Bitcoin Forum

OK. I have backed up and restored wallets before but now it is not working.
1) Sent some coins to a clean install of a bitcoin client running version 0.3.19.
2) Got one confirmation and closed client down.
3) Copied the wallet.dat file to secure location and deleted it.
4) To test a recovery I started the client up with no wallet so it could create new wallet
5) Waited for at least one connection
6) Closed client and copied backed up wallet over the new empty wallet to test restoring from backup
7) Status says 0/unconfirmed long after getting 8 connections.

Do I need to re-download the block chain?
I remember doing this kind of backup a few months ago with no problem under version 0.3.8.

Any info would be appreciated.

I'm pretty sure that once the block chain is up to date you'll see your transactions.

Can you see the transaction using BlockExplorer.com ?

[Edit: of course you can, otherwise #2 would never have occurred, sorry.]

I think you want more confirmations for that you need blocks to be generated after the last transaction let it sit overnight then post back your results.

In testing something else out, I am getting the same symptoms.  I filed Issue #22:
  https://github.com/gavinandresen/bitcoin-git/issues/issue/22

The payment maybe did not make it into a block before being backed up. When you restored your old copy Bitcoin assumes its already pushed out to the network and stops sending it out therfore your payment is never made?
This is a conclusion that I'm thinking of and it seems it causes bitcoins to be stuck in limbo.

Nothing is stuck in limbo, it's either spent, or not spent.

they are not spent but bitcoin claims they are thus it wont let you spend them again so they are in limbo

I haven't tested this myself, but Bitcoin should resend the transaction if it's not on the network and didn't make it into a block.

Delet everything from wallet.dat directory, copy you wallet back and start client.

If bitcoin claims they are spent, then one must simply hold the key to the address they were spent to.
If the key is lost, yes they are in limbo, but spent limbo :)

Update:
I was able to download the block chain and the transaction showed up with over 400 confirmations.

Thinking about this problem, it would be nice if there was an option to recheck the blocks that have been downloaded after a wallet restore instead of using up so much network bandwidth.

Better yet, a fully automated wallet backup and encryption / password protection would be nice for the average user.

I got a little nervous when I thought my whole savings account may be lost.

the feature to recheck the block chain and update wallet is added in version 0.3.20
exactly for the reason not to have to download the whole block chain again