overhead.

[tacotime]

performance gain is typically 25-30%

modern virtualization uses barely any overhead on the cpu.  intel VT-x is fast (this was the whole point of hardware virtualization).  virtualbox is kind of slow because of the java reliance, but vmware player is generally pretty fast.

Personally I have never tested minerd under Windows (I don't have a Windows box), but if what you say is true, does anybody have an explanation for this?
The performance should not depend on the operating system (unless of course you run 32-bit software on top of a 64-bit arch).

I'm not sure why it is, even compiled in 64-bit binaries for windows it has tended to be slower.  The Intel compiler may just choke on the scrypt code in terms of optimizations.  I guess you could always try compiling with mingw-w64.

[Graet]

 an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7 - 64bit works better
skillz required - being able to download a file,unzip and copy/paste

download this and extract from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=47417.0
Here's a compiled binary for Windows:
    https://github.com/downloads/coblee/litecoin/litecoin-windows-miner-10-10-2011.zip

then download
http://content.wuala.com/contents/jbw9/pub/Bitcoin/Tenebrix/miner/win/test/minerd-amdfam10-sse4a-64.exe?dl=1
from http://www.wuala.com/jbw9/pub/Bitcoin/Tenebrix/miner/win/test/

copy the minerd-amdfam exe into the extracted litecoin-windows-miner-10-10-2011 folder

edit one of the the bat files from inside litecoin-windows-miner-10-10-2011 folder to look like (i use mine 2 threads)

"@echo on
ECHO "Example Litecoin miner startup file (2 threads, localhost, set your own user and password)"
ECHO.

minerd-amdfam10-sse4a-64.exe --algo scrypt --scantime 4 --threads 6 --retries 1000 --url http://lc.ozco.in:9332 --userpass Graet.8:p"  (without the quotes of course)

You might want to edit the <user>.<worker>:<password> field  and create a worker at https://lc.ozco.in/accountdetails.php cool by me if you dont change it tho

1 thread per core - i have 6 cores edit --threads to match your cores

save bat file
create shortcut to desktop for bat file
double click shortcut on desktop - find command window pop up and you are mining
NOW open task manager >process tab> right click minerd.... > set priority > below normal >change priortity on popup. and your desktop/gpu mining will cope much better with the cpu load

it's quite easy and dont believe the performance rubbish

i have 2 x phenom x6 1090T 3 x 6950 rigs, identical in every way except operating system
one runs win7 one runs nix both running cgminer and litecoin miner,  bitcoin and litecoin mining run at same hashrates on BOTH rigs

good luck with your mining, hope thats a help


P.S. I know it says amd, but i find it works better than the i7 one, feel free to experiment - see what works best for you

[Electricbees]

an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7 - 64bit works better
skillz required - being able to download a file,unzip and copy/paste
...

Thanks so much, Graet! This, is exactly the comprehensive cheat-code that I was looking for.

[pooler]

I'm not sure why it is, even compiled in 64-bit binaries for windows it has tended to be slower.  The Intel compiler may just choke on the scrypt code in terms of optimizations.  I guess you could always try compiling with mingw-w64.

I tried out the latest icc for Linux, and it's strange, but the resulting binary is indeed much slower than the one produced by gcc with the same optimization flags.
Has anyone tried compiling minerd with MinGW for 64-bit Windows?

[Graet]

an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7 - 64bit works better
skillz required - being able to download a file,unzip and copy/paste
...

Thanks so much, Graet! This, is exactly the comprehensive cheat-code that I was looking for.

you are welcome - i can just link ppl to it from irc too - saves typing many times

[GenTarkin]

My service installer simplifies mining as well....
go here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50464.0
download the one that says "prompt"
input your pool and mining credentials...
hit ok and it does the rest.

DO NOT USE on 32bit windows, its pointless to use on 32bit windows and the miner just crashes.

[g2x3k]

i also wrote some gettting started help on http://pool-x.eu/gettingstarted and at the top of the page theres two default miners including the scryptminer gui

[grue]

download vmware player
install x64 ubuntu using an iso
do this:

1.Open terminal
2.Type: sudo su
3.Type: apt-get install gcc libcurl4-nss-dev automake autoconf git make
4.Type yes if asked
5.Type: git clone git://github.com/Lolcust/Tenebrix-miner.git
6.Type: cd Tenebrix-miner/
7.Type: ./autogen.sh
8.Type: CFLAGS="-march=corei7 -O3 -Wall -msse2 -msse3 -msse4 -msse4.1 -msse4.2" ./configure
9.Type: make
10.Type: ./minerd --algo scrypt --url http://lc.ozco.in:9332 --user username --pass password

avoid running minerd on windows altogether, even if it runs it tends to be much slower

i got worse results on the vm. 2.3 khash/s vs 2.4 khash/s on windows

[pooler]

download vmware player
install x64 ubuntu using an iso
do this:

1.Open terminal
2.Type: sudo su
3.Type: apt-get install gcc libcurl4-nss-dev automake autoconf git make
4.Type yes if asked
5.Type: git clone git://github.com/Lolcust/Tenebrix-miner.git
6.Type: cd Tenebrix-miner/
7.Type: ./autogen.sh
8.Type: CFLAGS="-march=corei7 -O3 -Wall -msse2 -msse3 -msse4 -msse4.1 -msse4.2" ./configure
9.Type: make
10.Type: ./minerd --algo scrypt --url http://lc.ozco.in:9332 --user username --pass password

avoid running minerd on windows altogether, even if it runs it tends to be much slower

i got worse results on the vm. 2.3 khash/s vs 2.4 khash/s on windows

Just out of curiosity, what do you get if at point 8 you only type: CFLAGS="-O3" ./configure
(Type "make clean" and repeat from point 8 using the above.)

[ForceField]

an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7

Graet, your post is so easy to follow, it should be a sticky, nice work.

[pooler]

an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7

Graet, your post is so easy to follow, it should be a sticky, nice work.

Graet's post was indeed good, but it is somehow outdated now. In particular, the miners he linked to should not be used anymore, because they are slow and buggy.
This is the thread for the new miner:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=55038.0
This how-to by wknight can also be helpful:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=62322.0

[ForceField]

an easy howto for litecoin in windows 7

Graet, your post is so easy to follow, it should be a sticky, nice work.

Graet's post was indeed good, but it is somehow outdated now. In particular, the miners he linked to should not be used anymore, because they are slow and buggy.
This is the thread for the new miner:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=55038.0
This how-to by wknight can also be helpful:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=62322.0

Thanks for this, I had a feeling that 10KH/s was a little low on a Quad Core i7.

What is a reasonable expected MH/s KH/s for an i7 950 @ stock (3066MHz) using 6 threads?

[pooler]

Thanks for this, I had a feeling that 10KH/s was a little low on a Quad Core i7.

What is a reasonable expected MH/s for an i7 950 @ stock (3066MHz) using 6 threads?

You tell me.
Everybody is invited to contribute benchmarks of their processor in the cpuminer thread.