NerdQAxe++ firmware update: Install from GitHub, upload the files, or use the Web Flasher
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Updating a NerdQAxe++: the short answer
“How do I update the firmware on my NerdQAxe++?” On firmware 1.0.34 or newer, open the miner's web page, go to Settings, leave Keep Settings ticked and press Install from GitHub: the miner fetches the right file, writes the new firmware and the new web page in one go, and restarts. On older firmware, or when that button fails, upload esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin and www.bin by hand, or flash the miner over USB with the Web Flasher from the same developer. Below: which update screen your version has, each method step by step, the messages you may meet, and how to check that the update worked.
Which update screen your firmware has
The update screen has changed twice, so check your version first. Type the miner's IP address into a browser on the same network (the miner shows its IP on its own screen) and click Settings in the menu. Your version is next to Current Version.
| Your firmware | What Settings shows | Best way to update |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1.0 and newer | A Release & Update card with Install from GitHub. The manual upload card, Legacy Update, stays hidden until you switch on the Danger Zone button. | One click. Upload by hand only if the miner cannot reach GitHub. |
1.0.34 to 1.0.37.x, including the -LTS releases | The same Release & Update card, plus a Legacy Update card that is always visible. | One click, or upload by hand. |
| 1.0.33 and older | Two cards, Update Firmware and Update Website, and no one-click button. | Upload two files by hand, or use the Web Flasher. |
On 8 November 2026 the newest release was v1.1.1, and the newest release on the older 1.0.37 line was v1.0.37.4-LTS. Both came out on 31 October 2026. Every release is on the firmware's releases page. The firmware's README calls the USB Web Flasher the recommended method, and the developer has said that updating from the web page became easier from 1.0.34.1, with the new one-click updater.
Update in one click with Install from GitHub
This needs firmware 1.0.34 or newer. Your browser loads the list of releases from GitHub, and the miner then downloads the file from GitHub by itself, so both need a working internet connection.
- Open the miner's web page, click Settings and scroll down to the Release & Update card.
- Under Select release, choose the release marked (latest). From 1.1.1 on, it is listed first and already selected. Leave Show pre-releases unticked: those are test builds (alpha, beta, rc and test versions).
- Check that Filename shows the factory file for your board, for example
esp-miner-factory-NerdQAxe++-v1.1.1.bin. - Leave Keep Settings ticked. It is ticked by default. If you untick it, the update wipes every setting, including your WiFi, your pool and your Bitcoin address.
- Press Install from GitHub. If you turned on OTP on the Security page, enter the 6-digit code when the miner asks: “Enter the 6-digit code to start the firmware update.”
- Wait while the bar runs through Resolving URL, Updating firmware, Downloading web content, Updating web content and Rebooting... (plus Resetting configuration if you unticked Keep Settings). Mining stops while the firmware is written.
- The miner restarts, and the page reloads by itself once the miner answers again. If it does not, refresh the page by hand.
The one button writes both parts, the firmware and the web page, so you do not need to upload www.bin afterwards. The developer confirmed this in the project's issue tracker.
Upload the two files by hand
Use this when the miner cannot reach GitHub, or on firmware 1.0.33 and older. From the same release on the releases page, download two files: esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin, the firmware, and www.bin, the web page. Leave the large esp-miner-factory-NerdQAxe++-… file alone: it is the one the Web Flasher and the one-click button use, and the upload box only accepts a file named exactly esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin. Other boards on this firmware, such as the NerdQAxe+ or the NerdOCTAXE-γ, carry their own model name in that file name, and the box shows the name it expects.
- On 1.1.0 and newer, reveal the upload card first. In Settings, the Mining Settings card has a faint warning-triangle button in its title bar; its tooltip says Danger Zone. Click it once, and a Legacy Update card appears at the bottom of the page. On 1.0.34 to 1.0.37.x the card is always there.
- Under Manual Firmware Upload (on 1.0.33 and older, Update Firmware), click Browse, pick
esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.binand click Flash. The miner stops mining, writes the file and restarts. - When the page is back, under Manual WWW Upload (older: Update Website), click Browse, pick
www.binand click Flash. The page reloads when it is done. - If you switched the Danger Zone on, click the button again to switch it off. While it is on, the frequency and core voltage menus turn into free number fields, so leave them alone. It also switches itself off after a day.
If OTP is on, the miner asks for the 6-digit code before each upload. Take both files from the same release: on 1.0.36 and newer, Settings shows a Version mismatch! box until the firmware and the web page match.
If the web page will not update: the Web Flasher
The Nerd*axe Web Flasher writes the full factory file over a USB cable. The firmware's README calls it the recommended method, and the developer points owners to it when a web-page update fails, because it does not rely on code in the firmware that is already running. It needs a Chromium-based browser, such as Chrome, Edge or Brave.
- Connect the miner to your computer with a USB cable and open the Web Flasher.
- Click Connect and pick the miner in the browser's pop-up.
- Under Select device, choose NerdQAxe++ (4 x BM1370), then choose a version under Select firmware version.
- Leave Keep configuration ticked, as it is by default, to keep your settings. Unticked, the flasher also writes over the part of the chip that holds them.
- Click Start Flashing and wait for “Flashing completed successfully! Device has been restarted.”
When GitHub lists a SHA-256 checksum for the release file, the flasher checks its download against it before writing anything, and stops if the two differ.
Messages you may see while updating
| What you see | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| “Incorrect file, expected: esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin” | The firmware box checks the file name. You picked the factory file, or a file for another board. Choose esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin from the release. |
| “Incorrect file, expected: www.bin” | The web page box only takes www.bin. Pick that file from the same release. |
Codes such as TOAST.INCORRECT_FILE instead of words | Your browser is still using an old language file. Reload the page with Ctrl+F5. The developer says this was fixed in 1.0.34.1, and fixed again in 1.0.35. |
| “Version mismatch!” with different Firmware and Web-UI numbers | Only one of the two parts was updated. Upload the missing file from the same release, or run Install from GitHub, which writes both. |
“Upload failed” or “Update failed”, ending in 0 Unknown Error | Your browser got no answer from the miner: the connection dropped or timed out. The web page is built with Angular, which words every network-level failure this way. Try again from a computer on the same network. If it keeps failing, use the Web Flasher. On firmware 1.0.31 the developer confirmed that web-page updates crashed the miner. |
An error ending in 401 Unauthorized | The miner refused the request. It accepts changes only when your computer and the address you typed are both private network addresses (starting 10., 172.16 to 172.31, or 192.168.), or when you use the exact hostname set in its settings, localhost or a .local name. A router name such as nerdqaxe.fritz.box is refused. Open the miner by the IP address on its screen. With OTP on, a missing or wrong code also gives a 401, and five wrong codes within a minute lock it for five minutes. |
| Install from GitHub is greyed out and Select release is empty | The page could not load the release list, which your browser fetches from GitHub. Check that the computer is online, or upload the files by hand. |
| A blank page, or “Nerd*OS Recovery … Please upload www.bin” | The web page files are missing or damaged. First try Ctrl+F5. If the page is still blank, open http://<miner-ip>/recovery, upload the www.bin from your release, wait about 60 seconds and do not restart the miner until it answers. The miner also shows this page by itself when it cannot load its web files. |
Check that the update worked
- Version: in Settings, Current Version shows the release you installed.
- No mismatch: on 1.0.36 and newer, there is no Version mismatch! box at the top of Settings.
- Your own address: in Settings → Stratum Settings → Primary Stratum Pool, the Username still starts with your own Bitcoin address. If the settings were reset, you will see the factory values instead: host
public-pool.io, port3333, and a username that startsbc1q7n70rumyv6lvu8avpml0c3uggvssfu52egum3q. That address is written into the firmware and is not yours, so a block found with it would pay that address, not you. Put your own details back, check the fallback slot with the fallback pool check, then press Save and Restart. - WiFi: a reset also removes your WiFi details. The miner then opens its own setup network, named
Nerdaxe_plus four characters, until you connect it to your WiFi again. - Shares: after the restart, the dashboard should show accepted shares again. If you mine on SoloLuck, the Check my miner button on /setup opens the public page for your address, and your first share should show there within a minute or two.
Putting SoloLuck back after a reset: host stratum.sololuck.io, port 3333, username your-address.nerdqaxe (your own Bitcoin address, then a worker name), password x. The NerdQAxe++ solo mining guide walks through the pool screen field by field.
What an update changes, and what it does not
Updates fix bugs and add features. Version 1.1.1, for example, replaced the certificate store the miner uses for Stratum TLS with the “System certificate” option, for the GitHub updater and for Discord notifications, and its release notes recommend updating if you mine over TLS. SoloLuck's TLS port is 3334; mining over TLS explains what it protects and what it does not.
An update does not change your odds. At the network difficulty of 8 November 2026 (148.36T), one NerdQAxe++ at about 4.8 TH/s would expect to find a block about once every 4,200 years, a 1 in 1,500,000 chance on any given day, on any solo pool. Most boards never find one. The NerdQAxe++ page keeps those numbers live, and the odds calculator works them out for your own hashrate. The rest of the family is on the NerdQAxe page.
FAQ
Will a firmware update reset my pool settings and Bitcoin address?
Not if you leave Keep Settings ticked in the web page's updater, or Keep configuration ticked in the Web Flasher. Both are ticked by default. Untick either and the miner goes back to factory settings: your WiFi is gone, the pool is public-pool.io, and the username holds an address written into the firmware that is not yours. After any update, open Settings and check that the Username still starts with your own address.
Which file do I need: the factory file, esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin or www.bin?
The Web Flasher and Install from GitHub use the factory file, whose name carries the version, for example esp-miner-factory-NerdQAxe++-v1.1.1.bin; the one-click updater picks it for you. A manual upload in the miner's web page needs the other two files from the same release: esp-miner-NerdQAxe++.bin for the firmware and www.bin for the web page.
Where did the manual upload go in firmware 1.1?
It is hidden. In Settings, click the faint warning-triangle button in the title bar of the Mining Settings card (its tooltip says Danger Zone) once, and a Legacy Update card with Manual Firmware Upload and Manual WWW Upload appears at the bottom of the page. Click the button again when you are done, because it also unlocks free frequency and voltage fields.
Should I install a pre-release or an LTS release?
For a miner you just want running, pick the release marked (latest) and leave Show pre-releases unticked: alpha, beta, rc and test builds are for testing. Releases ending in -LTS belong to the older 1.0.37 line, which still gets fixes backported to it. On 8 November 2026 the latest release was v1.1.1 and the newest LTS release was v1.0.37.4-LTS, both published on 31 October 2026.
Does Install from GitHub also update the web page, or do I still upload www.bin?
It does both. The one-click updater writes the new firmware and the new web page in one go, then restarts the miner; the developer confirmed this when an owner asked the same question. You only upload www.bin yourself when you update by hand. Mining pauses while the firmware is written.
Will updating the firmware improve my chances of finding a block?
No. Your chances depend only on your hashrate against the whole network. One NerdQAxe++ at about 4.8 TH/s would expect a block about once every 4,200 years at the network difficulty of 8 November 2026, on any solo pool, and most boards never find one. An update fixes bugs and adds features; it does not change those odds.
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