Title: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 16, 2020, 08:04:50 PM I have recently installed VMware 15.5 on my PC and created a fresh Windows 10 virtual machine to host a fully-synced Bitcoin Core 0.19.1
Everything was super smooth until yesterday where the Bitcoin Core was so laggy/choppy and it was a serious hell to process and/or download new blocks. The specs of the Host CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 32 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64 The specs of the Guest CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 28 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64 SVM Mode is Enabled in the BIOS and I have the (Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI) enabled in the VM settings Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: jackg on April 16, 2020, 08:12:02 PM Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)?
The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017) and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager). Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 16, 2020, 08:41:55 PM Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)? The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017) and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager). Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)? Yes, I'm at Jan 22 2016 at 20.02% The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017) and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager). The (Write) reading is alternating between 0 KB/s and 1.1 MB/s, sometimes I get spikes like 9.2 MB/s but the average is extremely low Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: jackg on April 16, 2020, 08:44:48 PM Yeah I seem to remember mine slowing down around 16.8% (I think was when I spotted it) so you're probably experiencing the same thing?
What's the estimated % increase per hour? If you can't see it now click the bar at the bottom and it should appear. Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 16, 2020, 08:48:42 PM Yeah I seem to remember mine slowing down around 16.8% (I think was when I spotted it) so you're probably experiencing the same thing? What's the estimated % increase per hour? If you can't see it now click the bar at the bottom and it should appear. 0.11% Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: BitMaxz on April 16, 2020, 09:47:10 PM ~snip~ Can you try to check on the task manager then performance under your VMware and then check if your HDD reaches 100%. Sometimes syncing process is due to HDD if you want to speed up the process switching to SSD can speed up the process. Also editing or adding dbcache parameter on bitcoin.conf will also help to speed up the syncing process. Check this article below. - Sync with bitcoin-qt very slow (0,01%) (https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/58369/sync-with-bitcoin-qt-very-slow-0-01) You can find the path of bitcoin.conf under this path %AppData%\Bitcoin\ Look for bitcoin.conf and open it with notepad and then add this parameter below sample. Code: dbcache=10000 Then restart after that check the ram usage on task manager if it still shows large space increase the dbcache higher than the sample settings above. Just don't increase the dbcache more than 14000(Base on your Vmware ram setup) because the PC will freeze or will hang. So reducing or increasing the dbcache depends on your memory usage. Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 16, 2020, 09:55:28 PM ~snip~ Can you try to check on the task manager then performance under your VMware and then check if your HDD reaches 100%. Sometimes syncing process is due to HDD if you want to speed up the process switching to SSD can speed up the process. Also editing or adding dbcache parameter on bitcoin.conf will also help to speed up the syncing process. Check this article below. - Sync with bitcoin-qt very slow (0,01%) (https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/58369/sync-with-bitcoin-qt-very-slow-0-01) You can find the path of bitcoin.conf under this path %AppData%\Bitcoin\ Look for bitcoin.conf and open it with notepad and then add this parameter below sample. Code: dbcache=10000 Then restart after that check the ram usage on task manager if it still shows large space increase the dbcache higher than the sample settings above. Just don't increase the dbcache more than 14000(Base on your Vmware ram setup) because the PC will freeze or will hang. 1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path 2. What do you mean by (below sample) ? Thank you Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: BitMaxz on April 16, 2020, 10:15:25 PM 1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path 2. What do you mean by (below sample) ? Thank you Check this path %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin Or open "start" >"run" (Or press windows key+R) and then type this or copy and paste this %APPDATA%\Bitcoin It will open the Bitcoin folder and if you can't find any bitcoin.conf under that folder you can make your own or generate a config from here below. - https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/ Here's my sample config of bitcoin.conf generated from that tool Code: # Generated by https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/ You can copy this config since I am basing on your ram memory. Reducing or increasing can affect the syncing process and memory usage as what I said above. Or just make your own bitcoin.conf(using notepad and save as bitcoin.conf) and only put this "dbcache=10000" inside the bitcoin.conf. restart the syncing process(reopen the bitcoin core) Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: HCP on April 16, 2020, 10:22:22 PM The specs of the Host So you gave your VM all the cores? ??? :o CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 32 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64 The specs of the Guest CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 28 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64 You might want to knock it back a core or three to give your host some breathing space... Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 24, 2020, 12:14:32 AM I would like to thank all of you for helping me out.
I've created a bitcoin.conf file with the following input dbcache=10000 banscore=10 listen=0 and adjusted the vm specs to a be more reasonable. Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push. This is on the VM and the main PC (host). Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: LoyceMobile on April 24, 2020, 12:48:06 PM Have your tried giving less ram to your guest os, so there's more left for your host?
Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: scott.carter.2020 on April 24, 2020, 01:10:30 PM Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push. This is on the VM and the main PC (host). It's normal if you either : 1. Store the blockchain files on HDD 2. The HDD also used to store guest or/and host OS 3. Use shared folder feature, which is known to be slow. Source : https://superuser.com/q/1025864 (https://superuser.com/q/1025864) Could it be also that the HDD is failing ? Have your tried giving less ram to your guest os, so there's more left for your host? I'm not running the bitcoin core on the guest and host on the same time. Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: DaCryptoRaccoon on April 24, 2020, 06:33:33 PM 1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path 2. What do you mean by (below sample) ? Thank you Check this path %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin Or open "start" >"run" (Or press windows key+R) and then type this or copy and paste this %APPDATA%\Bitcoin It will open the Bitcoin folder and if you can't find any bitcoin.conf under that folder you can make your own or generate a config from here below. - https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/ Here's my sample config of bitcoin.conf generated from that tool Code: # Generated by https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/ You can copy this config since I am basing on your ram memory. Reducing or increasing can affect the syncing process and memory usage as what I said above. Or just make your own bitcoin.conf(using notepad and save as bitcoin.conf) and only put this "dbcache=10000" inside the bitcoin.conf. restart the syncing process(reopen the bitcoin core) The above config generator is a fantastic resource thank you for sharing that I had been looking for something like this for some time now really help's to speed up config changes and gives a good overview on what each setting is. Thanks Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: HCP on April 24, 2020, 11:05:50 PM Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push. Can you be a bit more specific on what exactly "a hell load of time" is? :P For some people, given their setups/hardware, this could be 30 seconds... for others 10 minutes. Also, is this once the GUI is nicely loaded and the main wallet window is open? If so, it might be a network issue. Check the "network" icon in the bottom right corner: https://talkimg.com/images/2023/11/15/zjhKJ.png If it isn't showing any 'bold' black dots/lines, you're not connected to any peers (and can't receive any blocks etc)... :-\ you can also check "Window -> Information" and check the "Network section" to see how many connections you have: https://talkimg.com/images/2023/11/15/zj4HC.png and also you can see the 'speed' of those peer connections using "Window -> Peers" and look at the ping times. Title: Re: Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1 Post by: BitMaxz on April 25, 2020, 10:19:32 PM Could it be also that the HDD is failing ? Why not monitor the PC on task manager under the performance tab to find which one is getting high usage when starting Bitcoin core? It must look like this https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Windows_10_Task_Manager_on_a_Pentium_M_740_laptop_computer.png Open the task manager first before you start the Bitcoin core and check the performance of CPU, Memory, and disk if which one has high usage. If the disk reaches 90-100% usage when starting the Bitcoin core then the HDD is the reason why it is slowing down. The solution to this is to switch on SSD this is the only solution that I heard solve this issue. |