I'm pretty sure I wasn't scammed because I didn't do business with anyone...but for some reason the "watch only" explanation rings a bell because I think I saw it somewhere when I was rummaging around trying to figure this all out.

I definitely don't have a key for the account it asks for when I try to send funds..I have the account id, pass word and paper backup.

Is it possible for me to email a senior member my account details and have you look at the account for me?

At this point I'd be happy to pay a 10% bounty to a senior member who can recover the funds for me.

My wallet shows the correct balance--but when I try to send
funds, I am prompted to give a private key for an address I know nothing
about. I have a paper backup--and I tried importing the private key from
that--but I don't understand how to do that--and in any case, the backup is
for the bitcoin address showing on my home page--not for the address
showing in the prompt for a private key.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much for that--It will take me quite a while to digest those directions.

What I don't understand is that  I sent a transaction to an address generated in QT--and the transaction showed up.  I clicked and dragged the file to my desktop and them immediately to an external drive.  I still have the file--but when I put it back into the bitcoin folder (C:\Users\ken\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin)--the account shows 0 coins

I don't even think the wallet was encrypted.  I had never even used the wallet--someone showed me the backup technique with my LTC wallet.  I have the address to which the coins were sent--and I can see the account (view only) on blockcahin.

So what I don't is that somewhere there is a BTC address with the money assigned to that address/account, and I have the address.  So why can't someone, somehow claim it?  Where does it go?  It is 4 coins which were lost--so is someone else going to be able to take it?

The other thing I don't quite understand conceptually is what a private key has to do with it, where to find it, and even how to use it to recover the coins if/when I get the key.  Perhaps when I digest the page you sent me to that will become clearer--but I have such a headache now I will have to try later.

The other strange thing is that while trying to recover the file, I accidentally loaded my LTC wallet.dat file into the bitcoin folder.  That account had 432 LTC in it--and ithe BTC Wallet shows 432 BTC -- when I put that ltc wallet.dat folder into the bitcoin roam file.  The coins are unconfirmed, of course--but why would it load 432 LTC into my BTC folder and then show 432 BTC--whereas it won't load the 4 BTC from the other folder?

Is it because I didn't use the backup function to create the folder--but just dragged it to my desktop while QT was perhaps running?

The loss isn't the end of the world for me, but it is quite a bad sting, and enough perhaps to push me away from cryptos all together. Because all I was trying to do was get my coins off of blockchain (where is was theoretically vulnerable) while at the same time ensuring that no one could steal my coins from my computer (by creating a cold off line wallet--not that easy to learn either)--  But since I don't do this kind of that often--this mistake happened.  Now I'm a newbie--but much more advanced than the general public who we hope will eventually use BTC.  And if this could happen to me--I don't see how the general public is going to be able to handle becoming their own bank at this state of the art.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,

Ken

The only thing I have is the BTC address to which I sent the coins to my wallet--and I can't find that address anywhere in the wallet

Thanks so much for your response.  I am honestly not sure if it QT was running when I dragged the .dat folder out.

If you could please tell me exactly what to do with the program you suggest using I would greatly appreciate it.  I'm not sure at all what to do.  I really a newbie to this--and there is a lot of money lost;(  I don't even understand what exactly I would be trying to extract?

I sent BTC from my blockchain wallet to my QT wallet.

I like to back up my .dat file to a cold wallet.  I think I should have gone file-->backup and taken the file off the computer that way.  Instead I just dragged the file directly out of the Bitcoin roam folder.
 Now when I put the file back into the folder--there is nothing in the wallet.

I have the address to which I sent the BTC.  I can even see the wallet on blockchain in read only mode.

How can I get the address to which I sent the BTC into a wallet--either QT or blockchaine so that I can access the BTC?
   
Please help if you can!

I'm not sure I understand why the price of BTC varies so much (between $104 and $115 on the five exchanges besides Gox). I understand now why it is so high ($118) at Gox, but can't explain the other differences.

Does anyone now why the price of BTC/USD is currently about $120 on Gox and closer to $100 on the other exchanges?

Cheers,

Ken

Does anyone know the back story the the coin's release--pre-mininng, etc?

Also if I have script type rigs (GPU based mining like litecoin) can I mine primecoin--or is it SHA-256 like bitcoin?

Looks like the money may be in script mining for a while.  If you agree, I am in Naples, FL USA. I contracted pros to custom build me from scratch at the end of May 2013-- an 18 card 7970 rig with all the trimmings.  Open air--tweaked and fine tuned and running stable at  11,340 + kh/s. Can be over clocked more if you have the cooling and power capacity.  Very pleased with the results.  For scrypt mining only.

It turns out though my family is unhappy giving up the space in the house designated for the project.  Heat and noise issues are resolved but family want the room back--so it's sell or suffer the family consequences.  I have Newegg receipts for the $10,901 in parts.  I paid $4300 to set up the rig.  All necessary software and hardware included.

I will consider a fair offer and accept Paypal, fiat and crypto--but will not consider crazy low ball offers.  I really want to keep the rigs and there are other options involving more of an investment, but for the moment anyway, I guess I am in the mood to get out of it and resolve the family headache--just not desperate enough to give the stuff away as even the hostile family understands that we must be reasonable and fair about this.

So I guess I am feeling out what the options are financially to resolve my problem in the favor of the rest of the family.

If seriously interested PM me your email and I can send invoices, photos, etc.  Then we would need to discuss as well how to structure such a large deal--how we can verify each others' credibility, etc.  I have an Ebay account with a 500+ rating if that helps.  Please don't waste our time if not seriously interested though because major technical questions will have to be answered by the contractors who built the rig--and I will have to pay them for their time answering questions.

Thanks and good luck.

Looks like the money may be in script mining for a while.  If you agree, I am in Naples, FL USA. I contracted pros to custom build me from scratch at the end of May 2013-- an 18 card 7970 rig with all the trimmings.  Open air--tweaked and fine tuned and running stable at  11,340 + kh/s. Can be over clocked more if you have the cooling and power capacity.  Very pleased with the results.  For scrypt mining only.

It turns out though my family is unhappy giving up the space in the house designated for the project.  Heat and noise issues are resolved but family want the room back--so it's sell or suffer the family consequences.  I have Newegg receipts for the $10,901 in parts.  I paid $4300 to set up the rig.  All necessary software and hardware included.

I will consider a fair offer and accept Paypal, fiat and crypto--but will not consider crazy low ball offers.  I really want to keep the rigs and there are other options involving more of an investment, but for the moment anyway, I guess I am in the mood to get out of it and resolve the family headache--just not desperate enough to give the stuff away as even the hostile family understands that we must be reasonable and fair about this.

So I guess I am feeling out what the options are financially to resolve my problem in the favor of the rest of the family.

If seriously interested PM me your email and I can send invoices, photos, etc.  Then we would need to discuss as well how to structure such a large deal--how we can verify each others' credibility, etc.  I have an Ebay account with a 500+ rating if that helps.  Please don't waste our time if not seriously interested though because major technical questions will have to be answered by the contractors who built the rig--and I will have to pay them for their time answering questions.

Thanks and good luck.

   

I'm trying to get my ignorant, noob head around how to create a cold wallet.

There seem to be more than one ways to skin this cat--and there are still things I don't understand--I am just wondering if the recipe I came up with below will do the trick.  Even if it is not the most efficient, since I understand it--if it would be very secure--I'd like to stay with this method--if someone knowledgeable approves.

I don't do many transactions--basically want to keep my funds very safe.

I downloaded Electrum (for Win 7)

Installed it (though it is an APP and not a program--which I don't really understand--but I can see that to get if off the computer you have to find it buried in a User file and delete it--as opposed to uninstalling it)

I got it set up backed up seed words and bar code thing to paper.  Later I will compress/encrypt everything using WinRAR and back that up to the cloud and an external hard drive.

I transferred $.1 BTC from my on line Blockchaine wallet.

I waited until it was confirmed.

I backed up the wallet.

I found wallet.dat file in a USER file by typing %appdat% into the windows search.  I moved that to my desktop, along with the Electrum app  and the file containing the backup seed information.

I compressed and encrypted all that using WinRAR and backed it up to the cloud and an external drive.

I deleted everything Electrum related from my computer, especially the DAT file.


The next time I want to do a transaction I will download the compressed encrypted files to my desktop--run the app, restore the wallet, do the transaction and repeat everything I described above.

IS this a  safe reliable method?

Also, what can  use to operate in a similar way for Litecoin.

Thanks much in advance.

BTW to DannyHamilton who replied to my last question--I just now saw your private reply--I was to ignorant to know to look in my private message area for your response--thought it would come to my email.  Thanks so much for your help.

This is a very ignorant noob question.  I installed Electrum--works fine. 

But I can't find a folder with an uninstall icon nor is it present under control panel-->programs--> uninstall. I want to unistall for two reasons

1) I like being able to know that I can easily uninstall anything
2) I want to test recovering my wallet
2) I figure the best way to secure my wallet is to back up the data and put it on an external drive and/or make a paper copy--then unistall electrum from my computer.  That way the wallet lives in a place where it never touches the internet.

If I want to do a transaction--then I would just install it again.

So where is the flaw in my logic please?

Thanks in advance.

I checked blockchain tutorial--next to the transaction it could say "unconfirmed" or "confirmed" (with the number of confirmations.

In my case, it says nothing about that.

So the transaction went through on 28jun13--clockchain shows the right amount in my wallet--but nothing about confirmation and the funds have not cleared my bank.

So is this normal?  Do I have the coins and if not--does it seem like something is not Kosher?. 

For funding the transaction, bitinstant sent me to Zipmark--which allowed me to fund it through an electronic bank transfer.  But as I say, the funds have not cleared my account even today.

I don't understand where to check about confirmations.  I used blockchain and it doesn't say anything about that on the page I get when I login to my wallet.  When I click on the transaction--there are a dozen transactions associated with the purchase--but again I don't see anything about confirmations.

Thanks in advance for the help with finding the confirmations.

I bought my first BTC via Bitinstant.  I wanted to get the Coins quickly and without leaving home. I am in the USA.  It ended up that I paid $500 and got $4.85 BTC in my Blockchain wallet after fees and everything.  This was at a time when BTC was valued at about $96.00 at Mt. Gox.

It went through in a day and a half 3 days ago.  But the $500 is still in my bank account.

Does it seem like I paid a fair transaction fee structure, and when should the funds leave my bank?

How do I know when enough confirmations have gone through so that I know the Coins are really mine and good?

Finally--was there a better way to do this?

If I want to buy some LTC now, where should I do that?

Thanks.

I bought my first BTC via Bitinstant.  I wanted to get the Coins quickly and without leaving home. I am in the USA.  It ended up that I paid $500 and got $4.85 BTC in my Blockchain wallet after fees and everything.  This was at a time when BTC was valued at about $96.00 at Mt. Gox.

It went through in a day and a half 3 days ago.  But the $500 is still in my bank account.

Does it seem like I paid a fair transaction fee structure, and when should the funds leave my bank?

How do I know when enough confirmations have gone through so that I know the Coins are really mine and good?

Finally--was there a better way to do this?

If I want to buy some LTC now, where should I do that?

Thanks.

I bought my first BTC via Bitinstant.  I wanted to get the Coins quickly and without leaving home. I am in the USA.  It ended up that I paid $500 and got $4.85 BTC in my Blockchain wallet after fees and everything.  This was at a time when BTC was valued at about $96.00 at Mt. Gox.

It went through in a day and a half 3 days ago.  But the $500 is still in my bank account.

Does it seem like I paid a fair transaction fee structure, and when should the funds leave my bank?

How do I know when enough confirmations have gone through so that I know the Coins are really mine and good?

Finally--was there a better way to do this?

If I want to buy some LTC now, where should I do that?

Thanks.

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