Crypto Mining Blog

We have compiled an updated version of the cgminer 3.7.2 for Gridseed 5-chip ASIC devices with some small fixes and have an option to try and overclock the device over the previously available maximum limit of 1000 MHz. Now you can try running the device at 1050, 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250 and 1300 MHz, though these in our experience going past 950 MHz will most likely produce only hardware errors, you are still welcome to try. So far 850 MHz operating frequency for Scrypt only mining mode seems to produce the best results with most devices, though you are welcome to experiment with yours. For a guide on how to install and use the Gridseed 5-chip ASICS with this cgminer. Also note that cgminer 3.7.2 for Gridseed does require you to replace the standard virtual USB to COM driver with WinUSB driver with the help of the software Zadig in order for cgminer to be able to detect and use the GSD ASIC devices.

– You can download cgminer 3.7.2 for Scrypt mining on Gridseed 5-chip GC3355 ASICs on Windows OS here…

We now have a version of cgminer 3.7.2 available for mining Scrypt (LTC) only on the 5-chip Gridseed GC3355 ASIC devices with properly displayed local hashrate as well as HW error rate and the full cgminer 3.7.2 functionality (thanks to a user called dtbartle on GitHub). We have compiled a windows version of that miner that you can download and install it to finally have fully functional cgminer on your Gridseed Scrypt ASIC (source code available here). Have in mind that you need to install a WinUSB driver on top of the standard installed USB to COM driver for the miner in order for cgminer to detect and run on your ASIC in LTC only mode with low power consumption of about 8W.

– Download and run the latest version of Zadig
– From the Zadig interface select Options and choose List All Devices
– From the Dropdown list of devices select CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller and click on Replace Driver with the WinUSB driver selected
– If you have multiple 5-chip GC3355 DualMiner USB devices connected you may need to repeat the procedure for all of them
– Download, edit and run LTC_ONLY.bat file from the modified cgminer 3.7.2 for Gridseed ASICs to start mining for LTC

It seems that there are some ASIC devices that may be using different virtual USB to COM drivers other than the CP2102 that our unit has (for example ST32 Virtual COM Port), unfortunately we don’t have any of those to test with. You can however try to make things work by replacing the other driver with WinUSB, just select the right name from the dropdown box (do not try to rename drivers, it is pointless) and Replace it with WinUSB (you may need to unplug and plug the USB cable to the miner after that). If after installing the WinUSB driver over the virtual USB to COM driver the ASIC does not work with cgminer, you just need to uninstall the driver from the Device Manager and unplug/plug the USB cable to the device for it to install the original USB to COM driver and it should be functioning again with cpuminer (note that this way you may have it running on a new COM port).

Do note that if running single Gridseed ASIC device you can have it connected to the system and use the hotplug 0 option, if you have more than a single miner you may have to set commandline option hotplug to 5 or 10 and then run cgminer and start plugging the USB cables of the miners (USB hubs with power on/off buttons work great for that).

– You can download cgminer 3.7.2 for Scrypt mining on Gridseed 5-chip GC3355 ASICs on Windows OS here…