README 35 KB

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356357358359360361362363364365366367368369370371372373374375376377378379380381382383384385386387388389390391392393394395396397398399400401402403404405406407408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490491492493494495496497498499500501502503504505506507508509510511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549550551552553554555556557558559560561562563564565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592593594595596597598599600601602603604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619620621622623624625626627628629630631632633634635636637638639640641642643644645646647648649650651652653654655656657658659660661662663664665666667668669670671672673674675676677678679680681682683684685686687688689690691692693694695696697698699700701702703704705706707708709710711712713714715716717718719720721722723724725726727728729730731732733734735736737738739740741742743744745746747748749750751752753754755756757758759760761762763764765766767768769770771772773774775776777778779780781782783784785786787788789790791792793794795796797798799800801802803804805806807808809810811812813814815816817818819820821822823824825826827
  1. This is a multi-threaded multi-pool GPU, FPGA and CPU miner with ATI GPU
  2. monitoring, (over)clocking and fanspeed support for bitcoin and derivative
  3. coins. Do not use on multiple block chains at the same time!
  4. This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
  5. time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider using the
  6. --donation feature or donate directly to the address below.
  7. Con Kolivas <kernel@kolivas.org>
  8. 15qSxP1SQcUX3o4nhkfdbgyoWEFMomJ4rZ
  9. DOWNLOADS:
  10. http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer
  11. GIT TREE:
  12. https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer
  13. Support thread:
  14. http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0
  15. IRC Channel:
  16. irc://irc.freenode.net/cgminer
  17. License: GPLv2. See COPYING for details.
  18. READ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BELOW FOR FIRST TIME USERS!
  19. Dependencies:
  20. curl dev library http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/
  21. (libcurl4-openssl-dev)
  22. curses dev library
  23. (libncurses5-dev or libpdcurses on WIN32)
  24. pkg-config http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config
  25. jansson http://www.digip.org/jansson/
  26. (jansson is included in-tree and not necessary)
  27. yasm 1.0.1+ http://yasm.tortall.net/
  28. (yasm is optional, gives assembly routines for CPU mining)
  29. AMD APP SDK http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK
  30. (This sdk is mandatory for GPU mining)
  31. AMD ADL SDK http://developer.amd.com/sdks/ADLSDK
  32. (This sdk is mandatory for ATI GPU monitoring & clocking)
  33. CGMiner specific configuration options:
  34. --enable-cpumining Build with cpu mining support(default disabled)
  35. --disable-opencl Override detection and disable building with opencl
  36. --disable-adl Override detection and disable building with adl
  37. --enable-bitforce Compile support for BitForce FPGAs(default disabled)
  38. Basic *nix build instructions:
  39. To build with GPU mining support:
  40. Install AMD APP sdk, ideal version (see FAQ!) - no official place to
  41. install it so just keep track of where it is if you're not installing
  42. the include files and library files into the system directory.
  43. (Do NOT install the ati amd sdk if you are on nvidia.)
  44. To build with GPU monitoring & clocking support:
  45. Extract the AMD ADL SDK, latest version - there is also no official
  46. place for these files. Copy all the *.h files in the "include"
  47. directory into cgminer's ADL_SDK directory.
  48. The easiest way to install the ATI AMD SPP sdk on linux is to actually put it
  49. into a system location. Then building will be simpler. Download the correct
  50. version for either 32 bit or 64 bit from here:
  51. http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/Pages/default.aspx
  52. This will give you a file with a name like AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz
  53. Then:
  54. sudo su
  55. cd /opt
  56. tar xf /path/to/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz
  57. cd /
  58. tar xf /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/icd-registration.tgz
  59. ln -s /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/include/CL /usr/include
  60. ln -s /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/lib/x86_64/* /usr/lib/
  61. ldconfig
  62. If you are on 32 bit, x86_64 in the 2nd last line should be x86
  63. To actually build:
  64. ./autogen.sh # only needed if building from git repo
  65. CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native" ./configure
  66. or if you haven't installed the ati files in system locations:
  67. CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native -I<path to AMD APP include>" LDFLAGS="-L<path to AMD APP lib/x86_64> ./configure
  68. make
  69. If it finds the opencl files it will inform you with
  70. "OpenCL: FOUND. GPU mining support enabled."
  71. Basic WIN32 build instructions (LIKELY OUTDATED INFO. requires mingw32):
  72. ./autogen.sh # only needed if building from git repo
  73. rm -f mingw32-config.cache
  74. MINGW32_CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -msse2" mingw32-configure
  75. make
  76. ./mknsis.sh
  77. Native WIN32 build instructions (on mingw32, on windows):
  78. Install the Microsoft platform SDK
  79. Install AMD APP sdk, (if you want GPU mining)
  80. Install AMD ADL sdk, (if you want GPU monitoring)
  81. (Do NOT install the ati amd sdk if you are on nvidia)
  82. Install mingw32
  83. Install libcurl, copy libcurl.m4 into /mingw/share/aclocal
  84. Install pkg-config, copy pkg.m4 into /mingw/share/aclocal
  85. Run:
  86. autoreconf -fvi
  87. CFLAGS="-O2 -msse2" ./configure
  88. make
  89. ---
  90. Usage instructions: Run "cgminer --help" to see options:
  91. Usage: . [-atDdGCgIKklmpPQqrRsTouvwOchnV]
  92. Options for both config file and command line:
  93. --api-description Description placed in the API status header (default: cgminer version)
  94. --api-listen Listen for API requests (default: disabled)
  95. --api-network Allow API (if enabled) to listen on/for any address (default: only 127.0.0.1)
  96. --api-port Port number of miner API (default: 4028)
  97. --auto-fan Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature
  98. --auto-gpu Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature
  99. --debug|-D Enable debug output
  100. --donation <arg> Set donation percentage to cgminer author (0.0 - 99.9) (default: 0.0)
  101. --expiry|-E <arg> Upper bound on how many seconds after getting work we consider a share from it stale (default: 120)
  102. --failover-only Don't leak work to backup pools when primary pool is lagging
  103. --load-balance Change multipool strategy from failover to even load balance
  104. --log|-l <arg> Interval in seconds between log output (default: 5)
  105. --monitor|-m <arg> Use custom pipe cmd for output messages
  106. --net-delay Impose small delays in networking to not overload slow routers
  107. --no-longpoll Disable X-Long-Polling support
  108. --pass|-p <arg> Password for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  109. --per-device-stats Force verbose mode and output per-device statistics
  110. --protocol-dump|-P Verbose dump of protocol-level activities
  111. --queue|-Q <arg> Minimum number of work items to have queued (0 - 10) (default: 1)
  112. --quiet|-q Disable logging output, display status and errors
  113. --real-quiet Disable all output
  114. --remove-disabled Remove disabled devices entirely, as if they didn't exist
  115. --retries|-r <arg> Number of times to retry before giving up, if JSON-RPC call fails (-1 means never) (default: -1)
  116. --retry-pause|-R <arg> Number of seconds to pause, between retries (default: 5)
  117. --rotate <arg> Change multipool strategy from failover to regularly rotate at N minutes (default: 0)
  118. --round-robin Change multipool strategy from failover to round robin on failure
  119. --scan-time|-s <arg> Upper bound on time spent scanning current work, in seconds (default: 60)
  120. --sched-start <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to start mining (a once off without a stop time)
  121. --sched-stop <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to stop mining (will quit without a start time)
  122. --shares <arg> Quit after mining N shares (default: unlimited)
  123. --socks-proxy <arg> Set socks4 proxy (host:port)
  124. --submit-stale Submit shares even if they would normally be considered stale
  125. --syslog Use system log for output messages (default: standard error)
  126. --text-only|-T Disable ncurses formatted screen output
  127. --url|-o <arg> URL for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  128. --user|-u <arg> Username for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  129. --verbose Log verbose output to stderr as well as status output
  130. --userpass|-O <arg> Username:Password pair for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  131. Options for command line only:
  132. --config|-c <arg> Load a JSON-format configuration file
  133. See example.conf for an example configuration.
  134. --help|-h Print this message
  135. --version|-V Display version and exit
  136. GPU only options:
  137. --auto-fan Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature
  138. --auto-gpu Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature
  139. --device|-d <arg> Select device to use, (Use repeat -d for multiple devices, default: all)
  140. --disable-gpu|-G Disable GPU mining even if suitable devices exist
  141. --gpu-threads|-g <arg> Number of threads per GPU (1 - 10) (default: 2)
  142. --gpu-engine <arg> GPU engine (over)clock range in Mhz - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 850-900,900,750-850)
  143. --gpu-fan <arg> GPU fan percentage range - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 25-85,85,65)
  144. --gpu-memclock <arg> Set the GPU memory (over)clock in Mhz - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  145. --gpu-memdiff <arg> Set a fixed difference in clock speed between the GPU and memory in auto-gpu mode
  146. --gpu-powertune <arg> Set the GPU powertune percentage - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  147. --gpu-reorder Attempt to reorder GPU devices according to PCI Bus ID
  148. --gpu-vddc <arg> Set the GPU voltage in Volts - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  149. --intensity|-I <arg> Intensity of GPU scanning (d or -10 -> 10, default: d to maintain desktop interactivity)
  150. --kernel-path|-K <arg> Specify a path to where the kernel .cl files are (default: "/usr/local/bin")
  151. --kernel|-k <arg> Select kernel to use (poclbm or phatk - default: auto)
  152. --no-restart Do not attempt to restart GPUs that hang
  153. --temp-cutoff <arg> Temperature where a GPU device will be automatically disabled, one value or comma separated list (default: 95)
  154. --temp-hysteresis <arg> Set how much the temperature can fluctuate outside limits when automanaging speeds (default: 3)
  155. --temp-overheat <arg> Overheat temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 85)
  156. --temp-target <arg> Target temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 75)
  157. --vectors|-v <arg> Override detected optimal vector width (1, 2 or 4)
  158. --worksize|-w <arg> Override detected optimal worksize (default: 0)
  159. --ndevs|-n Enumerate number of detected GPUs and exit
  160. BitForce only options:
  161. --scan-serial|-S <arg> Serial port to probe for BitForce device
  162. CPU only options:
  163. --algo|-a <arg> Specify sha256 implementation for CPU mining:
  164. auto Benchmark at startup and pick fastest algorithm
  165. c Linux kernel sha256, implemented in C
  166. 4way tcatm's 4-way SSE2 implementation
  167. via VIA padlock implementation
  168. cryptopp Crypto++ C/C++ implementation
  169. sse2_64 SSE2 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines
  170. sse4_64 SSE4.1 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines (default: sse2_64)
  171. --cpu-threads|-t <arg> Number of miner CPU threads (default: 4)
  172. --enable-cpu|-C Enable CPU mining with other mining (default: no CPU mining if other devices exist)
  173. ---
  174. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ON USAGE:
  175. After saving configuration from the menu, you do not need to give cgminer any
  176. arguments and it will load your configuration.
  177. Single pool, regular desktop:
  178. cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password
  179. Single pool, dedicated miner:
  180. cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9
  181. Single pool, first card regular desktop, 3 other dedicated cards:
  182. cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I d,9,9,9
  183. Multiple pool, dedicated miner:
  184. cgminer -o http://pool1:port -u pool1username -p pool1password -o http://pool2:port -u pool2usernmae -p pool2password -I 9
  185. Add overclocking settings, GPU and fan control for all cards:
  186. cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9 --auto-fan --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950 --gpu-memclock 300
  187. Add overclocking settings, GPU and fan control with different engine settings for 4 cards:
  188. cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9 --auto-fan --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950,945,700-930,960 --gpu-memclock 300
  189. READ WARNINGS AND DOCUMENTATION BELOW ABOUT OVERCLOCKING
  190. On Linux you virtually always need to export your display settings before
  191. starting to get all the cards recognised and/or temperature+clocking working:
  192. export DISPLAY=:0
  193. ---
  194. WHILE RUNNING:
  195. The following options are available while running with a single keypress:
  196. [P]ool management [G]PU management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
  197. P gives you:
  198. Current pool management strategy: Failover
  199. [A]dd pool [R]emove pool [D]isable pool [E]nable pool
  200. [C]hange management strategy [S]witch pool [I]nformation
  201. S gives you:
  202. [L]ongpoll: On
  203. [Q]ueue: 1
  204. [S]cantime: 60
  205. [E]xpiry: 120
  206. [R]etries: -1
  207. [P]ause: 5
  208. [W]rite config file
  209. D gives you:
  210. Toggle: [D]ebug [N]ormal [S]ilent [V]erbose [R]PC debug
  211. [L]og interval [C]lear
  212. Q quits the application.
  213. G gives you something like:
  214. GPU 0: [124.2 / 191.3 Mh/s] [Q:212 A:77 R:33 HW:0 E:36% U:1.73/m]
  215. Temp: 67.0 C
  216. Fan Speed: 35% (2500 RPM)
  217. Engine Clock: 960 MHz
  218. Memory Clock: 480 Mhz
  219. Vddc: 1.200 V
  220. Activity: 93%
  221. Powertune: 0%
  222. Last initialised: [2011-09-06 12:03:56]
  223. Thread 0: 62.4 Mh/s Enabled ALIVE
  224. Thread 1: 60.2 Mh/s Enabled ALIVE
  225. [E]nable [D]isable [R]estart GPU [C]hange settings
  226. Or press any other key to continue
  227. ---
  228. Also many issues and FAQs are covered in the forum thread
  229. dedicated to this program,
  230. http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28402.0
  231. The output line shows the following:
  232. (5s):1713.6 (avg):1707.8 Mh/s | Q:301 A:729 R:8 HW:0 E:242% U:22.53/m
  233. Each column is as follows:
  234. A 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate
  235. An all time average hash rate
  236. The number of requested (Queued) work items from the pools
  237. The number of Accepted shares
  238. The number of Rejected shares
  239. The number of HardWare errors
  240. The Efficiency defined as number of shares returned / work item
  241. The Utility defined as the number of shares / minute
  242. GPU 1: 73.5C 2551RPM | 427.3/443.0Mh/s | A:8 R:0 HW:0 U:4.39/m
  243. Each column is as follows:
  244. Temperature (if supported)
  245. Fanspeed (if supported)
  246. A 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate
  247. An all time average hash rate
  248. The number of accepted shares
  249. The number of rejected shares
  250. The number of hardware erorrs
  251. The utility defines as the number of shares / minute
  252. The cgminer status line shows:
  253. TQ: 1 ST: 1 SS: 0 DW: 0 NB: 1 LW: 8 GF: 1 RF: 1
  254. TQ is Total Queued work items.
  255. ST is STaged work items (ready to use).
  256. SS is Stale Shares discarded (detected and not submitted so don't count as rejects)
  257. DW is Discarded Work items (work from block no longer valid to work on)
  258. NB is New Blocks detected on the network
  259. LW is Locally generated Work items
  260. GF is Getwork Fail Occasions (server slow to provide work)
  261. RF is Remote Fail occasions (server slow to accept work)
  262. NOTE: Running intensities above 9 with current hardware is likely to only
  263. diminish return performance even if the hash rate might appear better. A good
  264. starting baseline intensity to try on dedicated miners is 9. Higher values are
  265. there to cope with future improvements in hardware.
  266. ---
  267. MULTIPOOL
  268. FAILOVER STRATEGIES WITH MULTIPOOL:
  269. A number of different strategies for dealing with multipool setups are
  270. available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so multiple strategies
  271. are available by user choice, as per the following list:
  272. FAILOVER:
  273. The default strategy is failover. This means that if you input a number of
  274. pools, it will try to use them as a priority list, moving away from the 1st
  275. to the 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. If any of the earlier pools recover, it will
  276. move back to the higher priority ones.
  277. ROUND ROBIN:
  278. This strategy only moves from one pool to the next when the current one falls
  279. idle and makes no attempt to move otherwise.
  280. ROTATE:
  281. This strategy moves at user-defined intervals from one active pool to the next,
  282. skipping pools that are idle.
  283. LOAD BALANCE:
  284. This strategy sends work in equal amounts to all the pools specified. If any
  285. pool falls idle, the rest will take up the slack keeping the miner busy.
  286. ---
  287. LOGGING
  288. cgminer will log to stderr if it detects stderr is being redirected to a file.
  289. To enable logging simply add 2>logfile.txt to your command line and logfile.txt
  290. will contain the logged output at the log level you specify (normal, verbose,
  291. debug etc.)
  292. In other words if you would normally use:
  293. ./cgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
  294. if you use
  295. ./cgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 2>logfile.txt
  296. it will log to a file called logfile.txt and otherwise work the same.
  297. There is also the -m option on linux which will spawn a command of your choice
  298. and pipe the output directly to that command.
  299. ---
  300. OVERCLOCKING WARNING AND INFORMATION
  301. AS WITH ALL OVERCLOCKING TOOLS YOU ARE ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY HARM YOU
  302. MAY CAUSE TO YOUR HARDWARE. OVERCLOCKING CAN INVALIDATE WARRANTIES, DAMAGE
  303. HARDWARE AND EVEN CAUSE FIRES. THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY
  304. DAMAGE YOU MAY CAUSE OR UNPLANNED CHILDREN THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT.
  305. The GPU monitoring, clocking and fanspeed control incorporated into cgminer
  306. comes through use of the ATI Display Library. As such, it only supports ATI
  307. GPUs. Even if ADL support is successfully built into cgminer, unless the card
  308. and driver supports it, no GPU monitoring/settings will be available.
  309. Cgminer supports initial setting of GPU engine clock speed, memory clock
  310. speed, voltage, fanspeed, and the undocumented powertune feature of 69x0+ GPUs.
  311. The setting passed to cgminer is used by all GPUs unless separate values are
  312. specified. All settings can all be changed within the menu on the fly on a
  313. per-GPU basis.
  314. For example:
  315. --gpu-engine 950 --gpu-memclock 825
  316. will try to set all GPU engine clocks to 950 and all memory clocks to 825,
  317. while:
  318. --gpu-engine 950,945,930,960 --gpu-memclock 300
  319. will try to set the engine clock of card 0 to 950, 1 to 945, 2 to 930, 3 to
  320. 960 and all memory clocks to 300.
  321. AUTO MODES:
  322. There are two "auto" modes in cgminer, --auto-fan and --auto-gpu. These can
  323. be used independently of each other and are complementary. Both auto modes
  324. are designed to safely change settings while trying to maintain a target
  325. temperature. By default this is set to 75 degrees C but can be changed with:
  326. --temp-target
  327. e.g.
  328. --temp-target 80
  329. Sets all cards' target temperature to 80 degrees.
  330. --temp-target 75,85
  331. Sets card 0 target temperature to 75, and card 1 to 85 degrees.
  332. AUTO FAN:
  333. e.g.
  334. --auto-fan (implies 85% upper limit)
  335. --gpu-fan 25-85,65 --auto-fan
  336. Fan control in auto fan works off the theory that the minimum possible fan
  337. required to maintain an optimal temperature will use less power, make less
  338. noise, and prolong the life of the fan. In auto-fan mode, the fan speed is
  339. limited to 85% if the temperature is below "overheat" intentionally, as
  340. higher fanspeeds on GPUs do not produce signficantly more cooling, yet
  341. significanly shorten the lifespan of the fans. If temperature reaches the
  342. overheat value, fanspeed will still be increased to 100%. The overheat value
  343. is set to 85 degrees by default and can be changed with:
  344. --temp-overheat
  345. e.g.
  346. --temp-overheat 75,85
  347. Sets card 0 overheat threshold to 75 degrees and card 1 to 85.
  348. AUTO GPU:
  349. e.g.
  350. --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950
  351. --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950,945,700-930,960
  352. GPU control in auto gpu tries to maintain as high a clock speed as possible
  353. while not reaching overheat temperatures. As a lower clock speed limit,
  354. the auto-gpu mode checks the GPU card's "normal" clock speed and will not go
  355. below this unless you have manually set a lower speed in the range. Also,
  356. unless a higher clock speed was specified at startup, it will not raise the
  357. clockspeed. If the temperature climbs, fanspeed is adjusted and optimised
  358. before GPU engine clockspeed is adjusted. If fan speed control is not available
  359. or already optimal, then GPU clock speed is only decreased if it goes over
  360. the target temperature by the hysteresis amount, which is set to 3 by default
  361. and can be changed with:
  362. --temp-hysteresis
  363. If the temperature drops below the target temperature, and engine clock speed
  364. is not at the highest level set at startup, cgminer will raise the clock speed.
  365. If at any time you manually set an even higher clock speed successfully in
  366. cgminer, it will record this value and use it as its new upper limit (and the
  367. same for low clock speeds and lower limits). If the temperature goes over the
  368. cutoff limit (95 degrees by default), cgminer will completely disable the GPU
  369. from mining and it will not be re-enabled unless manually done so. The cutoff
  370. temperature can be changed with:
  371. --temp-cutoff
  372. e.g.
  373. --temp-cutoff 95,105
  374. Sets card 0 cutoff temperature to 95 and card 1 to 105.
  375. --gpu-memdiff -125
  376. This setting will modify the memory speed whenever the GPU clock speed is
  377. modified by --auto-gpu. In this example, it will set the memory speed to
  378. be 125 Mhz lower than the GPU speed. This is useful for some cards like the
  379. 6970 which normally don't allow a bigger clock speed difference.
  380. CHANGING SETTINGS:
  381. When setting values, it is important to realise that even though the driver
  382. may report the value was changed successfully, and the new card power profile
  383. information contains the values you set it to, that the card itself may
  384. refuse to use those settings. As the performance profile changes dynamically,
  385. querying the "current" value on the card can be wrong as well. So when changing
  386. values in cgminer, after a pause of 1 second, it will report to you the current
  387. values where you should check that your change has taken. An example is that
  388. 6970 reference cards will accept low memory values but refuse to actually run
  389. those lower memory values unless they're within 125 of the engine clock speed.
  390. In that scenario, they usually set their real speed back to their default.
  391. Cgminer reports the so-called "safe" range of whatever it is you are modifying
  392. when you ask to modify it on the fly. However, you can change settings to values
  393. outside this range. Despite this, the card can easily refuse to accept your
  394. changes, or worse, to accept your changes and then silently ignore them. So
  395. there is absolutely to know how far to/from where/to it can set things safely or
  396. otherwise, and there is nothing stopping you from at least trying to set them
  397. outside this range. Being very conscious of these possible failures is why
  398. cgminer will report back the current values for you to examine how exactly the
  399. card has responded. Even within the reported range of accepted values by the
  400. card, it is very easy to crash just about any card, so it cannot use those
  401. values to determine what range to set. You have to provide something meaningful
  402. manually for cgminer to work with through experimentation.
  403. STARTUP / SHUTDOWN:
  404. When cgminer starts up, it tries to read off the current profile information
  405. for clock and fan speeds and stores these values. When quitting cgminer, it
  406. will then try to restore the original values. Changing settings outside of
  407. cgminer while it's running may be reset to the startup cgminer values when
  408. cgminer shuts down because of this.
  409. ---
  410. API
  411. If you start cgminer with the "--api-listen" option, it will listen on a
  412. simple TCP/IP socket for single string API requests from the same machine
  413. running cgminer and reply with a string and then close the socket each time
  414. Also, if you add the "--api-network" option, it will accept API requests
  415. from any network attached computer.
  416. The request can be either simple text or JSON.
  417. If the request is JSON (starts with '{'), it will reply with a JSON formatted
  418. response, otherwise it replies with text formatted as described further below.
  419. The JSON request format required is '{"command":"CMD","parameter":"PARAM"}'
  420. (though of course parameter is not required for all requests)
  421. where "CMD" is from the "Request" column below and "PARAM" would be e.g.
  422. the CPU/GPU number if required.
  423. An example request in both formats:
  424. gpufan|0,80
  425. {"command":"gpufan","parameter":"0,80"}
  426. The format of each reply (unless stated otherwise) is a STATUS section
  427. followed by an optional detail section
  428. The STATUS section is:
  429. STATUS=X,Code=N,Msg=string,Description=string|
  430. STATUS=X Where X is one of:
  431. W - Warning
  432. I - Informational
  433. S - Success
  434. E - Error
  435. F - Fatal (code bug)
  436. Code=N
  437. Each unique reply has a unigue Code (See api.c - #define MSG_NNNNNN)
  438. Msg=string
  439. Message matching the Code value N
  440. Description=string
  441. This defaults to the cgminer version but is the value of --api-description
  442. if it was specified at runtime.
  443. The list of requests and replies are:
  444. Request Reply Section Details
  445. ------- ------------- -------
  446. version VERSION CGMiner=cgminer version
  447. API=API version
  448. config CONFIG Some miner configuration information:
  449. GPU Count=N, <- the number of GPUs
  450. CPU Count=N, <- the number of CPUs
  451. Pool Count=N, <- the number of Pools
  452. ADL=X, <- Y or N if ADL is compiled in the code
  453. ADL in use=X, <- Y or N if any GPU has ADL
  454. Strategy=Name| <- the current pool strategy
  455. summary SUMMARY The status summary of the miner
  456. e.g. Elapsed=NNN,Found Blocks=N,Getworks=N,...|
  457. pools POOLS The status of each pool
  458. e.g. Pool=0,URL=http://pool.com:6311,Status=Alive,...|
  459. devs DEVS Each available CPU and GPU with their details
  460. e.g. GPU=0,Accepted=NN,MHS av=NNN,...,Intensity=D|
  461. Will not report CPUs if CPU mining is disabled
  462. gpu|N GPU The details of a single GPU number N in the same
  463. format and details as for DEVS
  464. cpu|N CPU The details of a single CPU number N in the same
  465. format and details as for DEVS
  466. This is only available if CPU mining is enabled
  467. Use 'cpucount' or 'config' first to see if there are any
  468. gpucount GPUS Count=N| <- the number of GPUs
  469. cpucount CPUS Count=N| <- the number of CPUs
  470. Always returns 0 if CPU mining is disabled
  471. switchpool|N none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  472. stating the results of switching pool N to the
  473. highest priority (the pool is also enabled)
  474. The Msg includes the pool URL
  475. gpuenable|N none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  476. stating the results of the enable request
  477. gpudisable|N none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  478. stating the results of the disable request
  479. gpurestart|N none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  480. stating the results of the restart request
  481. gpuintensity|N,I none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  482. stating the results of setting GPU N intensity to I
  483. gpumem|N,V none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  484. stating the results of setting GPU N memoryclock to V MHz
  485. gpuengine|N,V none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  486. stating the results of setting GPU N clock to V MHz
  487. gpufan|N,V none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  488. stating the results of setting GPU N fan speed to V%
  489. gpuvddc|N,V none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  490. stating the results of setting GPU N vddc to V
  491. save|filename none There is no reply section just the STATUS section
  492. stating success or failure saving the cgminer config
  493. to filename
  494. quit none There is no status section but just a single "BYE|"
  495. reply before cgminer quits
  496. When you enable, disable or restart a GPU, you will also get Thread messages in
  497. the cgminer status window
  498. Obviously, the JSON format is simply just the names as given before the '='
  499. with the values after the '='
  500. If you enable cgminer debug (-D or --debug) you will also get messages showing
  501. details of the requests received and the replies
  502. There are included 4 program examples for accessing the API:
  503. api-example.php - a php script to access the API
  504. usAge: php api-example.php command
  505. by default it sends a 'summary' request to the miner at 127.0.0.1:4028
  506. If you specify a command it will send that request instead
  507. You must modify the line "$socket = getsock('127.0.0.1', 4028);" at the
  508. beginning of "function request($cmd)" to change where it looks for cgminer
  509. API.java/API.class
  510. a java program to access the API (with source code)
  511. usAge is: java API command address port
  512. Any missing or blank parameters are replaced as if you entered:
  513. java API summary 127.0.0.1 4028
  514. api-example.c - a 'C' program to access the API (with source code)
  515. usAge: api-example [command [ip/host [port]]]
  516. again, as above, missing or blank parameters are replaced as if you entered:
  517. api-example summary 127.0.0.1 4028
  518. miner.php - an example web page to access the API
  519. This includes buttons to enable, disable and restart the GPUs and also to
  520. quit cgminer
  521. You must modify the 2 lines near the top to change where it looks for cgminer
  522. $miner = '127.0.0.1'; # hostname or IP address
  523. $port = 4028;
  524. ---
  525. FAQ
  526. Q: cgminer segfaults when I change my shell window size.
  527. A: Older versions of libncurses have a bug to do with refreshing a window
  528. after a size change. Upgrading to a new version of curses will fix it.
  529. Q: Can I mine on servers from different networks (eg smartcoin and bitcoin) at
  530. the same time?
  531. A: No, cgminer keeps a database of the block it's working on to ensure it does
  532. not work on stale blocks, and having different blocks from two networks would
  533. make it invalidate the work from each other.
  534. Q: Can I change the intensity settings individually for each GPU?
  535. A: Yes, pass a list separated by commas such as -I d,4,9,9
  536. Q: Can I put multiple pools in the config file?
  537. A: Yes, check the example.conf file. Alternatively, set up everything either on
  538. the command line or via the menu after startup and choose settings->write
  539. config file and the file will be loaded one each startup.
  540. Q: The build fails with gcc is unable to build a binary.
  541. A: Remove the "-march=native" component of your CFLAGS as your version of gcc
  542. does not support it.
  543. Q: The CPU usage is high.
  544. A: The ATI drivers after 11.6 have a bug that makes them consume 100% of one
  545. CPU core unnecessarily so downgrade to 11.6. Binding cgminer to one CPU core on
  546. windows can minimise it to 100% (instead of more than one core). Driver version
  547. 11.11 on linux and 11.12 on windows appear to have fixed this issue.
  548. Q: Can you implement feature X?
  549. A: I can, but time is limited, and people who donate are more likely to get
  550. their feature requests implemented.
  551. Q: My GPU hangs and I have to reboot it to get it going again?
  552. A: The more aggressively the mining software uses your GPU, the less overclock
  553. you will be able to run. You are more likely to hit your limits with cgminer
  554. and you will find you may need to overclock your GPU less aggressively. The
  555. software cannot be responsible and make your GPU hang directly. If you simply
  556. cannot get it to ever stop hanging, try decreasing the intensity, and if even
  557. that fails, try changing to the poclbm kernel with -k poclbm, though you will
  558. sacrifice performance. cgminer is designed to try and safely restart GPUs as
  559. much as possible, but NOT if that restart might actually crash the rest of the
  560. GPUs mining, or even the machine. It tries to restart them with a separate
  561. thread and if that separate thread dies, it gives up trying to restart any more
  562. GPUs.
  563. Q: Work keeps going to my backup pool even though my primary pool hasn't
  564. failed?
  565. A: Cgminer checks for conditions where the primary pool is lagging and will
  566. pass some work to the backup servers under those conditions. The reason for
  567. doing this is to try its absolute best to keep the GPUs working on something
  568. useful and not risk idle periods. You can disable this behaviour with the
  569. option --failover-only.
  570. Q: Is this a virus?
  571. A: Cgminer is being packaged with other trojan scripts and some antivirus
  572. software is falsely accusing cgminer.exe as being the actual virus, rather
  573. than whatever it is being packaged with. If you installed cgminer yourself,
  574. then you do not have a virus on your computer. Complain to your antivirus
  575. software company.
  576. Q: How does the donation feature work and how does it affect my shares?
  577. A: The donation feature is disabled by default and only does anything once
  578. enabled. It queries the author's website for login credentials and contributes
  579. up to a proportion of work to the author's account. While the overall
  580. accepted/rejected rates will include this work, none of these will appear in
  581. your own accounts. On exiting, the summary will tell you how many shares were
  582. contributed to the author.
  583. Q: Can you modify the display to include more of one thing in the output and
  584. less of another, or can you change the quiet mode or can you add yet another
  585. output mode?
  586. A: Everyone will always have their own view of what's important to monitor.
  587. The defaults are very sane and I have very little interest in changing this
  588. any further.
  589. Q: Can you change the autofan/autogpu to change speeds in a different manner?
  590. A: The defaults are sane and safe. I'm not interested in changing them
  591. further. The starting fan speed is set to 85% in auto-fan mode as a safety
  592. precaution, but if a specific fan speed has been set, it will use that first
  593. before adjusting automatically.
  594. Q: The fanspeed starts at 85% with --auto-fan. Can I set it lower?
  595. A: The initial fanspeed will always start at 85% unless you choose your own
  596. value with --gpu-fan. In this case it will use the value you give it with
  597. --gpu-fan as the first fanspeed.
  598. Q: Why is my efficiency above/below 100%?
  599. A: Efficiency simply means how many shares you return for the amount of work
  600. you request. It does not correlate with efficient use of your hardware, and is
  601. a measure of a combination of hardware speed, block luck, pool design and other
  602. factors.
  603. Q: What are the best parameters to pass for X pool/hardware/device.
  604. A: Virtually always, the DEFAULT parameters give the best results. Most user
  605. defined settings lead to worse performance. The ONLY thing most users should
  606. need to set is the Intensity.
  607. Q: What happened to CPU mining?
  608. A: Being increasingly irrelevant for most users, and a maintenance issue, it is
  609. no longer under active development and will not be supported unless someone
  610. steps up to help maintain it. No binary builds supporting CPU mining will be
  611. released but CPU mining can be built into cgminer when it is compiled.
  612. Q: I upgraded my ATI driver/SDK/cgminer and my hashrate suddenly dropped!
  613. A: The hashrate performance in cgminer is tied to the version of the ATI SDK
  614. that is installed only for the very first time cgminer is run. This generates
  615. binaries that are used by the GPU every time after that. Any upgrades to the
  616. SDK after that time will have no effect on the binaries. However, if you
  617. install a fresh version of cgminer, and have since upgraded your SDK, new
  618. binaries will be built. It is known that the 2.6 ATI SDK has a huge hashrate
  619. penalty on generating new binaries. It is recommended to not use this SDK at
  620. this time.
  621. Q: Which ATI SDK is the best for cgminer?
  622. A: At the moment, versions 2.4 and 2.5 work the best. If you are forced to use
  623. the 2.6 SDK, -v 1 -w 64 might help, along with not decreasing your memory clock
  624. speed.
  625. Q: ATI 79XX support?
  626. A: Work in progress. Still needs a lot of work to get a good hashrate.
  627. Q: GUI version?
  628. A: No. The RPC interface makes it possible for someone else to write one
  629. though.
  630. Q: I'm having an issue. What debugging information should I provide?
  631. A: Start cgminer with your regular commands and add -D -T --verbose and provide
  632. the full startup output and a summary of your hardware, operating system, ATI
  633. driver version and ATI stream version.
  634. ---
  635. This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
  636. time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider using the
  637. --donation feature or donate directly to the address below.
  638. Con Kolivas <kernel@kolivas.org>
  639. 15qSxP1SQcUX3o4nhkfdbgyoWEFMomJ4rZ