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Found a WIF Key generator and steemd seems to like the private one generated at:

https://bitaddress.org

Seems to be chuggin now....

1121675ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 212.47.249.84:40696
1121675ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 52.4.250.181:39705
1121675ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 81.89.101.133:2001
1121675ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 192.99.4.226:2001
1121675ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 46.252.27.1:1337
1121690ms th_a application.cpp:104 reset_p2p_node ] Adding seed node 162.213.199.171:34191
1121691ms th_a application.cpp:130 reset_p2p_node ] Configured p2p node to listen on 0.0.0.0:34695
1121691ms th_a application.cpp:185 reset_websocket_tls_ ] Please specify a server-pem to use rpc-tls-endpoint
1121691ms th_a main.cpp:167 main ] starting plugins
1121691ms th_a account_history_plugin.cpp:187 plugin_startup ] account_history plugin: plugin_startup() begin
1121691ms th_a account_history_plugin.cpp:189 plugin_startup ] account_history plugin: plugin_startup() end
1121691ms th_a witness.cpp:172 plugin_startup ] witness plugin: plugin_startup() begin
1121691ms th_a witness.cpp:179 plugin_startup ] Launching block production for 1 witnesses.
1121691ms th_a witness.cpp:192 plugin_startup ] Starting mining...
1121691ms th_a witness.cpp:199 plugin_startup ] witness plugin: plugin_startup() end
1121691ms th_a main.cpp:182 main ] Started witness node on a chain with 0 blocks.
1121705ms ntp ntp.cpp:177 read_loop ] ntp_delta_time updated to -4921 us

Thanks @throwawayaccount! Will be free to have a look at those links in a couple of days. ✌💛

Ok, next impass.....

Started witness node on a chain with 0 blocks.

Researching....

Would you have an example config.ini file by chance, @throwawayaccount? My thought is that perhaps the 2 year old example used by me had something missing, which a more up to date version may have?