Antminer U2 - What software?

[JusticeEmpire]

Hi All,

First of all, I would like to say thanks to all the members on the site. Over the last few days, I have spent many MANY hours on the internet, learning and researching all about bitcoins, cryptocurrency and mining. And if it wasn't for a site like this, with an active memberbase, I know I wouldn't have learnt half as much.

Now I am that I am quite behind the band wagon, but it is still something that interests me, even if its for fun rather than profit.

I ordered and received Antminer u2, before I really understood what it was, and while I was waiting for it I was attempting to solo mine, using BitCoinCore and GUIminer on my laptop. I had no success. All sorts of problems with directories, user access permissions etc led me to get frustrated and abandoned the solo mining idea. I then went and signed up with BTCGuild so I could get to grips with pool mining. (that was running fine, but my GUIminer is playing up again)

I did like the GUIminer for the easy interface. I don't have vast script writing/programming experience, and I liked the idea of something simple to use, rather than writing command line code to change something.

So, Antminer came, I went and read manuals, tutorials, watched vids etc, but I still can't get it operational. I ended up using CGMiner, but it won't stay open. I am fairly sure that I've installed driver correctly. My BitCoinCore is all over the shot now, since I've moved files & directories around to try and get GUIminer working, and my Antminer is sitting on my desk, unused.

In the not too distant future, I want to get a USB hub and around 8 Block Eruptors (seem better than antminer) and have them running on a standalone rig. But before I do that, I wanted to make sure that I could get to grips with things first.


Would I be correct in thinking that I have really messed it up by moving BitCoinCore data around? How would I ensure that I have the correct drivers (actually, what are the correct ones?)? And what software miner is EASY, simple to use and setup for someone who has a little bit of technical knowledge, but not a lot of patience?

Thanks in advance,
JusticeEmpire

[byt411]

Are you sure you did it correctly?
Try this guide, it's actually quite straightforward and simple:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=555638.0

[JusticeEmpire]

Hiya,

thanks for the reply,

Yeah, I have, and all I get from that is a blank CMD screen, with a cursor flashing occassionally. I've left this running for a couple of hours and no change.

[byt411]

Hiya,

thanks for the reply,

Yeah, I have, and all I get from that is a blank CMD screen, with a cursor flashing occassionally. I've left this running for a couple of hours and no change.

Can you paste me your settings? Or give me a screenshot to see what's going on?

[JusticeEmpire]

cgminer.exe -set-device antminer:clock=x0981 -o http://eu-stratum-btcguild.com:3333 -u (username) -p (password) -S antminer:all

that just causes CMD to open then close quickly.

when I ran it through exe and input variables via CMD, that's when I just got the blank screen with occassional blinking cursor

[-ck]

cgminer.exe -set-device antminer:clock=x0981 -o http://eu-stratum-btcguild.com:3333 -u (username) -p (password) -S antminer:all

that just causes CMD to open then close quickly.

when I ran it through exe and input variables via CMD, that's when I just got the blank screen with occassional blinking cursor

"-set-device antminer:clock=x0981" are not cgminer commands. cgminer commands for overclocking would be: "--anu-freq 250"

[kabopar]

cgminer.exe -set-device antminer:clock=x0981 -o http://eu-stratum-btcguild.com:3333 -u (username) -p (password) -S antminer:all

that just causes CMD to open then close quickly.

when I ran it through exe and input variables via CMD, that's when I just got the blank screen with occassional blinking cursor

Looks like your short-cut or batch file is a mix of cgminer and bfgminer.  Both can be used for the antminer U2, as long as you set the appropriate drivers and correct parameters.
Assuming that you are running Windows:
Drivers:  For cgminer use the win-usb driver most probably with the assistance of the Zadig utility.  Bfgminer uses the silabs VCP DRIVERS. Not Zadig/win-usb. If you wish to shift to bfgminer, remove the win-usb driver by going to device manager with it plugged in, right-click choose driver settings make sure the checkbox for delete driver is ticked, then install the Silabs VCP driver from http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx.

Either Cgminer or Bfgminer configuration can be controlled by command line/short-cut/batch file parameters, or by entries in their configuration file (default is cgminer.conf for cgminer and bfgminer.conf for bfgminer).
for bfgminer the Antminer U1/2 parameters in a batch file would look like:
bfgminer.exe -S antminer:all --set-device antminer:clock=x0981
(replace x0981 with the clock setting of your choice, see the Antminer manual at https://www.bitmaintech.com/userfiles/download/AntMiner%20U1%20user%20guide.pdf)
you can add your pool and user settings there as well
-o stratum+tcp://stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u User -p Pwd
(or when bfgminer starts, then save the configuration file to avoid future reentry).
There is plenty of information at this forum on setting Antminer U1/U2 devices.  Make sure that you run them on a well powered USB hub with some cooling.

Cheers

[justbtcme]

 

[JusticeEmpire]

Kabopar - Well that makes sense, as I have probably confused myself in the process of trying to get it working.

I tried using the config you suggested, and its not finding my URL. The address is correct (eu-stratum.btcguild.com:3333), I am just wondering if the prefixes are correct?

Just for clarity, the Antminer is plugged straight into laptop. I want to be able to get one working first before even thinking about buying a rig steup

[kabopar]

Kabopar - Well that makes sense, as I have probably confused myself in the process of trying to get it working.

I tried using the config you suggested, and its not finding my URL. The address is correct (eu-stratum.btcguild.com:3333), I am just wondering if the prefixes are correct?

Just for clarity, the Antminer is plugged straight into laptop. I want to be able to get one working first before even thinking about buying a rig steup

On BFGminer, I'm using http://stratum-lb-usa48.btcguild.com:3333 for BTCguild.  Perhaps you need to add the "http://". 
The BTC Guild support page says that its addresses are
Host (USA)    stratum.btcguild.com:3333
Host (EU)    eu-stratum.btcguild.com:3333
In some cases I used "stratum+tcp://stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333", so it looks like the "http://" may not be mandatory, however it would be easy to try.
Regarding running the Antminer U2 directly from a laptop port, there is the possibility that it requires more current than the port can provide.  I don't think that I tried to run it ever from a laptop or PC port.

Cheers

[JusticeEmpire]

Ok, so "stratum+tcp://" and "http://" are the same? I've tried both but with no success

If the Antminer isn't getting the correct power requirements to run, would BFGminer not through up an error? I do have a USB3.0 port on the laptop which I haven't tried yet

Also, does it matter what order the commands are in? Here's my 'work in progress' .bat

bfgminer.exe -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u XXX -p XXX -S antminer:all --set-device antminer:clock=x0781


BFG is saying that the URL isnt correct

[JusticeEmpire]

Right........................who wants to give me a stupidity slap first???


It seems to be working now, it was an ID10T error!


I had changed my worker name on BTCGuild and hadn't amended the file.

Thanks for all help and input so far, sorry that I made stupid error.

[kabopar]

Don't worry about that, we all make our silly mistakes, hopefully to learn from them  
(I had a similar typo error when starting my first Antminer S1, dreading that it was DOA, ended up being a typing error in the worker parameters)
Enjoy your hashing adventure

Cheers

[blackvoice]

Hi All,

First of all, I would like to say thanks to all the members on the site. Over the last few days, I have spent many MANY hours on the internet, learning and researching all about bitcoins, cryptocurrency and mining. And if it wasn't for a site like this, with an active memberbase, I know I wouldn't have learnt half as much.

Now I am that I am quite behind the band wagon, but it is still something that interests me, even if its for fun rather than profit.

I ordered and received Antminer u2, before I really understood what it was, and while I was waiting for it I was attempting to solo mine, using BitCoinCore and GUIminer on my laptop. I had no success. All sorts of problems with directories, user access permissions etc led me to get frustrated and abandoned the solo mining idea. I then went and signed up with BTCGuild so I could get to grips with pool mining. (that was running fine, but my GUIminer is playing up again)

I did like the GUIminer for the easy interface. I don't have vast script writing/programming experience, and I liked the idea of something simple to use, rather than writing command line code to change something.

So, Antminer came, I went and read manuals, tutorials, watched vids etc, but I still can't get it operational. I ended up using CGMiner, but it won't stay open. I am fairly sure that I've installed driver correctly. My BitCoinCore is all over the shot now, since I've moved files & directories around to try and get GUIminer working, and my Antminer is sitting on my desk, unused.

In the not too distant future, I want to get a USB hub and around 8 Block Eruptors (seem better than antminer) and have them running on a standalone rig. But before I do that, I wanted to make sure that I could get to grips with things first.


Would I be correct in thinking that I have really messed it up by moving BitCoinCore data around? How would I ensure that I have the correct drivers (actually, what are the correct ones?)? And what software miner is EASY, simple to use and setup for someone who has a little bit of technical knowledge, but not a lot of patience?

Thanks in advance,
JusticeEmpire

---------------------------

GPUminer is the best rig machine

I think you should not use USB hub, USB hub rig could never get back the investment

[Huangww]

It looks very complex.

[JusticeEmpire]

Any ideas why my script isn't working anymore.

It was running fine, just went to load it, and its now saying I have errors. Well, nothing has changed, unless my pool has decided to change something?

[byt411]

Any ideas why my script isn't working anymore.

It was running fine, just went to load it, and its now saying I have errors. Well, nothing has changed, unless my pool has decided to change something?

Well, what error are you getting?

[JusticeEmpire]

I started a seperate topic but haven't had any response yet.

It's saying there is a problem with the URL/Pool info.

I just reloaded it to get the error wording, but its started up fine ??


Any ideas?

[byt411]

I started a seperate topic but haven't had any response yet.

It's saying there is a problem with the URL/Pool info.

I just reloaded it to get the error wording, but its started up fine ??


Any ideas?

It's probably because your computer hasn't connected it when you switched it on??
If you are using CGWatcher, then it's because of a bug.