Hey everyone. I've been curious about what really goes down when you fire up a miner. I get that it sounds kinda basic, but I've always been into the details. Like, what’s the CPU doing? What checks does it run? What's the setup? What’s each part of the CPU doing while it’s active? And how does it process Bitcoin algorithms?
Also, I’m looking for info on firmware. What happens when you upload a new firmware version via the SD card?
Apologies if these questions seem too elementary, but I’ve always wanted to understand what’s actually happening inside that loud box! Appreciate any insights in advance.
More or less the same as what happens when you boot any other computer.
The firmware (BIOS) does a quick check of some things same as your PC, then it loads an OS, in the case of miners it's linux.
Then it start running some programs. A web server so you can see whats going on and a mining program so it can mine.
That is it. There will be some slight differences based on manufacturer but not much.
You can go out and buy a USB stick miner and run cgminer yourself on any PC and are doing the exact same thing that a full miner is doing.
Just a lot slower.....
You should move this to the hardware board. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=76.0
-Dave
you can look at the log it shows a lot.
I can show you a l3+ log
I cut the log off at the point it reached cgminer
at this point most ant miners do something similar anything after this will involve the algo you are trying to mine.
Since this is btc area of mining and I do not have a btc log access I stopped at this point.
Note that the time begins to show Jan 17
to mods please do not delete as this is more about the controller/cpu action prior to the algo mined.
After launching your miner, if it is configured to work in the pool, the following processes occur, if in simple words without logs:
1.BIOS initialization: the miner's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) checks the hardware components and initializes the settings required for the operating system to load.
2.Operating system boot: the miner loads the operating system and starts the required drivers and services.
3.Mining software launch: the miner starts the mining software, which is designed to solve complex mathematical problems in order to validate and add transactions to the blockchain.
4.Communication with mining pool: the miner establishes a connection to the mining pool and receives the necessary parameters, such as the pool address, port number, and miner's unique identifier.
5.Cryptographic hash function: the miner uses a cryptographic hash function, such as SHA-256, to perform a series of mathematical operations on the data in a block and produce a unique output, known as a hash.
6.PoW calculation: the miner performs a proof-of-work calculation by repeatedly hashing the block data and comparing the hash to a target value. The target value is adjusted by the network to maintain the average time required to mine a block at a consistent rate.
7.Block validation: if the miner is the first to solve the proof-of-work calculation and produce a hash that meets the target value, the block is considered valid, and the miner can broadcast the block to the network and receive a block reward.
8.Continuous mining: the miner continues to mine by repeating the process, starting with the next block of transactions waiting to be validated and added to the blockchain.
These steps are performed continuously by the CPU, which is the central processing unit of the miner. The CPU performs the necessary calculations, manages the memory and storage, and communicates with other components to ensure that the miner is able to continuously mine for cryptocurrency.