diff --git a/weaver/samples/besu/simpleasset/truffle-config.js b/weaver/samples/besu/simpleasset/truffle-config.js
index 5f64cac64ee..62274a4451a 100644
--- a/weaver/samples/besu/simpleasset/truffle-config.js
+++ b/weaver/samples/besu/simpleasset/truffle-config.js
@@ -5,20 +5,34 @@ module.exports = {
 			port: 9544, // 7545 - default for Ganache
 			network_id: "1338", // 4447 - default for Ganache
 			//type: "fabric-evm",
-			from: "0x3c7F5262b873F637F8AdA2B09C34624B7F5fbCBF",
+			from: "0x35D99e41ce0Aa49d1B2B62f286b9F4189df7B7ae",
 			gasPrice: 0,
-			gas: "0x1ffffffffffffe"
+			gas: "0x1ffffffffffffe",
+			verbose: true, // helps with debugging contract deployment issues
 		}
 	},
 	compilers: {
 		solc: {
-			version: "^0.8.8",
+			// Unless this is pinned to 0.8.8, some breaking changes that solc
+			// has snuck in [1][2] around 0.8.15 (for IR) are breaking the contract
+			// deployment in a way that opcodes end up in the migration contract's
+			// constructor that Besu does not recognize ("opcode INVALID") in
+			// the Besu logs and then sends back an "internal error" message
+			// via the JSON-RPC response, which is a bug IMO it should state
+			// that the user input was invalid (user input being the contract)
+			//
+			// [1]: https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.15/ir-breaking-changes.html#semantic-only-changes
+			// [2]: https://github.com/ethereum/solidity/issues/13311#issuecomment-1199274310
+			version: "0.8.8",
 			settings: {
 				optimizer: {
 				  enabled: true,
 				  runs: 1500
 				},
-				viaIR: true,
+				// If set to true, then the following error occurs:
+				// > Compiling ./contracts/transferInterface.sol
+				// YulException: Variable var_amount_3290 is 9 slot(s) too deep inside the stack.
+				viaIR: false,
 			  }
 			
 		},
diff --git a/weaver/tests/network-setups/besu/scripts/setupEthSigner.sh b/weaver/tests/network-setups/besu/scripts/setupEthSigner.sh
index 3ca5ef6d0d4..9e6d58f4a26 100644
--- a/weaver/tests/network-setups/besu/scripts/setupEthSigner.sh
+++ b/weaver/tests/network-setups/besu/scripts/setupEthSigner.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ cp ../artifacts/network$1/createKeyFile.js .
 key=`cat $Node/data/key`
 sed -i "s/<AccountPrivateKey>/$key/g" createKeyFile.js
 touch keys/keyFile_${Node}
-npm install web3
+# Without this, the npm install will fail because of conflicting dependency versions
+# that cannot be resolved properly unless "forced" (tested on Ubuntu 22.04)
+# FIXME: Eliminate the need to do an npm install out-of-bounds like this entirely.
+npm install --force web3
 node createKeyFile.js > keys/keyFile_${Node}
 rm createKeyFile.js
 cp ../artifacts/account.toml keys/