Bitcoin QT Wallet STUCK in Blockchain

[BrendStatter]

hey guys...

1. i downloaded my wallet like months ago and never used it...
2. now i wanted to finally give it a try, bought some bitcoins and transferred it to my wallet
3. meanwhile i realized an available update --> installed it
4. Since that 1 week has past and my wallet is at 159106 loaded blockchains and does not get any further...
5. it's STUCK... and i have no idea of how to get a hand on my coins


Please fellow coiners give me a clou in how to solve this problem, don't wanna loose money by accident!

thanks

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[Tirapon]

Did you make a backup of your wallet.dat file? If so you may be able to reinstall the client and then replace the wallet.dat with the backup, you should then be able to access your coins. If not, make a backup now - I'm not sure, but hopefully the original will have remained unchanged when you updated... to make a backup, find the location of the wallet.dat file: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory and copy it to a safe place

[DannyHamilton]

Did you make a backup of your wallet.dat file? . . .If not, make a backup now . . . and copy it to a safe place

+1

This is the most important step.  As long as you have the original wallet.dat that has the private keys associated with the bitcoin addresses you are using, you'll be ok.  If you lose this file and don't have your private keys written down or stored anywhere else, then you can kiss your coins good-bye.  Be VERY careful and don't mess with anything unless/until you are sure that you have a good copy of the correct wallet.dat stored in a safe place.

[Stephen Gornick]

don't mess with anything unless/until you are sure that you have a good copy of the correct wallet.dat stored in a safe place.

Very good advice.

3. meanwhile i realized an available update --> installed it

Version 0.7? That's the most recent release.

If it is "stuck" it could be because it isn't connecting to peers.  Does the client show connections (status tray in bottom right)

The debug.log will show more of what the problem might be.

[Blyzon]

Yes, the wallet does seem broken.  I had this same exact problem.  Every time I installed and ran it, it got to a certain point in the block chain and then got stuck.

To get it to work, I had to download the blockchain manually from here: http://eu1.bitcoincharts.com/blockchain/

[BrendStatter]

Did you make a backup of your wallet.dat file? . . .If not, make a backup now . . . and copy it to a safe place

+1

This is the most important step.  As long as you have the original wallet.dat that has the private keys associated with the bitcoin addresses you are using, you'll be ok.  If you lose this file and don't have your private keys written down or stored anywhere else, then you can kiss your coins good-bye.  Be VERY careful and don't mess with anything unless/until you are sure that you have a good copy of the correct wallet.dat stored in a safe place.

ok, did that now...

don't mess with anything unless/until you are sure that you have a good copy of the correct wallet.dat stored in a safe place.

Very good advice.

3. meanwhile i realized an available update --> installed it

Version 0.7? That's the most recent release.

If it is "stuck" it could be because it isn't connecting to peers.  Does the client show connections (status tray in bottom right)

The debug.log will show more of what the problem might be.

yes it's this version, hope it didn't change my wallet.dat..... and YES it has 8 activ connections to the coin network. ..

Yes, the wallet does seem broken.  I had this same exact problem.  Every time I installed and ran it, it got to a certain point in the block chain and then got stuck.

To get it to work, I had to download the blockchain manually from here: http://eu1.bitcoincharts.com/blockchain/

ok, gonna give it a try... where to save that file than??

thanks for your helps!!

[cloudytoday]

If you download the blockchain file from some source, I mean not through bitcoin client, then you must add commandline option "-rescan" when starting bitcoin.

prompt$  bitcoin-qt -rescan

This way the client to read again each block to see if there are transactions with your addresses. If the wallet.dat already "knows" about all it's transactions, then you don't need -rescan, but if not sure, try it. It takes a few minutes.

[BrendStatter]

i'm actually loading the blockchain files, them are 2 right?
when finished i'm not sure in which directory it belongs...

If you download the blockchain file from some source, I mean not through bitcoin client, then you must add commandline option "-rescan" when starting bitcoin.

prompt$  bitcoin-qt -rescan

This way the client to read again each block to see if there are transactions with your addresses. If the wallet.dat already "knows" about all it's transactions, then you don't need -rescan, but if not sure, try it. It takes a few minutes.

is that for windows or linux? i'm using win7

[Stephen Gornick]

i'm actually loading the blockchain files, them are 2 right?
when finished i'm not sure in which directory it belongs...

Ok, you pulled the most recent blockchain data files.  You can't just replace your existing ones because that set doesn't have the third file, the blockchain index.

So what you can do is copy or move those two  (blk00001.dat and blk0002.dat) to a temp directory (e.g., C:\Temp ) and then do

 C:> bitcoin-qt -loadblock="C:\TEMP\BLK0001.DAT"

This is explained here:
 - http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/4148/153

And it should load the blocks.  If it doesn't then go ahead and wipe everything except your wallet.dat from your Bitcoin directory, then relaunch the client using the -loadblock from above.

I'm not sure if after it is done loading from blk0001.dat if it automatically loads blk0002.dat or if you need to stop and restart the client with -loadblock= to get the blk0002.dat loaded then as well.

[cloudytoday]

i'm actually loading the blockchain files, them are 2 right?
when finished i'm not sure in which directory it belongs...

If you download the blockchain file from some source, I mean not through bitcoin client, then you must add commandline option "-rescan" when starting bitcoin.

prompt$  bitcoin-qt -rescan

This way the client to read again each block to see if there are transactions with your addresses. If the wallet.dat already "knows" about all it's transactions, then you don't need -rescan, but if not sure, try it. It takes a few minutes.

is that for windows or linux? i'm using win7

for linux. For windows, should be something similar. Maybe /rescan instead of -rescan, but I don't use windows for years.

[tehace]

i'm actually loading the blockchain files, them are 2 right?
when finished i'm not sure in which directory it belongs...

Ok, you pulled the most recent blockchain data files.  You can't just replace your existing ones because that set doesn't have the third file, the blockchain index.

So what you can do is copy or move those two  (blk00001.dat and blk0002.dat) to a temp directory (e.g., C:\Temp ) and then do

 C:> bitcoin-qt -loadblock="C:\TEMP\BLK0001.DAT"

This is explained here:
 - http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/4148/153

And it should load the blocks.  If it doesn't then go ahead and wipe everything except your wallet.dat from your Bitcoin directory, then relaunch the client using the -loadblock from above.

I'm not sure if after it is done loading from blk0001.dat if it automatically loads blk0002.dat or if you need to stop and restart the client with -loadblock= to get the blk0002.dat loaded then as well.

I have had this problem many times due to an overheating computer doing an automatic shut off. This guys method works!

[BrendStatter]

guys i'm not a computer specialist, i need to know the exact command line for win7 to load it into the client...

[deepceleron]

Relevant thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=51456.0

You can explore to the Bitcoin data directory by simply typing %appdata%/bitcoin into the Windows 7 start menu search box.

In that directory you will see the file "wallet.dat" (or perhaps just "wallet" with the file type "DAT File" if you have file extensions hidden, which is the default on Windows). This is the file that contains your personal data that allows you to spend bitcoins. This file should be copied to a USB stick or other location so you will always have a backup copy in case your hard drive dies, your computer gets stolen, etc.

In the data directory, you will also see the files that contain the blockchain (blkindex.dat, blk0001.dat, and possibly blk0002.dat if you have gotten blocks past 190,000). These do not contain any personal information, they are a record of all transactions that have every happened on the Bitcoin network.

Often there will be hangs in downloading the blockchain from the database files getting corrupted while being downloaded. This could be potentially caused by corrupted information from other clients, software crashes, or disk problems. Upgrading to a different version of Bitcoin may also cause this symptom depending on the blockchain state at the time of the upgrade.

The solution is to completely close Bitcoin (including the tray icon), remove the old blockchain files, install the latest stable version of Bitcoin, and run Bitcoin and let it download the complete blockchain again. If you want to save many hours of downloading, you can download and extract blockchain files such as in the linked thread above before you run Bitcoin, and then it will only need to download a month of data instead of three years of data.

[BrendStatter]

guys i don't get it.... tried every thing we spoke about here.... last thing i did was completly uninstall bitcoin... take the newest version... take the blockchain files and wallet.dat and put it into directory...
now its at 161154 from 202187 blockchains... i have no idea...

[BrendStatter]

the wallet still says:

Warning: Displayed Transactions are eventually not correct. You or other Knots may have to actualize (the client)

any hints for that?


all the story is about 10 bitcoins... i just don't wanna write them off...

[deepceleron]

Please take the time to read and understand this complete post before following any instructions.

If you have backups of your wallet.dat file to several locations (such as copying it to removable media plus another location on your hard drive), than your bitcoins will not be lost. The issue will be getting the Bitcoin client working and caught up so that you can actually spend your money.

Do you have at least 5GB of hard drive space free?

At this point, I would be looking at possible problems on your computer, such as bad sectors on the disk or bad RAM.  Bitcoin uses processor and disk-intensive processes when downloading blocks which may reveal computer problems. Even a problem like a bad CPU fan or a CPU heatsink clogged up with dust and lint could cause processing errors on a high-CPU-usage program like Bitcoin.

To avoid ambiguity, I'll tell you exactly what I would do in this situation (these instructions assume English Windows 7 or similar):

----
A. Verify wallet is backed up properly:
----
1. Restart computer
2. Verify Bitcoin is not running (Press CTRL-ALT-DEL key combination, start task manager, and view the applications and processes tabs to ensure you do not have bitcoin-qt.exe running).
3. To avoid mistakes, disable Windows' file name and extension-hiding: In the Windows "Control Panel" -> "Folder Options", select the "View" tab. Uncheck the boxes next to "Hide extensions for known file types", and also select "Show hidden files...". Press OK.
4. Open the %appdata%/Bitcoin data directory using Windows Explorer (note the actual directory name is similar to C:\Users\BrendStatter\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin, using whatever your Windows user name is)
5. Copy the wallet.dat file to several locations, such as a USB stick, onto your Windows desktop, etc. so that it will never be lost (also keep these backups secure, if someone else got your wallet.dat file, they could spend your bitcoins). Verify the file is properly copied to the new locations.

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B. Computer checks
---
There are several utilities I would recommend to ensure your computer is working well.

Check disk for errors:
-type "Command Prompt" in the start menu search. Right-click on the found "Command Prompt" program, and choose "Run as administrator".
-in the command prompt that opens, type chkdsk /f c:
-you will be prompted if you want to check next time the computer restarts, press Y (and enter) to schedule a disk check
-restart the computer
(advanced check, type chkdsk /r c: instead, to additionally scan for bad disk sectors. This may take from 5 minutes on a small SSD to 10 hours on a slow 2GB drive, but will ensure the entire surface area of your disk is ok)

Memory check:
In the start menu, run "Windows Memory Diagnostic", and choose "restart now and check", let the computer restart to do a memory test.
More advanced: Download memtest86+, and burn the ISO disk image to a CD, restart your computer booting off that CD, and let the memory test run for several hours until it has passed several times.

CPU test:
Try the burn-in program OCCT. It has 100% CPU usage tests such as the default test and Linpack that will make your CPU hot, and will also report to you if any error has happened in calculation. This test must pass - if it fails at all, your CPU is getting too hot or something is bad.

---
C. Remove Bitcoin data directory and retry block download
---
Just like it says. After you are 110% sure you have multiple wallet backups, completely remove the Bitcoin data directory (we'll just rename it):
1. Ensure Bitcoin is closed
2. Type %appdata% into the Windows start menu and press enter to open the Windows application data folder
3. Locate the "Bitcoin" directory
4. Right-click on the "Bitcoin" directory, choose "Rename", and rename it to "Bitcoin-Bad", "Bitcoin-Original" or such.
5. Start Bitcoin, it will act like a brand new install, creating a new data directory, new wallet, and will begin downloading from block 1.
6. Do not interrupt Bitcoin - give it 6+ hours or more to download the complete blockchain until it is caught up (Note: after block 180,000, download starts becoming much slower)

---
D. Restore your original wallet
---
Hopefully all that worked, and you have an in-sync fresh copy of Bitcoin with 0 bitcoins. Now we need to put your original wallet into the working Bitcoin so you can spend your money!

1. Close Bitcoin and the Bitcoin tray icon, make absolutely sure it is closed (it may run up to a minute in the background after you close it)
2. Type %appdata% into the Windows start menu and press enter to open the Windows application data folder
3. In the "Bitcoin" directory, rename the wallet.dat file to something like "wallet-empty-good-whatever.dat"
4. Locate the "Bitcoin-Bad" backup directory or USB backup that contained your original wallet.dat
5. Copy your original wallet.dat file into the %appdata%/Bitcoin directory
6. Restart Bitcoin this way:
 Paste the line
 "\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -rescan
 into the start menu search bar. (remove the " (x86)" if you are using 32 bit Windows).
7. It will take several minutes for Bitcoin to start up, because it will look through the new complete blockchain for any payments to you.
8. Send your money!

[Stephen Gornick]

the wallet still says:

Warning: Displayed Transactions are eventually not correct. You or other Knots may have to actualize (the client)

any hints for that?


all the story is about 10 bitcoins... i just don't wanna write them off...

Would it be of interest to you if there were a service where you simply send the wallet.dat to it along with a Bitcoin withdrawal address and the coins from the wallet are then sent to that address?

That way you could use an EWallet and not mess with any more of this?

  - http://www.BlockChain.info/wallet

[Kas]

Hey guys thanks for posting this, I'm having this problem right now too. I have about 4 BTC floating around I don't know where for like a couple days now because my wallet is stuck! I have connections and everything so I'm just posting here so I can easily find this thread soon and try to fix this problem.

Also, for example, I have like 0.2 BTC in the wallet, but like 3.9 that were sent to me and I have never received. When I get my wallet to sync will I still receive these or did I lose them now? :/

[BrendStatter]

alright could be a matter of my notebook as it seems... gonna try the whole thing with my PC....

like this i just need to take the wallet dat from the notebook and install it as described on my pc...

gonna let you guys know what happens... gonna take a few days because i'm out off town for that week...

thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!

[Stephen Gornick]

When I get my wallet to sync will I still receive these or did I lose them now? :/

You don't actuallly receive coins.  The software just doesn't know what to show for your balance until it has caught up on the blocks.   The wallet is only needed to spend the coins.  As long as you have your wallet.dat you can spend any payments received to those addresses.