I fixed my PyCom helium miner, but only with the help of this article…
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
So I did…
root@pycom-miner:/home/ubuntu# docker network rm b42ea5ebc1adb42ea5ebc1ad
root@pycom-miner:/home/ubuntu# docker network rm ca1d3391bf71ca1d3391bf71
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.