I Fixed Mine

[Jason Timmins]

Hi Guys,

I fixed my miner, but only with the help of this article...

https://zolder.io/hacking-my-helium-crypto-miner/

The author had his apart, found the console/SSH login credentials (user: ubuntu, password: ubuntu) and then dissected the Linux installation.

Here's what was the matter with mine, when Docker tried to start it moaned about...

3 matches found based on name: network ubuntu_default is ambiguous

You can view the Docker networks using this command...

docker network ls

Sure enough it showed multiple entries for the 'ubuntu_default' network...

root@pycom-miner:/home/ubuntu# docker network ls
NETWORK ID     NAME             DRIVER    SCOPE
8aec6b6f5e90   bridge           bridge    local
188661078b8f   host             host      local
9afa4799c04c   none             null      local
40522c0fa720   ubuntu_default   bridge    local
b42ea5ebc1ad   ubuntu_default   bridge    local
ca1d3391bf71   ubuntu_default   bridge    local

I removed all but one of those 'ubuntu_default' networks using...

docker network rm <NETWORK ID>

So I did...

root@pycom-miner:/home/ubuntu# docker network rm b42ea5ebc1ad
b42ea5ebc1ad
root@pycom-miner:/home/ubuntu# docker network rm ca1d3391bf71
ca1d3391bf71

This seemed to tidy things up a bit and allowed to the update to run. It took my miner from 1.0.5 to 1.0.7.

It's now doing OK. My local LoRaWAN devices are now connecting to this hotspot and I'm expecting the Helium Explorer to start reporting activity again soon.

Pro Tip: I was struggling to get the USB-C console to work with a USB-A to USB-C cable. Once I switched to using a USB-C port on my laptop with a USB-C to USB-C cable (at 115,200 baud for the serial terminal in PuTTY), I got a reliable connection and was able to watch the device boot. I was also able to sign-in using ubuntu/ubuntu.

Pro Tip - Auto Updating: The miner will check for updates from Pycom every 5 minutes but not until the miner has been on for 30 minutes. You can see details of the updating mechanism in the article mentioned above.

Anyway, I hope that helps. I took mine apart to do all this but, as long as you can reach it via SSH, you can login remotely and fix the installation from there.

[DC]

@Jason-Timmins
Very nice! Thanks for the info. I will check on the one that has constant disk activity to see if that's the issue. It hasn't updated to the version with the web dashboard even though it is hooked up to WiFi and idling on my desk for a week. It is not onboarded yet - I just wanted to have it update before I onboard/assert and install it.

[Jason Timmins]

@DC
It won't update until it's provisioned (I assume that means 'part of the blockchain'), there's a bit of code in the update script that blocks that...

if [ ! -f /etc/provisioning.txt ]; then
    exit 0
fi

That's saying... if there's no provisioning file, exit the update script immediately, so no updates happen until it's provisioned.

[DC]

@Jason-Timmins
I logged in and found the same - three ubuntu_default bridges. I deleted two of them then issued a reboot. I then onboarded the hotspot, but didn't assert its location yet. We'll see if this works. Great sleuthing!

Now that I can log in via ssh, I can properly halt them or reboot them without pulling the plug. YAY!

UPDATE: It works now and has updated to the version with the web interface.

[Jason Timmins]

@DC
That's great. I'm glad my tip helped and that you got it working and updating.