Thank you for your expertise. I did in fact read the entire S9 manual from BITMAIN's site. No where in section 6. 'Administering Your Miner' did it give me the warning you did. It just gave instructions for updating the firmware. It did not specify when or why to update, and it did not say that it comes loaded with the latest version. I am just starting and do not know the intricacies of these machines. That is why I am here! So, thank you!