Your First Miner

Here is the actual setup, start to finish. It is a lot like setting up a printer: plug in power, plug in internet, find it on your network, type in a few settings.

Power in, internet in, open its control page, point it at a pool, done.

Before you power on

• Put it where it can be loud and hot, near your 240V outlet (Step 3).
• Have an internet cable (Ethernet) ready. Most miners do not use WiFi.
• Have a Bitcoin wallet address ready (from the Bitcoin for Dummies guide). That is where your pay goes.
• Pick a mining pool first (Step 5) so you have its address handy.

The steps

• 1. Plug in internet, then power. The fans will roar. That is normal.
• 2. Find the miner on your network. Use the maker's finder tool, or check your router's device list, to get the miner's little address (looks like 192.168.x.x).
• 3. Open that address in a web browser. You get the miner's control page. Log in (the maker's manual lists the default username and password).
• 4. Change the default password right away. This matters: default passwords get hijacked.
• 5. Enter your pool. In the pool or mining settings, paste three things: the pool address (URL), your worker name (usually your pool username plus a nickname for this machine), and a password (often just the letter x).
• 6. Save and let it run. Within a few minutes the page should show your hashrate climbing and "accepted shares." That means it is working.

Check it is healthy

• Hashrate sits near the machine's rated TH/s.
• Temperatures stay in the safe range the manual lists. Too hot means better airflow needed.
• Accepted shares keep going up. Lots of "rejected" shares means a network or setting problem.