Baud Rate

Baud rate is the signaling speed of a serial line, measured in symbols (for simple UART links, bits) per second. It sets how fast data moves between a computer and a device over a serial connection, and crucially it must be set identically on both ends — a mismatch produces garbled, unreadable output rather than a clean error, which is one of the most common stumbling blocks when first connecting to a board.

Common rates

Serial links run at a set of standard rates: 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, and 115200 baud are the most common. The overwhelming default for ASIC miner control boards, routers, and most modern embedded Linux devices is 115200 baud, almost always paired with the line settings 8 data bits, no parity, and 1 stop bit — written together as 115200 8N1. Older or simpler hardware sometimes defaults to 9600. If a console shows random symbols, a wrong baud rate is the first thing to check: step through the standard rates until the boot text becomes legible.

Why it matters for repair

Because a serial link carries no shared clock, both sides must independently agree on the bit timing, and baud rate is that timing. Set it wrong and the receiver samples each bit at the wrong instant, turning a perfectly good boot log into noise. When you reach a stuck miner through its console, matching the baud rate is the difference between reading exactly which boot stage failed and seeing nothing useful at all.

Baud rate is the key setting when wiring up a serial console through a USB-to-serial adapter; the underlying line it governs is the UART.