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Old Dell Optiplex. Can be purchased for under $125 and install Core/Knots yourself. Ministry of Nodes has some good tutorials in setting Ubuntu server and installing a node plus mempool.

what implentatation on your raspi? umbrel? raspiblitz? is it a 4 or 5? what do you mean by “locks up”? should still be able to get a raspi to work but it can takes week to sync over tor if you absolutely have to get new hardware, just get like a dell mini pc and a 2TB sata ssd and install startos on it

*take weeks

Thanks. It’s a https://raspibolt.org/ install and it’s a 4. Was working just fine for a couple of years but recently swapped out a 1Tb for a 2Tb due to chain growth and rebuilt from scratch.

i run raspiblitz with i think is a raspibolt fork on a raspi 4b 8gb and it took over 2 weeks to sync when i spun it up in 2023 so it can take a long time. what exactly is happening when it locks up? do you mean your ssh session stops responding? can you just make a new responsive ssh session without rebooting? if so you might just need to let it ride do have open lightning channels on that node from before that you need to rescue? if you dont have funds in channels and can recover any on chain funds on the node, it might be worth spinning up from scratch. here is a guess at what your current issue may be: 2tb ssd can need more amperage than a 1tb and the raspi 4’s usb ports can only supply 1.2 amps. (total, either to one device on 1 port, or split between all 4 ports). so the 2tb might just not be getting enough power. try getting a powered usb to sata adaptor for your 2tb ssd. can help you find one if you cant figure out what im talking about

SSH session won’t open at all. Works ok for the first little while. I don’t think it’s an overheat problem, passive case but temps have been fine. I might just have to plug a keyboard and mouse into it and go direct to diagnose. Good pointer on the power, I can try powering the SSD direct. No lightening balances to worry about, cleaned that out before last reinstall.

nice that you have no channels to worry about. ya i doubt its a temp thing, raspi should be able to run fine with basically no cooling, it will just throttle. i think external power for your new ssd will do the trick. if you dont have something already: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0DDT4W5LS

Finally running with (seemingly inevitably) the help of AI. Drive now running on external power but still needed to correct a bunch of things with the setup (mostly related to electrs, which is some way on from the version last catered for in the Bolt instructions). Back to smooth running (just as a BTC node, lightning bits stripped out).

nice! good to hear 👍