Whatsminer – Factory Reset via Button

Confirm the miner is fully booted before pressing anything. Verify the API on TCP 4028 answers a `status` call (`echo '{"command":"status"}' | nc <ip> 4028`) or that the web UI loads. Pressing RESET mid-boot is the #1 cause of corrupted control-board states. If the miner is still initializing after a power cycle, wait 5 additional minutes before proceeding. A clean reset starts from a clean running state.

Export current config first. In WhatsminerTool or the web UI, note: current IP, pool URLs and worker names, firmware version (`api/status` → `Version`, looks like `20251209.16`), power-limit setting, custom frequency target, and MAC from the chassis sticker. Factory reset is destructive — nothing persists unless written down. Screenshot Miner Config and Pool Config. 90 seconds here saves an hour of rebuilding.

Perform the 3-second reset. Locate the RESET button near the Ethernet port on a powered, fully-booted miner. Press with a ballpoint pen or paperclip. Count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi. Watch for the red-green LED flicker — release *immediately* when it starts. This resets IP, pool URLs, and user1-3/admin passwords but keeps firmware. On post-20230915 builds the `super` password is preserved; on older builds it's wiped.

Wait 15 minutes — resist pressing again. The control board rebuilds /etc/config/*, /home/miner/conf/*, regenerates SSH host keys, and re-enumerates every hashboard chip. M30S: 8-10 min. M60S: up to 20 min because more chips to enumerate. Pressing RESET again during this window often pushes the miner into recovery mode. Ping will work (kernel up), HTTP will time out (userland not ready). That's normal.

Discover the new IP via IPFOUND or router DHCP. Hold IPFOUND for 2 seconds (button on the opposite end of the chassis from RESET). M30-era firmware emits audible beep-codes for each digit; M50+ blinks the LED; hydro M5x/M6x with an LCD prints the IP directly. Alternatively, check your router's DHCP leases for a fresh MAC starting A4:C1:38, D0:71:C4, or 7C:21:0D. Log in with admin/admin, change super password immediately.

Hold RESET for 5-10 seconds for a full factory reset. Same physical procedure as step 3 but hold through the initial red-green flicker, continue until LED goes steady green, release at ~8 seconds. Do not cross 10 seconds — that enters recovery-partition reflash territory. A full factory reset wipes config, cached logs, SSH host keys, the local nginx TLS cert, and all three user account passwords including super. Everything reverts to factory defaults.

Recover the super account with factory defaults. After a full factory reset, defaults are admin/admin (limited web admin), super/super (full admin), and root/root (SSH, on older firmware; disabled by default on 20240101+). Log in as super, verify full admin by navigating to Miner Config → Advanced. If defaults fail, firmware may have been modified by a previous owner or you're on an unusual build — check version string, consult MicroBT support.

Rebuild pool, worker, and power config from your Tier 1 export. In the web UI: Miner Config → enter pool URL(s) up to 3 with failover priority, worker name, password (pool-dependent, often `x`). Power Limit → re-apply export value if running below stock. Frequency targets are managed by firmware autotune; custom frequency requires third-party firmware (Asicdip, HiveOS for ASICs, Vnish) — see Mining Hacker Notes for why that's a separate decision.

Set a strong super password immediately. Factory reset leaves super/super exposed. Any attacker scanning your subnet for TCP 4028 and port 80 tests default credentials in seconds and steals hashrate to their pool. Change to a 16+ character password. If the miner is on a public or semi-public network (colocation, shared hosting), firewall port 4028 from the internet — the MicroBT API has no authentication on most commands, making it a hijacking vector.

Verify firmware version against known-good list. Reset doesn't downgrade firmware — only wipes config. Check `api/status` → `Version`. Cross-reference against the community firmware-known-issues tracker on Zeus Mining or the r/gpumining Whatsminer wiki. If you're on a build with known issues, now is the moment to upgrade — the miner is already in a clean state and firmware upgrade is a one-click operation in WhatsminerTool.

Exit stuck recovery mode via WhatsminerTool. If LED is solid or slow-pulse amber after an over-long RESET press, the active firmware partition is marked invalid. In WhatsminerTool V9.0.1+, click Firmware Upgrade, select the correct binary for your exact model (M30S vs M30S+ vs M30S++ are not cross-compatible — header check fails). Expect 10-15 min for flash + boot. On completion, LED returns to normal. If WhatsminerTool can't discover the miner at all, eMMC may be corrupt — Tier 4.

VLAN / subnet drift recovery. Factory reset wipes VLAN tagging. If the miner was on a tagged mining VLAN, it now rejoins the native/untagged VLAN. Fix: temporarily bridge your laptop to the native VLAN, discover the miner, re-apply tagged VLAN config via Network Config → VLAN ID, move laptop back. Alternatively, use your managed switch's VLAN-crossing rule for the discovery window. Forgetting this step traps many fleet operators in post-reset ghost-miner hunts.

SSH key regeneration for automation pipelines. Factory reset regenerates SSH host keys. Ansible/Salt/custom scripts that cache host keys in known_hosts will fail with `REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED`. Either run `ssh-keygen -R <old-ip>` on your orchestration host, or rebuild the fleet's trusted-hosts map. For DHCP pools, tie host-key trust to MAC rather than IP — it survives IP churn across resets.

Cross-flash custom firmware after factory reset. A factory-reset Whatsminer is a clean state for third-party firmware like Asicdip, HiveOS for ASICs, or the Vnish Whatsminer branch — per-chip tuning, better autotune, stratum-v2 support, proper logging. Note that 100001-100003 anti-tamper error codes fire on some MicroBT firmware generations when third-party firmware is detected on the next reset or upgrade. Unlike Antminer, there is no D-Central-maintained open-source firmware for Whatsminer — DCENT_OS is Antminer-only.

When DIY stops: eMMC failure or dead control board. If WhatsminerTool cannot discover the miner at all after a failed recovery flash, or if the miner doesn't respond to power (no LED, no fan spin-up in 5 s with a confirmed-good PSU), or if flash attempts fail with write/verify errors repeatedly, the eMMC is likely corrupt or the control board has failed. Bench-repair territory — eMMC reball, SoC reflow, or board swap. Book a D-Central ASIC Repair slot — 5-10 business day turnaround. Ship with symptoms, firmware version attempted, and contact info.