My whole transaction history has disappeared, i cannot access my coins

[Numerous64]

 

So i put bitcoins to my electrum wallet on a usb 2,5 years ago. I made an another topic on the matter earlier on

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2130374.0

But i recovered my wallet file and the seed is not wrong, and i have the password right. The transaction history is simply not showing, and it tells me i have 0mbtc which is not true.

Can you tell me what exactly do i need to do? Yes, the green mark is connected, ive let it sit there for an hour and i still get no transactions. Do i need to connect to a different server or recover my private keys from the wallet file or something else? What do i do to access my coins now?

[TheQuin]

The first thing to do is try connecting to another server. I've had that happen to me before and it fixed it. if it's more complicated than that someone else will probably have to help you.

[Numerous64]

What server to use? Should i just pick one randomly?

Where do i find the different servers?

[TheQuin]

Go to tools > network and untick select server automatically and just pick anyone that's different to what it is now.

[Numerous64]

I tried that with multiple servers and does not work. Sitting there and waiting for something to happen.

So what now?

[TheQuin]

So it looks like you maybe didn't restore the wallet right, it's difficult to tell. Try and explain exactly what you did what you can and can't see, do your addresses show up etc? I'm sure someone here will be able to help.

[Numerous64]

I copied the wallet file from my tails persistence to a new usb and opened it in a different OS on a different electrum wallet, the newest version.

I cannot see anything in the history tab. I can see a bunch of empty addresses in the addresses tab.

I should have bitcoins there and a transaction history, but its as if i never had put anything in there. Im 100% sure that im not mistaken on that.

[TheQuin]

I've never had to do this so I'd be guessing if I gave you advice. Looks like you need to File > New/Restore and select the wallet file, but that's only what I'd try. I hope someone else can chime in.

[Abdussamad]

Assuming you have the latest version of electrum i suggest you restore from seed:

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/restoring-your-standard-wallet-from-seed/

If that doesn't do it either then you have the wrong seed. Perhaps for a different wallet than the one you sent coins to. Sorry for your loss.

[Numerous64]

As i said before, i do not have the wrong seed and i can restore it from the seed the same way i can open it from the file, but i cant tell the difference because neither option shows me my transaction history. I have the correct file, i have the correct seed and i have 6.6 bitcoins stored, but due to reason X i am not seeing them.

I sure hope i didnt just lose 6.6 bitcoins because of electrums technical errors. I wasnt even aware that these kinds of things could happen and just assumed that holding my funds in electrum will indeed keep them safe.

[Numerous64]

Since my issue is clearly more mysterious than most normal issues, should i ask somewhere else? Should i contact electrum directly?

[jackg]

Since my issue is clearly more mysterious than most normal issues, should i ask somewhere else? Should i contact electrum directly?

Sorry I didn't spot this earlier.
1. You've already overwritten your walket file so you can no longer use that (unless you have a backup)?
2. How did you save the seed? Did you write it down or copy and paste it? If it's written down, there's a list of all the bip39 words, ensure all of them are on there and none are spelled wrong? I did that the first time with 0.5 btc I got locked out of until I input my seed into a word processor and found a spelling error I previously didn't notice.

What node are you connected to. Go to tools > network and check the block height in comparison to the block height of the landing page of blockchain.info.

[john2231]

Is it a 12 word seed or you only have 11 word seed maybe this is just like the same as other people forgotten 1 word to be noted or copy pasted in notepad. . this is happening until now..
And try to install latest version first of electrum since you save your electrum wallet in usb as a portable you can get the wallet folder and copy and import it in the latest electrum wallet.. and check if its working or not ..

[HCP]

As i said before, i do not have the wrong seed and i can restore it from the seed the same way i can open it from the file, but i cant tell the difference because neither option shows me my transaction history. I have the correct file, i have the correct seed and i have 6.6 bitcoins stored, but due to reason X i am not seeing them.

I sure hope i didnt just lose 6.6 bitcoins because of electrums technical errors. I wasnt even aware that these kinds of things could happen and just assumed that holding my funds in electrum will indeed keep them safe.

Do you have any record of the addresses that you used that contain the coins? If so, do you see these addresses in Electrum? If you don't see those same addresses in your wallet, then it is highly likely that you're opening the wrong wallet file (Electrum can have several wallet files)... and/or the seed that you have written down is NOT the seed for your wallet with 6.6 BTC in it...

It is also possible that for some weird reason the addresses with the coins are out beyond Electrum's default gap limit of 20 "receive" and 5 "change" addresses.

I made a bad call and moved my BTC two years ago to a tails operating system USB stick for storage,

What exactly did you move to USB? did you create a new Electrum wallet and send your coins to it or did you just copy the wallet file to the USB? If you just copied it, it is possible that you originally copied the wrong wallet file and copied an empty wallet... If you created a new wallet, it is possible that you were opening the wrong wallet file and using a wallet you did not actually have the seed for... it seems to be a somewhat common mistake.


I doubt that it is a "technical error" with Electrum.

[Numerous64]

To answer the questions about the seed and how i imported them, no, the seed is not wrong. Clarification:

I swept my private keys from a cold wallet following someones instructions 2,5 years ago. I had 7.2 btc back then, and i did this with no problem, i sold 0.6 sending that from the USB. So this wallet has worked in the past. The last time i checked and it connected and had the remaining 6.6 btc was 1.5 years ago. Now, everything has disappeared.

I do have the correct seed. Ive checked it from the electrum seed and typed my password, and it shows me the same seed i have written on paper. So it is the correct file, i have the correct seed, it worked before and ive used it to receive and to send, and now there is no proof of any of this and i  cant see my coins.

And what comes to choosing the wrong wallet file, i made a specific name for this wallet so i know its not the wrong one, but ive done the same to the autogenerated default wallet that was created in electrum to which i also have a password. So to answer whether or not my wallet file is wrong, ive tried it with the other file too.

"What node are you connected to. Go to tools > network and check the block height in comparison to the block height of the landing page of blockchain.info.
"

How do i do this more specifically? Where do i see the block height?

"It is also possible that for some weird reason the addresses with the coins are out beyond Electrum's default gap limit of 20 "receive" and 5 "change" addresses.
"

What does this mean? Im afraid im a bit unfamiliar with the terminology (and it seems, once again, that i have bad karma with technology  )

If what you mentioned is the problem, how would i go about finding out whether or not thats the problem and how to fix it?

-----------


Are there other possibilities beyond the mentioned, and also: is it possible to get the private keys of the wallet out of there and import them somewhere else to see whats going on? I also heard that if this is a connectivity problem something called a "rescan" should help, whatever that is. I tried googling it but i found nothing. Is this true?

[HCP]

Rescanning is something usually reserved for clients like Bitcoin Core. You don't need to rescan for Electrum.

I think you misunderstand my point about having the wrong seed and wrong file...

2 years ago, you had Wallet A with Seed A and Wallet B with Seed B... For whatever reason, you wrote down Seed B and started sending coins to address(es) in Wallet A... then you backed up Wallet B.

So now, 2 years later... you have Wallet B file with no transactions and no coins... and matching Seed B, which just regenerates your empty wallet.

However, if your current wallet has addresses that you can lookup on blockchain.info and see coins, then it could indeed some sort of network issue with Electrum. Do you have any record of old addresses that you used back when you initially sent the coins?

Under "Tools -> Network", you should see a value labelled "Blockchain"... if the number of blocks is equal to the current block height of Bitcoin Network (485020 at the time of this message) then your Electrum is sync'd OK.

If it is less than that number, then your Electrum is not synced properly. You might need to try a different server

[jackg]

@OP, if youre sure the seed is correct and what HCP suggests isn't working. Can you go to wallet>master public key from the top menu and copy and paste the key beginning with "xpub" here.
There isn't anything anyone can get with that key other than information about your wallet that is public to nodes already.

[Abdussamad]

Did you sweep private keys or import them? I don't think the option to sweep private keys was there 2 and half years ago.

If you imported them then a restoration from seed would not restore the imported private keys.

@OP, if youre sure the seed is correct and what HCP suggests isn't working. Can you go to wallet>master public key from the top menu and copy and paste the key beginning with "xpub" here.
There isn't anything anyone can get with that key other than information about your wallet that is public to nodes already.

For a 2.5 year old wallet it'll be the old style hexadecimal MPK rather than a bip32 xpub. It's worth a try though. We can create a watch-only wallet and see if there are any transactions.

Ah your wrong about the privacy leak though. The MPK is normally not revealed to electrum servers so exposing it is a big privacy leak. It also has security implications. If any of his private keys were to leak too then his entire wallet could be compromized.

[jackg]

Did you sweep private keys or import them? I don't think the option to sweep private keys was there 2 and half years ago.

If you imported them then a restoration from seed would not restore the imported private keys.

@OP, if youre sure the seed is correct and what HCP suggests isn't working. Can you go to wallet>master public key from the top menu and copy and paste the key beginning with "xpub" here.
There isn't anything anyone can get with that key other than information about your wallet that is public to nodes already.

For a 2.5 year old wallet it'll be the old style hexadecimal MPK rather than a bip32 xpub. It's worth a try though. We can create a watch-only wallet and see if there are any transactions.

Ah your wrong about the privacy leak though. The MPK is normally not revealed to electrum servers so exposing it is a big privacy leak. It also has security implications. If any of his private keys were to leak too then his entire wallet could be compromized.

I'm not particularly sure any of his public keys would be exposed. However @op if you have a problem with this, you can PM me or the user I just quoted with the public key.
Also, if the seed formats are the same and a new wallet is created then an xpub key should be created shouldn't it? Otherwise, the problem op is facing is merely a compatibility issue.

[Abdussamad]

I'm not particularly sure any of his public keys would be exposed. However @op if you have a problem with this, you can PM me or the user I just quoted with the public key.

I said private key not public key. Any one private key + the MPK = whole wallet compromized. There is no reason to believe any of the OP's private keys have been exposed. Just saying that exposing the MPK is not entirely risk free.

Also, if the seed formats are the same and a new wallet is created then an xpub key should be created shouldn't it? Otherwise, the problem op is facing is merely a compatibility issue.

No that's not the case. Electrum maintains backward compatibility with old seed formats. The MPK would be of the old type too.

@Numerous64: You haven't answered the question HCP posed about familiar addresses. Can you bring the address tab into view with ctrl+a and see if any familiar addresses are listed there?

Also please answer the question I posed above regarding sweeping vs. importing.