Bitcoin Mining

Hello Friends,

My friend salam is a bitcoin miner.He will say us about his experience as a miner.He will explain to you step by step how to build a farm, avoid the mistakes of a beginner, and even sell it without significant losses if you decide to quit.

Hi there! This is the second article in the series, where I share my experience with beginner miners. In the previous article, we talked about choosing the hardware and the facility; today, we will discuss the software. We’ll learn to set up parts to maximize their efficiency and autonomy, as well as manage mining programs, remote access, and monitoring.

Video card BIOS update and configuration

Before inserting video cards into the rig, you need to update the motherboard’s BIOS; otherwise, some boards won’t be able to start. I usually connect the monitor to the built-in video card; if there is none, then I hook up the video card to the first PCI-E connector. The BIOS update procedure is different for different producers: whereas on legacy boards, you had to burn a floppy disk. The modern ones only need an Ethernet cable to activate the update online. Generally, you have to follow these steps:

1. Connect the motherboard to a router with enabled DHCP. Not having to enter the network settings manually will save you quite a bit of time;

2. Start the computer and press Del, F8—F12, or Enter multiple times (the required key combo indicator is usually on the screen) until you see the BIOS properties;

3. Find the updates section, then select “by Internet” and press the version check button

4. If the Internet connection is successful, you will get the information on your BIOS version with a prompt to update, if necessary;

5. Click on the update and restart the computer;

6. As soon as the computer restarts, enter BIOS again to make sure it is the newest version.

If necessary, you may put the new version onto a flash drive by downloading the image from the motherboard creators’ website. Then follow a similar procedure, but instead select update ‘by USB.’

Updating the BIOS is critical for reliable and efficient mining. Once you have installed the update, it is important to change some settings related to power and port bandwidth. Names of settings may vary from producer to producer but are generally similar.

1. In the Power or APM Configuration section, activate automatic restart after a power outage. The parameter is called Restore on AC/Power Loss or something like that. Select Power On. Additionally, deactivate Enable Hibernation, if this option is available;

2. Find Max Link Speed or PCIE 2 Link speed (usually hidden in Other settings) and switch from Auto to Gen 2. Sometimes there’s an individual setting for each PCI-E, so change the settings for every port;

3. If DMI Max Link Speed option is available, change it to Gen 3;

4. Here or in the Periphery section, you will see Above 4G Decoding, set it to Disabled;

5. If you are planning to connect a video card to an M.2 connector, find and change M.2 Configuration to PCIE;

6. Just in case force enable the built-in video card:
   — navigate to Internal Graphics and select Enabled;
   — switch Initial Display Output to IGFX. This parameter is sometimes also called Primary Graphics Adapter; switch it to OnBoard or Internal;

You can try disabling the following settings, which may affect efficiency, but it has never worked for me:

1. Intel USB3.0 Mode;

2. OnBoard HD Audio or Azalia audio codec.

That is the final step of BIOS configuration. It’s time we passed on to choosing and installing the operating system. If you are having issues with video card detection, my advice would be to google “mining settings” for your video card model.

Choosing and configuring the operating system

When choosing an operating system, any miner has two options:

1. Windows 10. A familiar and seemingly simple solution;

2. Linux-based systems. A reliable and versatile solution, yet challenging to configure.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the configuration of both.

Windows 10

If you want to mine on Windows, its latest version (Windows 10) is the best option, as it may be challenging to get modern hardware to work with legacy versions. Besides, on Windows 10, gaming efficiency is higher thanks to optimizations, which also means a higher hash rate for mining.

However, as I have already mentioned earlier, Windows only seems to be a simple solution. Several issues are lurking behind the familiar interface:

1. You often have to install video card drivers one-by-one: you insert one GPU, install the driver, then insert the next GPU, install the driver again, proceed to the third one, and so on;

2. After you’ve installed the drivers, you have to patch them to ensure maximum efficiency;

3. Persistent system updates which wipe out drivers;

4. Different video cards are unlikely to work on one system, especially if you need to combine AMD and Nvidia;

5. You need a large, 40–60 GB drive;

6. Expensive license;

Most failures I’ve dealt with were the result of updates. I’ve tried disabling the update service along with the update center, using various utilities and tweakers to disable updates “forever”, blocking Microsoft addresses with Firewall, changing local group policies and editing the registry, but sooner or later some updates would still slip through, causing half of the miners to turn off and blocking remote access. That prompted my decision to switch to Linux, but just in case you want to give it a try anyway, let’s go over Windows configuration.

Installation

I recommend installing the latest version of Windows 10; Home Edition will do, too. You don’t have to fragment your hard drive. Installation from a flash drive doesn’t always work, as it involves USB controller drivers. That is why the simplest solution is an external CD drive. If you do not have a CD drive, you need to integrate drivers into the system image using the DISM utility. There’s no need to make an installation flash drive every time. Instead, use the beautiful Easy2Boot tool allowing you to download an ISO image from a flash drive.

Updates

To ensure security, after installation, you can update to the latest version before you disable the update center. There is no sure way to do that, as Microsoft will find a loophole to update the system whether the user wants it or not. Here is a promising method that has not failed me so far.

1. Win+R → services.msc → OK

2. Right-click on Windows Update, select Properties;

3. Select Startup type in the pop-up window Manual;

4. Press Stop in the same window;

5. Navigate to the Log On tab, switch to This account;

6. Click Browse… and then Advanced… in the pop-up window;

7. Select Find Now and double-click Guest at the bottom of the list;

8. Press OK, and you’re back to the Windows Update Properties pane;

9. Erase the text in Password and Confirm Password fields.

All done! Now the update service is not supposed to run automatically, but if it does, it will end up in a non-administrator account, where the installation of updates is impossible.

As a result bitcoin mining is not trully suitable