Big Noob Here

[Juxtapose913]

Hey there, just found out about Bitcoins today and figured I would mine since my computer is usually on 75% of the day anyway.

My gpu is a Sapphire Radeon HD 6950, which comes up as Cayman

• . (I'm guessing that's the product's code name.)

I'm currently using guiminer but am having some connection issues... Whenever I try to connect to any pool (using a worker user name and password from the site of course) it gives this error:

Running command: poclbm.exe --user=xxx --pass=xxx -o deepbit.net -p 8332 -d0 --verbose
Listener for "Default" started
Listener for "Default": Wrong platform or more than one OpenCL platforms found, use --platform to select one of the following
Listener for "Default":

•    AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing

Listener for "Default": [1]   ATI Stream

I tried adding -platform and -platform 0 as flags but it did little to help, any suggestions?

Also looking for recommendations for which pools are the best and what flags make my gpu run most efficiently.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: After reviewing my post, I've come to realize that [*0] (without the *) comes up as this weird symbol:

[1714123150]

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[1714123150]

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[1714123150]

1714123150

[1714123150]

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[stabaho]

Have you tried cgminer?

[DrHaribo]

Did you try -platform 1?

Also you may want to check out bitminter.com - I'm trying to make the most newbie-friendly miner and pool.

[Juxtapose913]

Tried doing the -platform 1 flag, did nothing. When I have -platform flagged in, it just says connecting and never gets anywhere.

[PatrickHarnett]

In guiminer, did you try "-p1" without spaces?  I'm assuming you went through the create new CL miner option and filled in the different boxes before hitting the "start" button.

Might also be handy to know which version of catalyst/windows you are using.

[Juxtapose913]

In guiminer, did you try "-p1" without spaces?  I'm assuming you went through the create new CL miner option and filled in the different boxes before hitting the "start" button.

Might also be handy to know which version of catalyst/windows you are using.

-p1 does nothing, -platform1 brings me back to the never ending connecting issue.

I have catalyst version 10-12 and Windows 7 64-bit as my OS.

[PatrickHarnett]

If you're getting the connection problem, I assume it is allowed through your firewall?  How long - forever (>15 minuted?) sometimes it takes a minute or two first time - vague memory).  Also, some networks (like the one I'm on at the moment) doesn't allow me to connect through port 8332.

Have you double checked the worker and password on deepbit?  I used that as a pool originally because it started easily for me first time.

[Juxtapose913]

I've tried various pools, none work. I am definitely putting in the username/passwords correctly for the WORKER and not the account I signed up with.

[PatrickHarnett]

Hi, as a suggestion (and I've had to do this more than once before), delete that miner and make a whole new one.  Sometimes it gets messed up even if everything looks right.  (and save the new configuration)

[deepceleron]

First, make sure you have a driver installed correctly, one which includes OpenCL. I would recommend the ATI Catalyst 11.6 full driver package as the most problem-free. Use the control panel->programs and features, and uninstall ATI drivers currently on the system (pick "remove ALL ATI software" when prompted). Restart. Install 11.6. Restart.

Then I would recommend the Phoenix miner. Extract it to it's own directory, and save the following to a new miner.bat file in that directory:

phoenix.exe -v -u http://workername:password@us.ozco.in:8332/ -k phatk2 VECTORS AGGRESSION=6 FASTLOOP=True WORKSIZE=256 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

Put in your user/pass and the pool URL that you are using. Note that on most pools, you don't use your main user name, you create a second username called a "worker".

These options give you a miner that will work well in the background while you use your computer. Run the miner.bat file.

If it still can't open the OpenCL device, run just this command, it will print a list of your device numbers, so you can make sure your video card is device 0:

phoenix.exe -v -u http://nothing:8332/ -k phatk2

That should get you mining, you can start tweaking things from there.

[Juxtapose913]

First, make sure you have a driver installed correctly, one which includes OpenCL. I would recommend the ATI Catalyst 11.6 full driver package as the most problem-free. Use the control panel->programs and features, and uninstall ATI drivers currently on the system (pick "remove ALL ATI software" when prompted). Restart. Install 11.6. Restart.

Then I would recommend the Phoenix miner. Extract it to it's own directory, and save the following to a new miner.bat file in that directory:

phoenix.exe -v -u http://workername:password@us.ozco.in:8332/ -k phatk2 VECTORS AGGRESSION=6 FASTLOOP=True WORKSIZE=256 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

Put in your user/pass and the pool URL that you are using. Note that on most pools, you don't use your main user name, you create a second username called a "worker".

These options give you a miner that will work well in the background while you use your computer. Run the miner.bat file.

If it still can't open the OpenCL device, run just this command, it will print a list of your device numbers, so you can make sure your video card is device 0:

phoenix.exe -v -u http://nothing:8332/ -k phatk2

That should get you mining, you can start tweaking things from there.

Thank you very much, installing catalyst version 11.6 worked out perfectly. I tried Phoenix Miner, but found that I on average got about 50 Mhash/s more with Guiminer than with Pheonix.

[deepceleron]

The settings above are for conservative background mining; if you want to crank it up, try phoenix with:

-k phatk2 VECTORS AGGRESSION=13 FASTLOOP=False WORKSIZE=256 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

You must underclock the memory to 300MHz for the best performance, using a utility like MSI afterburner or Sapphire Trixx. If you use stock GPU RAM speeds, these settings will be better for you (but still not as good as the above with an underclock):

-k phatk2 VECTORS4 AGGRESSION=13 FASTLOOP=False WORKSIZE=64 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

[PatrickHarnett]

Great that you got it working. 

As Deepceleron notes, you can tinker with some of the settings depending on how you use your machine, or set and forget once it's stable.

[Juxtapose913]

The settings above are for conservative background mining; if you want to crank it up, try phoenix with:

-k phatk2 VECTORS AGGRESSION=13 FASTLOOP=False WORKSIZE=256 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

You must underclock the memory to 300MHz for the best performance, using a utility like MSI afterburner or Sapphire Trixx. If you use stock GPU RAM speeds, these settings will be better for you (but still not as good as the above with an underclock):

-k phatk2 VECTORS4 AGGRESSION=13 FASTLOOP=False WORKSIZE=64 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=0

Thank you very much, you have been extremely helpful!

Will underclocking my gpu cause any harm? Should I underclock the core clock along with it?

[PatrickHarnett]

Least extreme is underclocking the memory clock (say 500 Mhz).  There should be lots of other information about changing clock speeds around the forum.