Can't Access Bitcoins?

[WheresMyCoins]

Hi folks

Just a quick one, I've seen this before, but unsure of the answer.

I had to format my computer quite a while back, and lost my Bitcoin Wallet (Electrum). I have an 8 Word Seed (I'm sure it's Electrum wallet, despite this).

I still have the seed written down, and I know the address I sent the coins to (bought from localbitcoins).

I don't know what version of Electrum I would have had, except I bought the coins in Nov '13.

Can anyone help at all please, or have I lost them forever??

Thanks

[1714168094]

1714168094

[1714168094]

1714168094

[HI-TEC99]

Have you tried installing the latest version of electrum, and creating a wallet using your old seed yet? The github release notes suggest the latest wallets might support old-type seed phrases.

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/blob/master/RELEASE-NOTES

# Release 2.6.1 (bugfixes)
 * fix broadcast command (bug #1688)
 * fix tx dialog (bug #1690)
 * kivy: support old-type seed phrases in wizard

[kolloh]

As far as I know, Electrum never generated 8 word seeds. Back in 2013, seeds were generated with 12 words and always using multiples of 3. The only way that you would have had a 8 word seed, is if you had generated the seed yourself instead of allowing Electrum to generate it. Do you remember if you generated the seed yourself instead of using one created by Electrum?

I would first try restoring using the latest version of Electrum as recommended by HI-TEC99 and see if that works for you. If not, you may have to try other manual methods for restoring the seed to to the non-standard length.

[WheresMyCoins]

No luck, tried a number of newer versions with no joy. I can add the wallet addresses to watching only, so can see the BTC there, but no joy.

[HI-TEC99]

Did your old wallet consist of a bunch of .py files?

You can find the wallet releases made in 2013 at these links.

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/releases?after=1.6.0

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/releases?after=1.7.3

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/releases?after=1.9.5

https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/releases?after=2.0b3

They don't have an executable installer like today's wallets. They are just some .py files. You could try downloading one from a likely date, running it, and trying to import your seed words into it.

[WheresMyCoins]

Thanks for the replies.

Still no joy. I wouldn't have had to compile it, I wouldn't have known how.  

I _think_ I may have had a wallet set up on my old phone (android). Could this be how I've ended up with an 8 word seed, and is there anywhere I can download the old versions for android from?

So frustrating, I can see the BTC there, just can't access them!

edit> Thinking out loud here, but one version of Electrum, it would sort of 'accept' the 8 word Seed if I changed the BIP when restoring it. Dunno if that helps any?