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Hi, I have this 4.03 electrum installed on linux Mint that I haven't used for awhile. I could be a year or 2.
Use it as pure storage for my bitcoins, now I run the program today and it seems like it tries synchronize then it disconnects (the network icon is blue then briefly goes green then blinks red etc.) .
I let it run for 1 hour and still the same ?
Any suggestions?
Thank you.

You mean you have an Electrum wallet you haven't used in a while and you just recently updated it to 4.0.3, right? This version was only released last month.

First off all, make sure you downloaded it only ONLY from ELECTRUM.ORG.

Try going to Tools -> Network -> Uncheck "Select server automatically" -> Right click another server -> "Use as server". See if it synchronizes.

If that doesn't work, try closing the wallet and reopening it again. If it still doesn't work, close it, go to the Electrum directory (on Linux (https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-the-electrum-datadir-located), go to Location and type ~/.electrum), deleting the "blockchain_headers" file and opening the wallet again. It will take a few seconds to synchronize and everything should work (hopefully).

If the above does not work and if you are using the original one and having issue on connecting to any server maybe your Electrum is block from your network.

Changing the DNS might solve your issue.

If you don't know how to setup DNS you can follow the guide from this link below.

- https://support.opendns.com/hc/en-us/articles/228007167-Linux-Mint-Cinnamon

You can also use Google DNS(8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).

That what struck me also, I havent updated the wallet manually for sure , installed it at least 1 year ago possibly much more.
How come when I click on help/about tab it shows me version 4.0.3 ?
Can it somehow update auomagically on Mint?

Since the 4.0.3 version has been released recently, there's a high probability that you are using a fake version of Electrum. Do you remember where you downloaded Electrum from?
If I were you, I would remove the application, download it from Electrum official website (https://electrum.org/) and reinstall it. (Don't forget to verify your download. (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/))

If it was installed last year and the version is 4.0.3 it might be a fake Electrum because the Electrum 4.0.3 just release 27 days ago last September 11.
So, there is a possibility that you are using a fake Electrum.

Much better uninstall this wallet and start again from the start and make sure that you download it directly from https://electrum.org/#download

And verify the Electrum to make sure you're not using fake Electrum you can follow the guide here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

My first time seeing a possibel fake wallet with exactly 4.0.3 version and not 4. Are you sure you never update it? Not even once running sudo apt-update or something similar? How exactly do you install it?

I second the opinion to verify your installation and re-download from the official source if you're unsure whether it is legit or not.

This is only my guess but you might have  some issue with the old wallet format. The old client has different format and the new one is trying to reformat it but with now success. I would suggest to make a clean install and use the seed from your old wallet. Definitely you  should backup everything before proceeding to this or use another computer to install fresh 4.0.3 Electrum.

depends on how you installed it. if you used your operating system's repos then yes it could have been updated automatically via that.

You can check the box "select server automatically" found on the red dot button if you aren't yet synchronizing to the node. And leave for a moment in your PC with an internet connection, it will synchronize later on.

I was trying now and I'm connected to 10 nodes using server " electrum.blockstream.info ". If still aren't working in that way, for sure there's a problem of downloading the files. Just re-install and run again or just follow as suggested above. You can use this tutorial given by the Electrum web page. How to Verify an Electrum Download on Windows (https://bitzuma.com/posts/how-to-verify-an-electrum-download-on-windows/)

That's probably what happened. I deleted the config file and Electrum had it disabled by default.

Hello,
the same problem I have under Windows10 (2004)
I have a working Electrum version 3.3.8 and wanted to update to 4.0.4,
after installation (downloaded from electrum.org and good verify)
after recovery of seed Electrum is synchronized permanently.
I have changed server various have deleted the blockchain_headers, have change the DNS.
nothing works, on another computer I have version 4.0.3, this synchronized since September 15th and the blockchain_headers file is getting bigger and bigger.
antivirus and firewall are disabled.
Do you have another idea ?

Well, if you already tried all suggestions above it might have a bug that's why it won't connect to any server.
Much better wait for a new release and stay with 4.0.3 which working in your PC/Laptop.

If you have a seed backup you can uninstall the 4.0.4 version and download the 4.0.3 installer from here https://download.electrum.org/

Have you ensured the proxy setting within Electrum itself is disabled? (Tools - Network - Proxy)
Is the other computer which is synchronizing fine on the same network as the computer which is not synchronizing? (This rules out any issue with your connection or router)
Are you trying to connect via a VPN or Tor?

You could try writing your logs to file (details here: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum-docs/blob/master/faq.rst#how-to-enable-debug-logging) and either taking a look yourself or sharing with us - it might shed some more light on the situation.

all versions from 4 on synchonize constantly with me und proxy,
and proxy is not enabled on my electrum, electrum 3.3.8 but works perfectly
and yes the other computer (notebook) is in the same network, and I have also reinstalled windows on a third computer
also I have tried it in a virtual machine, a test with mobile data also did not succeed.
VPN or tor, I have not tested

What sort of transaction history does this wallet have? Do you have hundreds/thousands of transactions and "used" addresses? ??? If so, it's likely that the servers you are connecting to, are "timing out" your requests due to the large amount of data you are attempting to sync "at once".

When you upgraded, you should not have needed to "recover from seed". You should have been able to simple install version 4.0.4 and it should have used your old wallet file. If you click "File -> Open" can you see your old wallet file? ???

I believe there is some kind of throttling mechanism between the electrum client and server to guarantee a somewhat good user experience while also blacklisting spammers, or am i wrong?

If there isn't an extremely large number of addresses, electrum should sync pretty fast i'd assume.

Yes there are hundreds of transactions, I think that’s what the wallet is for.

I can click "File -> Open" and open the wallet file from Electrum 3.3.8,
after some time I can see my transactions, but electrum keeps syncing and does not stop.
Is the only way to create a new wallet and transfer everything there?

It could be the issue. There have been a number of users with wallets with either a large number of addresses, a large number of transactions, or both, who have experienced problems syncing or the wallet freezing up entirely. For example:

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/2540
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/4183
https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/5813

The easy way to test if this is the case is simply to create a brand new wallet with the affected client and see if it syncs properly. If it does, then it is likely your wallet size which is the issue.

The "default" server (for lack of a better term), ie. ElectrumX has some mechanisms in it that will limit a client connection if said client goes over some certain limits with regards to number of requests and (from memory) the amount of data in a given period of time.

Once a specific client/IP exceeds the set limits, it is effectively "ignored" until the time out interval has passed... It's explained "more betterer" in the ElectrumX documentation regarding "Resource Usage Limits": https://electrumx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/environment.html#resource-usage-limits


I'm fairly sure, I seen other instances before of users with wallets that have hundreds/thousands of transactions/used addresses... and when attempting an initial sync they seem to overwhelm ElectrumX servers (with default settings) and end up "syncing forever" as they keep getting "timed out".

Short of migrating to a different wallet, solutions would appear to be:
1. Run your own node/Electrum server setup and set the limits to suit
or
2. Find a friendly Electrum Server admin who can temporarily change the limits so your wallet can sync

Are you looking for a way to send the funds or asking if it's the only solution?

Anyways, since 3.3.8 works but now you can't open the upgraded wallet file with that version:
you can restore the "seed phrase" on v3.3.8 and use that wallet to send the funds to a new wallet.
If you didn't backup the seed, you still can recover it from your offline 4.x wallet using the option "Wallet->Seed".
Make sure write it on paper as an offline backup if you didn't have one.

Those issues are from people with 5000+ addresses.
If OP "just" has hundreds of transactions, this shouldn't be the issue.

However, something seems to be wrong and it indeed might be worth to check the connection with a smaller wallet.

OP, is there a reason you aren't using the wallet file? Do you still have access to it?
If so, could you try loading your wallet / telling us the size of it?

seed and password of Electrum 3.3.8 are available, but I can not create a new wallet in Electrum 3.3.8 with the seed,
it will also stop here in ser synchronisation.
the old wallet file has about 300 MB
also loading the wallet file in 3.3.8 or 4.0.4 it stops at both versions while synchronizing.
I now had to create a new wallet under 4.0.4 and transferred everything from the working 3.3.8 to it. Pity I would have liked to keep the old wallet.

Such a big wallet and I think this is the reason why its stuck on syncing.

Can you try to export all of your private keys with funds?
Follow the method from this post below.
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1118697.msg11868713#msg11868713

After you collected all of your public/private keys with funds you can now create a new wallet and use the "sweep" function.
You can find it under wallet>private keys>sweep then paste all private keys that you get from your old wallet.
https://i.imgur.com/birmPwQ.png

You can also use this below as alternative to collect all of your addresses with balances manually. It needs the master public(Extended public key) then paste it to any of these below.

- https://www.blockonomics.co/
or this one
- https://www.blockchain.com/btc/xpub/pasteyourxpubhere

Then collect all of the addresses with funds then export them(go back to the link above and use the export private keys command).

According to the post made by quadxxxxx, seems that he has already moved the fund to a new wallet.
There was no need to export private keys and sweep them into a new wallet. Because the version 3.3.8 was working for him and he could easily send the fund to a new address without any need to those commands or a third party website.

No, it wasn't... that was kind of the problem.


A 300 Megabyte(!!?! :o :o) wallet file means there are no doubt hundreds (if not thousands) of transactions and likely a similar number of wallet addresses that have been generated. It doesn't matter what version of Electrum you attempt to use for this, it is not going to end well. Electrum doesn't seem to handle that sort of scale very well... and the vast majority of Electrum servers will start throttling your connection due to the massive amounts of data your client will be trying to sync. :-\

You could get away with it, if you ran your own "private" Electrum server and tweaked the bandwidth settings to prevent throttling, but that also involves running a full node.

From my understanding from previous posts made by quadxxxxx, he had a wallet created by 3.3.8 version. Electrum 3.3.8 was synced when he opened that wallet file.


The problem was he couldn't have a synced wallet when he tried to create a new wallet using the seed phrase of the previous wallet. Neither in 3.3.8 version, nor in 4.0.4 version.

So my conclusion is:
If you have a wallet, make several transactions and make the wallet file size bigger and bigger gradually (even 300 MB), there is no problem and Electrum will be synced every time you open the wallet.
But if you import private keys or seed phrase of addresses that have a very large transaction history into a new wallet, electrum will have trouble to get synced.

That's also how i understood it, based on this:


he just couldn't create a new wallet file using his seed on either version:



Luckily he solved it now by moving the funds using the old (still functional) wallet file with the outdated version.


@quadxxxxx, if you plan on creating tons of private keys / addresses / transactions, you might want to consider using a full node.
Electrum is not suited for more than just "regular" usage.