Bitcoin Forum

Hello -

I'm new and would appreciate any help.
About a month ago I transferred bitcoin from Coinbase to a newly opened wallet in Armory. I only started downloading the full node of Bitcoin Core afterwards, so my bitcoin were somewhere in the cloud-chain.... However, even now when Bitcoin Core is fully downloaded and running on my (external SSD on Windows 64 machine) - it won’t sync with Armory 0.96.3. (standard user) My wallet shows 0 balance and is usually "stuck" on the main screen with "preparing databases" and "Scan transaction history" showing no progress. Sometimes it says "Offline" in red but sometimes "online" in green. I tried the usual rebooting, re-installing etc. to no avail.

I read in the previoyus answers that I probably have a "pathing" problem, but I was not able to follow those instructions either. Can someone please explain in plain English, includinh EXACTLY how to fix the pathing?

many thanks
Marla

https://btcarmory.com/docs/pathing

If that isn't plain enough English for you, try the following.

1. Right click the Armory shortcut.
2. Choose properties.
3. Click your cursor in the "target" field after Armory.
4. With a space after ArmoryQT.exe, enter the following:


"D:/Bitcoin" in the above is just my example, please enter the actual path to Core's folder on your external SSD.

Also, I would update to the latest release candidate stickied in this sub-forum as it contains many fixes. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2660500.0

much appreciated. will try

I downloaded 0.96.3.991 - thanks

Unfortunatly, I wasnt able to solve the problem using the fix you suggested. I recived an error message saying: "The name specified in the target box ....  is not valid.  make sure the path and file name are correct" - can you please show me EXACTLY what the "target" field is supposed to show?

also, now when i try to launch Armory it freezes on the splash screen, "ArmoryQT.exe is not responding"

I imagine these two issues are related ... ::)

clarification - I am only storing the Bitcoin Core info on the SSD (D:). Armory and Bitcoin Core program are on C:

help?

The freezing on the splash screen is a known issue with RC2 on Windows. Either grab RC1, use the workaround in the pinned RC2 thread, or wait until goatpig can fix it.

As for your actual issue:
Where exactly has bitcoin core downloaded the blockchain? You said on an external SSD, but need more info than that.
Can't tell you exactly what it should look like because your setup will be different to mine. You can paste here what your target field looks like (with your attempted change) and we can help point out what might be wrong.

Probably the most important thing here is to post your log files on pastebin.com or another service and add the link here so we can see what is going wrong.

ok -
so went back to o.96.3 and splash screen is ok
there is now some movement as well on the progress bars "building databases"...
the target field is currently:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Armory\ArmoryQt.exe"
and i tried
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Armory\ArmoryQt.exe --satoshi-datadir=D:/BitcoinCore" and got an error. "BitcoinCore" is what i named the folder on the SSD

which logs exactly should i post? also, no privacy risk with posting logs  :-[?

Note where I've moved the second " and using a backslash rather than a forward slash.  If your external SSD is D:\ then that should do the job.
Some privacy loss with logs. Username and CPU info mostly. See whether the above helps or not first.

ok -

the code worked perfectly, so that's ok
Armory loads fine and even goes through some motions of laoding the database
but it freezes well into the process. When I shut it down i get an error on "ArmoryQT.exe". it still does not find my Bitcoin and remains "offline" either all or most of the time. Bitcoin Core is running well

What logs EXACTLY should i be looking at and posting?

whats next?
MUCH appreciated

For logs head to C:\Users\YourUsernameHere\AppData\Roaming\Armory (Or %appdata%\Armory)
Should see dbLog.txt and armorylog.txt there. Add those to pastebin (or cryptbin if preferred) and paste the links here.

Could you expand on how it is freezing? Is the UI failing to respond? Or is the progress failing to update?
If the latter, 0.96.3.99/0.96.4 RC1 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2227856.0) has some fixes related to that. Newer than the current one you're using, older than the build Holliday suggested.

ok - so im back to 0.96.3.99 RC1
now it freezes on "organizing blockchain" and stays on "Node Offline - 0 blocks"
also, never shuts down properly...

im posting the 2 logs:

https://pastebin.com/iKVUYsbj
https://pastebin.com/AemucaG7

any ideas?
thanks!  ???

My untrained eye doesn't see anything obviously wrong in the logs.

At this point I'd suggest turning off "Let Armory run Bitcoin Core in the background" (File -> Settings), then close Armory down. Make sure ArmoryDB isn't running in the background still (kill it if it is).

Manually start up Bitcoin Core's GUI and let it catch up with the network completely. It'll give you some estimates as to how long that'll be.
Once that it is all caught up, leave it open and start Armory. Armory should do its thing and scan for blocks - just leave it to get on with it for a while. Usually when I've had Armory fail to close down properly, ArmoryDB is busy scanning/organising.

Fingers crossed, it should flick over to being connected in green when that is done - assuming you have Core set up to take incoming connections and the RPC server enabled.

Hi, what do you mean by "RPC server enabled"? I do not see any option like that in QT wallet settings under Windows.
But I noticed, that if I check the Option "let armory run ... in background" then I have a process "bitcoind" running.
But if I uncheck the armory option mentioned above, run bitcoin-qt wallet along with armory, this process is not there, and armory just doesn't do enything - progress bars stay empty and no spinner whatsoever is there.

My Question is - can it be that the "RPC server" is the bitcoind process and that it isn't running?

If your setup is working, don't change anything - if you're having trouble it'd be best to start your own thread, as the problem isn't fixed here yet.

That said: When Armory is configured to manage Core, bitcoind is run in the background. This, as you suspected, provides a RPC server for Armory to query.
Sometimes something gets tripped up when Armory is configured to manage Core, and hence my suggestion to Marla_H.
In this situation, and without bitcoind, Bitcoin-qt can also provide a RPC server for Armory, but requires some config - which I apparently should have given in my last post. (Sorry!)

This can be done either by adding the following to a text file named bitcoin.conf in your Bitcoin Core data directory:

Or adding the following to the end of your Bitcoin qt/Core shortcut:

@Phoenixfire
no, luck with this fix
with "Let Armory run Bitcoin Core in the background" on "off" - Armory still launches and then freezes on "offline" and does not even start scanning for blocks
perhaps I did not understand "Manually start up Bitcoin Core's GUI"?
any other suggestions at this point?  :-[

So, you'll need to follow the instructions in the post I made just above yours. Either via a config file or editing a shortcut for Bitcoin Core.
For a config file, create a bitcoin.conf in D:\BitcoinCore\ and fill it with the first set.

Or for a shortcut... if you don't have one, create a shortcut to C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe and add on the server and listen parts.

Then close Armory and Bitcoin Core. Start Bitcoin Core from that shortcut. Then start Armory.

@Phoenixfire
no, luck with this fix either - i did the first option (new config text file)
Armory did it's thing for a while and showed progress, but now stuck on "organizing blockchain" and progress wheel is frozen
any ideas?

Not sure. Could be something new in your logfiles. Would you mind posting fresh copies of them?

sure. appreciate the help
https://pastebin.com/qcjJCfgg
https://pastebin.com/G6XrP8cF
anything look out of the ordinary?

bitcoind is choking on start. Turn off auto bitcoind in File > Settings, then run BitcoinQt manually. Let it sync in full. Once that's done, delete you databases folder (C:\Users\Dov\AppData\Roaming\Armory\databases) and start Armory the usual way.

Thanks @goatpig
what does run "BitcoinQt manually" mean? launch Bitcoin Core from my start menu or shortcut?
Do i leave "auto bitcoind in File > Settings" unchecked for this step as well?

I tried your suggestion (deleted database folder) a couple times and did not get the databases on Armory to scan properly and Armory stayed "offline" the whole time. The only main difference was the Armory launched and shut down seamlesly without me having to kill it or get the (not responding) error

I'm facing same trouble here I guess.
Armory opens just fine, everything is updated (Armory RC1 and Bitcoin core), but it´s taking a really long time to load the balance (and doesn't load after all). Actually I went to sleep and this morning I saw the balance, but after close the wallet and open it again, it's not loading.

For the past hour has been stucked on "Preparing database".

Here is a picture and the log right after

https://goo. gl/tca81j

https://pastebin.com/ms0Skav8

I tried to insert the code mentioned above but no luck so far.  --satoshi-datadir=D:/Bitcoin

Launch Core from either the shortcut or the menu.
Yes leave that unchecked.


Yeah, that probably isn't going to work for you - While this is a common problem, we're somewhat tailoring the instructions to Marla_H here.
I'll take a look at your logs and post in your existing thread, ok?

problem solved - almost!
it loaded properly and i saw my Bitcoin in the wallet
However - next time i launched - same problem... :-\

Was Bitcoin Core still running when you launched the second time?

not sure...
what would the proper launch and quit protocol be in terms of Bitcoin Core and Armory?

So, that setting I had you uncheck? That means you need to manage Bitcoin Core yourself, rather than just launching Armory and having it sort things out. One extra step, but I've found it a lot more robust and is my go to when things aren't working automatically for people - but you need Bitcoin Core to be running for Armory to go online.

So, usual process for me:
Start Bitcoin Core from the shortcut (which loads up the Graphical User Interface [GUI]). Wait for the splash screen to finish verifying blocks.
Start Armory.
Wait for everything to catch up and then, usually, Armory will pop up and say everything is in sync and online.

To shutdown:
Quit Armory. Optionally check if ArmoryDB has closed too (It doesn't seem to shut down if it is busy)
Quit Bitcoin Core.

Does that help?

was able to relaunch succesfully and all is running ok
will try launch and shut down a couple of times to see what works best
Many thanks, again, to all
 :)

ok - quick sub-question
If my online wallet is synced, shouldnt i be able to see the same wallet on the "offline" version, when launching "offline"?
as of now, it appears empty...

Glad you're up and running.
Are you talking about on the same pc here? Or having a separate offline & online computer?
The wallet itself should be there, but the balance won't display unless it is online.

yes - same PC
so if the balance wont display - what is on offline wallter useful for?

An offline wallet is the entire reason one normally chooses to use Armory. It's a security model where your private keys are never allowed to reside on a networked computer.

If you don't know what an offline wallet is, why are you using Armory?

Ninja'd by Holliday but posting anyway:

Generally an offline wallet is used as part of a cold storage setup.
You have the full wallet on an offline pc and a stripped down "watch-only" wallet on the online pc that can see your balance on the various addresses. You create unsigned transactions on the online pc, sign them on the offline pc, then broadcast on the online pc.
Helps keep your private keys secure, as well as the coins they control.

The old website has a decent blurb on it that still applies: https://www.bitcoinarmory.com/cold-storage/