Transaction unconfirmed for long time, used brainwallet.org to create tx, help?

[chriswilmer]

Hi, I made a test wallet using Brainwallet.org with the public address:

1EM9TVqPCJihnS1ovvVrNdtqbESDSVKP7G

and sent some Bitcoins (0.02 BTC to be precise) to this address from my Mt. Gox account. Transaction had several confirmations within ~20 minutes. Great.

Then I used Brainwallet.org to generate a transaction string to do the following:

Send 0.06 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS (a destination wallet of my friend)
Send 0.05 BTC to 1EM9TVqPCJihnS1ovvVrNdtqbESDSVKP7G (same as above, as "change")
leaving 0.09 BTC to pay for the transaction fee for the miners

This generated a transaction string which I pasted into: http://blockchain.info/pushtx
The transaction immediately showed up on Blockchain.info, and everything looked good. The transaction hash is:
3b66d0317fd29727435ea64a70174f742f921076d51de1052b1f6c102b5789ce

However, the transaction is not confirming. It's been over an hour. What am I doing wrong?

Is it a problem that Blockchain.info says "Relayed by ip: 127.0.0.1"

[Stephen Gornick]

However, the transaction is not confirming. It's been over an hour. What am I doing wrong?

At this moment there are 5,000 transactions unconfirmed.  Even though you had a fee, the amount of the transaction was low.  Presuming the transaction is valid, then there is mothing you can do but wait, it could be up to a full day.

[chriswilmer]

Hmmm... OK. Because my transfers from my Mt. Gox wallet to random other wallets was pretty quick, I assumed I must be doing something wrong in this case.

Can I ask a slightly more general question then: is there a way of knowing whether or not I screwed up without waiting multiple days (i.e., a "rejection" message at some point, or some kind of red flag)? Waiting a long time is one thing, waiting a long time without ever knowing if it will confirm in the end is another...

[chriswilmer]

I just wanted to make a small correction my earlier post:

Send 0.06 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS (a destination wallet of my friend)
Send 0.05 BTC to 1EM9TVqPCJihnS1ovvVrNdtqbESDSVKP7G (same as above, as "change")
leaving 0.09 BTC to pay for the transaction fee for the miners

should be:

Send 0.006 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS (a destination wallet of my friend)
Send 0.005 BTC to 1EM9TVqPCJihnS1ovvVrNdtqbESDSVKP7G (same as above, as "change")
leaving 0.009 BTC to pay for the transaction fee for the miners

The fee is still higher than the 0.005 btc "standard" transaction fee *grumble grumble* ...

[piuk]

When you click on the network propagation map (https://blockchain.info/inv/3b66d0317fd29727435ea64a70174f742f921076d51de1052b1f6c102b5789ce) if it says "No inventory information available." that may be a sign something is wrong with the transaction. It means that it has not been relayed back by any nodes.

I just tried to manually re-broadcast your transaction and it doesn't appear to have been accepted by the network (It is not on http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/txlist/ for example). To me it looks like it is constructed fine though, so i'm not sure what is wrong with it.

[chriswilmer]

When you click on the network propagation map (https://blockchain.info/inv/3b66d0317fd29727435ea64a70174f742f921076d51de1052b1f6c102b5789ce) if it says "No inventory information available." that may be a sign something is wrong with the transaction. It means that it has not been relayed back by any nodes.

I just tried to manually re-broadcast your transaction any it doesn't appear to have been accepted by the network (It is not on http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/txlist/ for example). To me it looks like it is constructed fine though, so i'm not sure what is wrong with it.

Thanks for trying that! Err... I'm not sure how to proceed then. Was this bad luck? I'm not sure how many people use the Brainwallet.org transaction generator, maybe it's dodgy... I'm happy to use an alternative. Pasting your transaction history into an offline HTML page and then generating a transaction string seems a lot easier than generating offline transactions via Electrum/Amory etc.

[OneEyed]

The fee is still higher than the 0.005 btc "standard" transaction fee *grumble grumble* ...

The transaction has not been relayed to my bitcoind (it's not in the blockchain, obviously, neither in the mempool). I wonder if blockchain's pushtx works correctly. If the miners don't receive the transaction, they aren't going to include it.

If it doesn't appear, you can have someone reinject it into the network and see if it makes a difference (PM me with the raw transaction if you want me to reinject it).

Edit: the transaction itself is probably to blame, as pushtx is used by all blockchain.info wallets if I understand correctly

[chriswilmer]

The fee is still higher than the 0.005 btc "standard" transaction fee *grumble grumble* ...

The transaction has not been relayed to my bitcoind (it's not in the blockchain, obviously, neither in the mempool). I wonder if blockchain's pushtx works correctly. If the miners don't receive the transaction, they aren't going to include it.

If it doesn't appear, you can have someone reinject it into the network and see if it makes a difference (PM me with the raw transaction if you want me to reinject it).
 

OK, here is the raw transaction:

0100000001ce89572b106c1f2b05e11dd57610922f744f17704aa65e432797d27f31d0663b01000 0008a47304402206b189d481b42a9946863ed7c2fca3963258361b28b1131c1265f4a73dbe32b09 0220fc3ae3646d39d170474e6b042b6dda639d296df1160eccbef801da3908a1b70201410489c6e d3e066b16dc20b182da0feb2936b6cded7cb4893c7f3afcbba94a09d8c26a2a55c57fd41a11176d 65d62945607b755444a763a220191957e819fb31ccd4ffffffff02a0860100000000001976a914f 61ba739d571376f5eabc84418a217c2e21e2ad688ace0930400000000001976a9149269038b6091 0121150854edc7628575ecda435c88ac00000000

This is not identical to the prior transaction (since I don't want to create double-spending issues). This corresponds to (I hope!):

Send 0.001 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS (a destination wallet of my friend)
Send 0.003 BTC to 1EM9TVqPCJihnS1ovvVrNdtqbESDSVKP7G (same as above, as "change")
Send 0.001 BTC to pay for the transaction fee for the miners

Here is the JSON Transaction string (maybe this is where I am making a mistake):

{
    "hash": "e4330451300d1d75e1a3bf0cdb0d80cfa0bea61f239cef68993b5e77b28edf77",
    "ver": 1,
    "vin_sz": 1,
    "vout_sz": 2,
    "lock_time": 0,
    "size": 257,
    "in": [
        {
            "prev_out": {
                "hash": "3b66d0317fd29727435ea64a70174f742f921076d51de1052b1f6c102b5789ce",
                "n": "1"
            },
            "scriptSig": "304402206b189d481b42a9946863ed7c2fca3963258361b28b1131c1265f4a73dbe32b090220fc3 ae3646d39d170474e6b042b6dda639d296df1160eccbef801da3908a1b70201 0489c6ed3e066b16dc20b182da0feb2936b6cded7cb4893c7f3afcbba94a09d8c26a2a55c57fd41 a11176d65d62945607b755444a763a220191957e819fb31ccd4"
        }
    ],
    "out": [
        {
            "value": "0.00100000",
            "scriptPubKey": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 f61ba739d571376f5eabc84418a217c2e21e2ad6 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG"
        },
        {
            "value": "0.00300000",
            "scriptPubKey": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 9269038b60910121150854edc7628575ecda435c OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG"
        }
    ]
}

[OneEyed]

OK, here is the raw transaction:

0100000001ce89572b106c1f2b05e11dd57610922f744f17704aa65e432797d27f31d0663b01000 0008a47304402206b189d481b42a9946863ed7c2fca3963258361b28b1131c1265f4a73dbe32b09 0220fc3ae3646d39d170474e6b042b6dda639d296df1160eccbef801da3908a1b70201410489c6e d3e066b16dc20b182da0feb2936b6cded7cb4893c7f3afcbba94a09d8c26a2a55c57fd41a11176d 65d62945607b755444a763a220191957e819fb31ccd4ffffffff02a0860100000000001976a914f 61ba739d571376f5eabc84418a217c2e21e2ad688ace0930400000000001976a9149269038b6091 0121150854edc7628575ecda435c88ac00000000

This is not identical to the prior transaction (since I don't want to create double-spending issues).

This one is rejected by bitcoind sendrawtransaction with "TX rejected", because the previous transaction (3b66d0317f) is not found.

[OneEyed]

This is not identical to the prior transaction (since I don't want to create double-spending issues).

Rebroadcasting the very same transaction will not create any double-spending.

[chriswilmer]

This is not identical to the prior transaction (since I don't want to create double-spending issues).

Rebroadcasting the very same transaction will not create any double-spending.

OK OK. New idea. I made a brand new wallet:

19HZY5C4oAtSvLCYwtiek1coWbi2J1qxrG

Sent it 0.04 BTC from my Mt. Gox address. It's received 4 confirmations as of writing this message. Now, I am trying to figure out how to make a successful transaction.

1. I put my private key (which I can share with you if you want, these are just dummy accounts) into Brainwallet.org/#tx
2. I paste my transaction history from blockchain.info... and now Brainwallet "knows" that I have 0.04 BTC to spend.
3. I put my destination address in the form box: 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS
4. I want to input a miner's fee, but there is no easy way to do it... previously I edited a value in the JSON transaction directly, but maybe that's where I was screwing something up... so this time I won't do it.

Here is the raw transaction ID for sending 0.04 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS

I have not pushed this transaction yet. Could you try to do it?

01000000014ff25c3ce4f24fee49ca01578503d20955de33690f4d4de93023e15ca903730500000 0008a4730440220d737da0b5768384ec79c4fc9d8967dc446e01a5611ed840e6897807623e70c31 0220a8ad52c3ee8784ba78b81cdf1b5402f3ed97b6e371a83bc76c9f1b6e4897a90701410417d6c c58707c1bd8c275171181691dc005c2c5f7b8b42ebfd6e89db3f13747a51723b24ee6871c14c88e 8da957ffab428d047ae8bdec0f3de12cf493ef5ab6beffffffff0100093d00000000001976a914f 61ba739d571376f5eabc84418a217c2e21e2ad688ac00000000

[OneEyed]

Here is the raw transaction ID for sending 0.04 BTC to 1PSJMa4uHGyHaNncHuY1DvAzKBNbvHb1oS

I have not pushed this transaction yet. Could you try to do it?

I just did and it got accepted.

Was the transaction signed before or after modifying the JSON to include the miners fees? If it is before, of course the signature will be invalid, but you know that already, I just want to make sure.

[chriswilmer]

I just did and it got accepted.

Was the transaction signed before or after modifying the JSON to include the miners fees? If it is before, of course the signature will be invalid, but you know that already, I just want to make sure.

OK. I guess the next baby-step would be for me to repeat this exact process but pushing the transaction myself using the blockchain.info HTML form.

There is a "re-sign" button on Brainwallet.org that I have never used. From a user perspective, the Brainwallet.org interface looks like it is updating all of the fields in response to any changes, so when I add miners fees in the JSON transaction field, the raw transaction string updates as well. However, maybe it needs to be re-signed?

[OneEyed]

There is a "re-sign" button on Brainwallet.org that I have never used. From a user perspective, the Brainwallet.org interface looks like it is updating all of the fields in response to any changes, so when I add miners fees in the JSON transaction field, the raw transaction string updates as well. However, maybe it needs to be re-signed?

That would be my bet.

Since your original transaction has not been broadcasted, and will probably never be, maybe you should double spend it.

[chriswilmer]

Hey everyone, check it out... I posted the "fee" thing as an issue on the Brainwallet github page and less than an hour later the feature got implemented!

Awesome!

check it out: brainwallet.org

-Chris

[OneEyed]

Hey everyone, check it out... I posted the "fee" thing as an issue on the Brainwallet github page and less than an hour later the feature got implemented!

Awesome!

check it out: brainwallet.org

As often in the Free Software world, when users take time to properly report bugs or ask for useful features, developers are more than happy to oblige. Kudos to brainwallet team and you for doing the right things.

[chriswilmer]

Incidentally, as an update to this thread... I have everything working smoothly now. Moving increasingly larger sums back and forth between my cold storage wallet and my online accounts to gain comfort (I can't tell if this is irrational behavior or good practice). Everything works as expected. My private key is not on any electronic device whatsoever. Yay!

[OneEyed]

Incidentally, as an update to this thread... I have everything working smoothly now. Moving increasingly larger sums back and forth between my cold storage wallet and my online accounts to gain comfort (I can't tell if this is irrational behavior or good practice). Everything works as expected. My private key is not on any electronic device whatsoever. Yay!

Not stored on an electronic device, but regularly entered into one to sign transactions, right?

[chriswilmer]

Incidentally, as an update to this thread... I have everything working smoothly now. Moving increasingly larger sums back and forth between my cold storage wallet and my online accounts to gain comfort (I can't tell if this is irrational behavior or good practice). Everything works as expected. My private key is not on any electronic device whatsoever. Yay!

Not stored on an electronic device, but regularly entered into one to sign transactions, right?

Yes, regularly entered into an offline electronic device (but just temporarily in RAM, laptop is booted from a liveUSB Ubuntu package).