Bitcoin .11 Initial Blockchain Download Problem

[jeloib]

I am setting up a new wallet and new to Bitcoin. Everything was going fine from my initial synchronization despite the fact I am using a slow group network connection through my apartment. I kept my computer on the first day to finish the download. The problem began once I reached 31 weeks where I have remained the last 3 days.

No movement has occurred at all over this period despite the fact QT indicates it is synchronizing with network. I checked on whether my port was open on bitcoin.org/en/full-node#enabling-connections and no luck. Currently my Port is 9050 and uncertain if setting it to 8333 would help. Actually, I tried this and it didn't seem to do anything. I have also placed the bitcoin-0.11.0.torrent file in ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/.

Admittedly, I am no programmer and uncertain how to get the torrent file to load into QT. Does anyone have any advice for a Mac 10.10 user who is pretty clueless to this point about Bitcoin? I need to get this download to complete and after spending close to a week on the project I am at my wits end. Finally, I am expecting a payment that has yet to reach my wallet due to the halted download. Would it be possible to transfer my wallet.dat to another wallet that does not require such extensive setup?

[achow101]

The torrent file won't help since a) it needs to download the blockchain file and b) the file is so old that you are actually past the last sync date of the file. You should set the port to be 8333 and open that up both on the machine's local firewall and the router's firewall. Also check the number of connections. If you go to Help > Debug Window, there should be something that says how many connections you have. It should be more than 0. If it is 0, then you aren't going to be syncing anything.

[jeloib]

Ok. I checked out the Debug window. The number of connections shows 1 In - so I am good there. I changed the Port back to 8333 on Bitcoin and no adverse consequences. I have a Mac and no Firewall - so good there.

I am using a semi-public network connection through my apartment complex for my desktop which is a problem. I don't see my being able to change the Port for this modem and I expect this is the issue with my halted download.

I am stuck at 340401 blocks at Jan 2015. The torrent file is dated Jul 2015 wouldn't that help? Still don't know how to get QT to load the torrent file. Finally, if I am unable to change the Port on the modem would it be possible to transfer my wallet.dat and key to another wallet. I am still waiting to complete this payment.

[achow101]

Ok. I checked out the Debug window. The number of connections shows 1 In - so I am good there. I changed the Port back to 8333 on Bitcoin and no adverse consequences. I have a Mac and no Firewall - so good there.

I am using a semi-public network connection through my apartment complex for my desktop which is a problem. I don't see my being able to change the Port for this modem and I expect this is the issue with my halted download.

I am stuck at 340401 blocks at Jan 2015. The torrent file is dated Jul 2015 wouldn't that help? Still don't know how to get QT to load the torrent file. Finally, if I am unable to change the Port on the modem would it be possible to transfer my wallet.dat and key to another wallet. I am still waiting to complete this payment.

For the torrent file, you need to have a torrent client and place the downloaded file (should be bootstrap.dat) in the data directory and Bitcoin Core will do its thing. I don't recommend this since it can take a very long time to download and you are almost up to date anyways.

It is possible that your modem is the problem. It may also be your ISP. Apparently some ISPs have been blocking port 8333 and users can't change it. What ISP are you using?

How many connections out and total connections do you have (should say in the debug window)?

In the lower right hand corner of the Bitcoin Core, do you have any yellow or green bars lit up?

[jeloib]

ISP: Consolidated Communications, Inc.
# of Connections: 1 (In: 1 / Out: 0)
No bars in the right corner of any color

I may need to break down and get my own internet service to get this download completed. I think the problem is with the apartment complex' modem and I can't reconfigure it. Any further ideas? You have been immensely helpful.

Is it possible to take my wallet.dat file and address to another wallet?

[achow101]

ISP: Consolidated Communications, Inc.
# of Connections: 1 (In: 1 / Out: 0)
No bars in the right corner of any color

I may need to break down and get my own internet service to get this download completed. I think the problem is with the apartment complex' modem and I can't reconfigure it. Any further ideas? You have been immensely helpful.

Is it possible to take my wallet.dat file and address to another wallet?

You have only 1 connection which is probably part of the problem. There us a list somewhere on this forum with a bunch of nodes you can connect to that are reliable and have good connections. I will update when I find it.

You can export the private keys of your addresses and import them into another wallet, but most wallets won't be able to use the wallet.dat file.

[jeloib]

I did just open the debug.log and it is just a series of "Error  reading proxy response"

I don't know if that explains anything. Do you think if I started my own ISP that would solve my problem? I could then reconfigure the modem.

[jeloib]

I have acquired my own internet service. My apartment complex router seemed to be blocking the blockchain download. The only problem is I have been running Bitcoin all day on my new ISP and there is no synching occurring. I am using OS X 10.10 with 12 GB of memory. I have 879GB of storage available. There is no firewall on my computer and no ports are blocked on my router.

Would someone please give me some help? I am at a loss to explain why the download is still not synching since my change in ISP. Do I need to uninstall Bitcoin and reinstall? I am still trying to complete a transaction and need to keep my current keys. Please give me any idea on how to solve this problem.

[achow101]

I have acquired my own internet service. My apartment complex router seemed to be blocking the blockchain download. The only problem is I have been running Bitcoin all day on my new ISP and there is no synching occurring. I am using OS X 10.10 with 12 GB of memory. I have 879GB of storage available. There is no firewall on my computer and no ports are blocked on my router.

Would someone please give me some help? I am at a loss to explain why the download is still not synching since my change in ISP. Do I need to uninstall Bitcoin and reinstall? I am still trying to complete a transaction and need to keep my current keys. Please give me any idea on how to solve this problem.

Have you checked everything that I asked you to check earlier in the thread?

[jeloib]

The only step I have not followed is connecting through other nodes. I would prefer to avoid this if possible. I did just go into Bitcoin preferences since updating ISP and toggled off the "Connect through SOCKS5 using Port 8333." Since this change I now have gone from Number of connections In: 1/Out: 0 to In: 0/ Out: 8. I am not going to download anything if I have no connections in, correct?

[achow101]

The only step I have not followed is connecting through other nodes. I would prefer to avoid this if possible. I did just go into Bitcoin preferences since updating ISP and toggled off the "Connect through SOCKS5 using Port 8333." Since this change I now have gone from Number of connections In: 1/Out: 0 to In: 0/ Out: 8. I am not going to download anything if I have no connections in, correct?

No. It is ok if there are no connections in. As long as you have connections. You now have 8 connections total, which is more than 1. Everything is fine now and it should be syncing.

[jeloib]

Yes, I just read the instructions noting inbound connections strictly support the network which I don't care for now. It appears I do have the requisite 8 outbound connections to download. One last question, I see in the debug window a number of KB are being sent by peers. Yet I have been stuck on 340401 blocks the last half hour. Plus, the Bitcoin window shows no block source available and the right corner shows no movement on the synching arrow. Why does it appear my peer activity is being received but this is disconnected to what my wallet is indicating?

[shorena]

Yes, I just read the instructions noting inbound connections strictly support the network which I don't care for now.

Which can be argued to be not true. Yes you do not activly offer a service to other users that do not have a full node, but you still verify and help broadcast every transaction that is passing your node as well as every block.

It appears I do have the requisite 8 outbound connections to download. One last question, I see in the debug window a number of KB are being sent by peers. Yet I have been stuck on 340401 blocks the last half hour. Plus, the Bitcoin window shows no block source available and the right corner shows no movement on the synching arrow. Why does it appear my peer activity is being received but this is disconnected to what my wallet is indicating?

If you check the peers tab you can click on a specific node and it will show more information to the right. You will see "Starting height" which should be higher for all nodes than your "current number of blocks" (information tab). If thats not the case you are connected to peers that are not fully snyced as well.

If the peers you are connected to are fully synced, but only deliver a few KB/s they might have a bad connection or are otherwise bussy. If this problems remains over night I suggest you manually connect to a node with a good connection. I used to take care of a list of nodes, but all of them are currently not reachable. You can find active nodes here -> https://getaddr.bitnodes.io/nodes/?q=/Satoshi:0.11.0/

You can connect to a single specific node by starting bitcoin core with -connect=IP or to several (up to 8 ) nodes by starting with -connect=IP1,IP2,IP3,...,IP8. Make sure to fully shut it down first.

[jeloib]

Ok, the starting height of all peers is 375058 which is greater than the 340401 blocks shown in my wallet. The network traffic tab indicated >80MB received so it appears the problem is not with my peers.

None of this traffic is being added to my block. I restarted Bitcoin to see if that would fix the problem. The message "No block source available" has disappeared but my blocks remain at 340401. What is the disconnect between my peers and my own block?

[shorena]

Ok, the starting height of all peers is 375058 which is greater than the 340401 blocks shown in my wallet. The network traffic tab indicated >80MB received so it appears the problem is not with my peers.

None of this traffic is being added to my block. I restarted Bitcoin to see if that would fix the problem. The message "No block source available" has disappeared but my blocks remain at 340401. What is the disconnect between my peers and my own block?

Did you receive any data (>10 MB) since the restart? Is your CPU / disk load very high?

[jeloib]

It indicates 33MB received and 3 MB sent since restart in the network traffic window.

Not sure how to read the disk load other than this indicator. The wallet synch arrow on the bottom right has not moved since acquiring a new ISP. Any ideas?

[ranochigo]

It indicates 33MB received and 3 MB sent since restart in the network traffic window.

Not sure how to read the disk load other than this indicator. The wallet synch arrow on the bottom right has not moved since acquiring a new ISP. Any ideas?

There seems to be a nice tutorial here. https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT201464. How much disk space do you have? High disk/CPU load from Bitcoin Core could indicate that Bitcoin Core is actively synchronizing. Could you post the log file?

[shorena]

It indicates 33MB received and 3 MB sent since restart in the network traffic window.

Not sure how to read the disk load other than this indicator. The wallet synch arrow on the bottom right has not moved since acquiring a new ISP. Any ideas?

Not entirely sure. My best guess is that you are syncing just fine (you download data, I would assume this data is checked and stored) but since 0.11 can sync out of order it does not show any progress yet. I would just let it be for a while.

[jeloib]

I have been synching all day through peers. There 8 outbound connections working to a current sync height of 375150.  Unfortunately, none of this peer synching is making it onto my own blockchain on file.

My blockchain has remained at 340401 for over a day since correcting my network problem. Closing and opening the app seems to have no affect. Occasionally, I will open Bitcoin back up and my wallet will show "no block chain available." Closing and reopening again seems to fix the problem. Although nothing changed with my blockchain.

Is there any solution to my dilemma. I have been told to sit tight, but I have done this for over a day with no change. Would it be best to uninstall and reinstall? How do I transfer my keys?

[achow101]

Is there any solution to my dilemma. I have been told to sit tight, but I have done this for over a day with no change. Would it be best to uninstall and reinstall? How do I transfer my keys?

Go to the Debug console and click the peers tab. Check that they have a ping time. Sometimes bitcoin core will say you have connections but you don't really have the connections if there is no ping time.

If you want to extract your keys, you can use pywallet to extract the keys and import them elsewhere. You can also import the wallet file to blockchain.info and send the coins to a new wallet.