Three Steps – Setting Up Your First Solo Miner

Posted by

jojo

April 21, 2026

On April 21, 2026

Summary: A detailed, illustrated walkthrough (with descriptions of what you’ll see on screen) that takes you from unboxing to mining in under 15 minutes.

Before You Begin: What You’ll Need

Item	Notes
Your Solo Miner device	Bitaxe, NerdAxe, or similar
USB power adapter	5V/2A minimum (2.5A recommended)
USB-C (or micro-USB) cable	Use a good quality cable — cheap ones cause resets
A smartphone or laptop	For WiFi configuration
Your home WiFi network	2.4GHz only (5GHz is not supported)
A Bitcoin wallet address	We’ll cover this below

Step 1: Get a Bitcoin Wallet Address (2 minutes)

If you already have a Bitcoin wallet, skip to Step 2. If not, here’s the fastest way:

Option A: Mobile wallet (recommended for beginners)

Download Trust Wallet or BlueWallet from your app store.
Create a new wallet (write down the recovery phrase on paper — not a screenshot!).
Tap “Receive” → “Bitcoin” → copy the address.
It should look like: bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh

Option B: Exchange address (faster, but less control)

Log into your Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken account.
Go to Bitcoin → Deposit.
Copy the address provided.
Note: Some exchanges require minimum deposits before they show an address. A mobile wallet is simpler for this purpose.

Pro tip: Addresses starting with bc1 (Bech32 format) work with all modern solo mining software. Avoid addresses starting with 1 or 3 unless you know what you’re doing.

Step 2: Power Up and Connect (3 minutes)

2.1 Connect power

Plug the USB cable into your Solo Miner.
Plug the other end into your 5V/2A power adapter.
Plug the adapter into a wall outlet (not a power strip — direct wall power is more stable).

2.2 Watch the screen

Within 5 seconds, the screen should light up.
You’ll see a boot logo (Bitaxe logo, NMMiner logo, or custom firmware name).
After 10-15 seconds, you’ll see a message like: WiFi: Starting AP mode

2.3 Connect your phone to the device’s hotspot

Open your phone’s WiFi settings.
Look for a network named: bitaxe-xxxx or nmminer-xxxx or similar.
Connect to it. Default password is usually 12345678 (check your device’s documentation).
Once connected, your phone may warn “No Internet Access” — that’s normal and expected.

2.4 Open the configuration page

Your phone should automatically open a browser window to 192.168.4.1.
If it doesn’t, open your browser and manually type http://192.168.4.1.
You should see a configuration page with fields for:
- WiFi SSID
- WiFi password
- Pool URL (or Solo URL)
- Wallet address

Step 3: Configure Your Device (5 minutes)

3.1 Set up WiFi

In the “WiFi SSID” field, type your home WiFi network name exactly (case-sensitive).
In the “WiFi Password” field, type your home WiFi password.
Important: Your home network must be 2.4GHz. If your router uses the same name for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, your device may still work — but if it fails, create a dedicated 2.4GHz guest network.

3.2 Enter your Bitcoin address

Find the field labeled “BTC Address”, “Wallet”, or “Mining Address”.
Paste the Bitcoin address you copied in Step 1.
Double-check it! An incorrect address means if you find a block, the reward goes into a black hole.

3.3 Configure the pool (solo mode)

Look for “Pool URL” or “Stratum URL”.
For true solo mining (your device connects directly to a Bitcoin node or solo pool), enter:
- stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 (popular, reliable)
- Or stratum+tcp://public-pool.io:2143 (open source, community-run)
Leave “Pool User” or “Worker Name” blank, or enter anything (it’s ignored in solo mode).

3.4 Optional settings (don’t worry about these at first)

Frequency / Clock speed: Leave at default. You can overclock later if you want.
Voltage: Leave at default.
Fan speed: Auto is fine.

3.5 Save and restart

Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Click “Save” or “Apply”.
The device will reboot. This takes 20-30 seconds.

What You’ll See When It’s Working

After the reboot, your Solo Miner will:

Connect to your home WiFi — the screen will show Connecting to [your WiFi name]...
Obtain an IP address — you’ll see something like IP: 192.168.1.123
Connect to the solo pool — Stratum: Connecting...
Start hashing — Hashrate: 0 GH/s → Hashrate: 412 GH/s → Hashrate: 856 GH/s (numbers will climb)

On the main screen, you should see:

╔══════════════════════════╗
║ Bitaxe Ultra v1.4.2 ║
╠══════════════════════════╣
║ Hashrate: 856.2 GH/s ║
║ Temperature: 52°C ║
║ Fan: 4200 RPM ║
║ Power: 18.4W ║
║ Efficiency: 21.5 J/TH ║
║ Uptime: 0d 00:03:21 ║
║ Best Diff: 2.4M ║
╚══════════════════════════╝

If you see hashrate numbers increasing and staying stable — congratulations! You are now a Solo Miner.

What to Expect in the First Hour

First 5 minutes: The hashrate will fluctuate as the device warms up and the fan adjusts. This is normal.
First 30 minutes: The temperature will stabilize around 45-65°C depending on your ambient room temperature.
First hour: You may see “Best Diff” increase as your miner finds higher-difficulty shares (these are not blocks — they are just proof that your miner is working correctly).

Important: In solo mode, you will not see “Accepted” messages every few seconds. That’s a pool mining feature. In solo mode, the only “Accepted” that matters is a full block solution — which is extremely rare. Don’t worry if your device runs for days without any accepted shares. That’s how solo mining works.

Troubleshooting (Just in Case)

Problem: Device won’t connect to home WiFi

Ensure your network is 2.4GHz (not 5GHz).
Check that you typed the password correctly (case-sensitive).
Try moving the device closer to your router during initial setup.

Problem: Screen stays dark after power-up

Try a different USB cable (many cables are cheap and only support charging, not data).
Try a different power adapter (5V/2A minimum).
Some devices have a reset button — press it once.

Problem: Hashrate shows 0 GH/s