Account balance - Something goes wrong...?!?

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

A few years ago I have done some transactions with BTC. Now I wanted to take a look at my balance again. It should be for about a little bit BTC but I only get a zero balance. The chain right now is up to date. I´m the owner of the address where it is - I´m sure and it is still always there. The backup I have made was 7 days after the last transaction of this wallet at a chain which was up to date at my PC (in the middle of 2013). Now, it´s a zero balance. The address which it´s laying on is NOT in my wallet, but I know it has to be there.

The difference between income and outgo say there is something. Maybe, the network has not submitted that it is there again?

Some solutions please. What´s wrong? What´s to do?

[1714062964]

1714062964

[1714062964]

1714062964

[HCP]

Go to a block explorer and check the balance of the address you think the BTC is on. If it shows 0 BTC, then you have 0 BTC... regardless of what your wallet says.

If it says there is some balance, then you either have the wrong wallet file, or your wallet is not synced correctly. What wallet are you using?

[cellard]

A few years ago I have done some transactions with BTC. Now I wanted to take a look at my balance again. It should be for about a little bit BTC but I only get a zero balance. The chain right now is up to date. I´m the owner of the address where it is - I´m sure and it is still always there. The backup I have made was 7 days after the last transaction of this wallet at a chain which was up to date at my PC (in the middle of 2013). Now, it´s a zero balance. The address which it´s laying on is NOT in my wallet, but I know it has to be there.

The difference between income and outgo say there is something. Maybe, the network has not submitted that it is ther again?

Some solutions please. What´s wrong?

Im not sure if I understand what you are saying. I assume you are using Bitcoin Core, and your wallet.dat shows 0 BTC even if it's synced? Does your wallet have a transaction history or it's empty? Are you sure you saved the right wallet.dat and put it into the synced Bitcoin data folder?

Did you only have 1 address or several addresses with some coins on them?

Can you post the public address to check it on the blockchain?

In any case, if you can't see your address there.. maybe you are looking at the wrong wallet.dat backup.

Also try entering listunspent on the console and report results.

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

Go to a block explorer and check the balance of the address you think the BTC is on. If it shows 0 BTC, then you have 0 BTC... regardless of what your wallet says.

If it says there is some balance, then you either have the wrong wallet file, or your wallet is not synced correctly. What wallet are you using?

I´m using the good old BTC wallet. You say it is possible that syncing is not correct? I have downloaded the chain with the default private key which has been created at starting syncing. After the chain was finished down loading I have substituted it.

Im not sure if I understand what you are saying. I assume you are using Bitcoin Core, and your wallet.dat shows 0 BTC even if it's synced? Does your wallet have a transaction history or it's empty? Are you sure you saved the right wallet.dat and put it into the synced Bitcoin data folder?

Also try entering listunspent on the console and report results.

It is synced. There is a transaction history. There is a difference.
What´s exactly the command of "listunspent"?

[HCP]

Did you do a rescan after swapping the wallet.dat files? Start Bitcoin Core with the -rescan option so that it rescans all the blocks for transactions relating to your old wallet addresses.


listunspent simply prints out a list of all the known "unspent transaction outputs" (UTXOs) currently stored locally in your wallet.

[bob123]

It is synced. There is a transaction history. There is a difference.
What´s exactly the command of "listunspent"?

"listunspent" will show your unspent outputs (basically the btc's which you are able to send with your private keys).
To execute this command you have to open the console.

• Goto Help -> Debug (to open the debug window)
• Click on tab: console:
• Type "listunspent"

Then you should see if (and how much) coins are 'stored' in your addresses.

Did you already check the balance of your address on a blockexplorer (e.g. https://blockchain.info) ?
If the blockexplorer show zero transactions or zero balance, your address 'doesn't have any' BTC in it.

[cellard]

OP sent me the blockchain.info link for his address via PM... it's an address that beggins with 1mAo.... and has 7.58 BTC. Well, there's nothing to say here. If you really have the private key for that address, then it should show up on your wallet. If you don't have the private key, then you don't have these bitcoins. I don't understand what your problem is.

Can you enable "coin control" and take a screenshot and send it to me? (via PM if you want privacy)

If you don't know what it is.. go there:



And when you enable it you will see this here:



Click on "inputs" and if your node is synced and you don't see your coins there... I don't see any other answer but simply you don't have these private keys on that wallet.dat file so you got the wrong backup.

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

Thanks so far...

The problem is that I only spend 7.35 BTC and the difference from the outgoing address was spent too...

Yesterday I accidental sent from an older backup from an address where also was a small amount on this wallet.dat to an address at a timestamp where this address (1mAo....) not existed... I thought it was the latest backup. All transactions which was after the timestamp of this backup was listed. Later I found the latest backup... Does it could effected the wallet?

Further, maybe you have seen that there was a transaction of 7.35 BTC the whole amount (nearly 15 BTC) from the spending address was spent to two different addresses. The 7.35 BTC has been sold to someone. The other part of this whole amount was unexpected spent to 1mAo... (the amount of 7.58 BTC). The difference was shown as my balance but there is no address (1mAo...) already and I don´t spent active to this address. Is this a known network error or am I the owner of this address and have to search for it? 1mAo.... is not on this wallet...

So the client has send 7.58 BTC to a random address. I have not created them. The refund have must be the address which I sent from, right?

[HCP]

Based on your explanation... this would appear to simply be a "change" address. Note that "change" addresses will NOT show if you click "file -> receiving addresses".

Goto: "Help -> Debug Window -> Console" and type listunspent

Look through the output and make sure that the 1mAo address is displayed with amount 7.58 BTC

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

thanks. I will check all backups... It needs a while. Will report soon.

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

There is an option to update the wallet.dat in bitcoind or bitcoin-qt I think. Do I need to do it or will it done implicite?

[bob123]

So the client has send 7.58 BTC to a random address. I have not created them. The refund have must be the address which I sent from, right?

No, your change does not go to the address the transaction is made from. Core (and probably every other reputable wallet) do create a change address to recieve the change.
You can find out more about the change here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Change. Wallets tend to use addresses only once for recieving to keep a several grade of privacy.

For your own will, make sure to only work on copies from your backups. Do not change anything on your original files.

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

https://i.imgur.com/08Yb8Ul.png

If I type "listunspend" I found nothing.

I already found this post:
https://support.[Suspicious link removed]/hc/en-us/articles/210353663-Why-is-my-bitcoin-address-changing -> blockchain(dot)com = [Suspicious link removed]

How to activate HD for my client?

[HCP]

HD is not a "client" thing... it is a "wallet" thing.

The wallet needs to be an HD wallet (and be generated from a seed and contain a Master Private Key) for it to show the HD symbol. If you have an older wallet, that just uses private key/address pairs, then you won't be able to "activate" HD unless you create a new wallet.

In any case, I doubt the "HD" thing is causing you issues.


As for your transactions etc... It would appear that the transaction that sent ~7 BTC should have created a change address and put the remainder of your 14 BTC in that change address...

For whatever reason, you wallet does not seem to contain this change address now? Maybe you've got a backup from BEFORE this change address was created/added to your wallet file? (somewhat ironically, this is one of the issues that HD wallets were designed to fix)

if you use listaddressgroupings do you see that 1mAo address listed? If not, then I doubt that your wallet has the private key for that address.

[ssemsToBeAproblem]

I have typed at the old PC(which was bought for the BTC-thing only. I known it would be big) listaddressgroupings.

Using this: 2013-03-18 - Bitcoin-Qt version 0.8.1 released

It seems I shutted down the PC before the transaction of 7.35BTC was confirmed and at this time I have backed up the wallet. And already does a transaction 07.07.2013 which was never done from an address which is unknown for me in the addresspool too. This transaction was done while the transaction of  7.35BTC was unconfirmed too. This address holds the difference of the 1mAo and this "never done" transaction (6.945BTC).

blockchain.info says ther never was something at the address where listaddressgroupings says there were/are 6.945BTC. It´s a dead address. No incoming, no outgoing.

The transaction you can see of 0.05 BTC which shortly was done, was done from an earlier backup of this wallet at a time where 1mAo not existed. The latest backup of this wallet contains 1mAo by checking listaddressgroupings.

1mAo EXISTS!!! But it has a zerobalance.

What´s to do? Just connect? It´s a small HDD (80GB)

I´ll tip you for sure


UPDATE: At the PC where is now running the latest version of bitcoin core and updating the chain the transaction of 7.35BTC is confirmed and the address which holds 6.945BTC without updating the chain has a zerobalance. But 1mAo too. The chain is not synced right now.

[HCP]

It sounds like the real issue here is that your blockchain is NOT synced... If you don't have a lot of harddrive space, you have two options:

In both cases, please please PLEASE ensure you have made (several) copies of your wallet.dat before doing anything... 7 BTC would be a LOT to lose.


Option 1. Run Bitcoin Core in "pruned" mode... this will still require downloading the total 180Gigs of blockchain data... but it will only "store" up to the maximum size limit set... I believe the minimum is something like 550megs... I'd recommend say 5-10 gigs as a "reasonable" amount.

PROs:
more "secure" than Option 2, no need to export private keys

CONs:
The issue with pruned mode, is that if you need to "rescan" or "reindex" at any point... it will most likely need to redownload ALL the blockchain data again.
SLOW


Option 2. Dump the "1mAo" privkey from the wallet that is currently showing that address... import that privkey into lightweight wallet of your choice (Personally, I'd recommend Electrum).

PROs:
Quick and easy
Doesn't require downloading full blockchain

CONs:
Less "secure" as it involves exporting/importing private keys (not something to be done lightly with 7 BTC on the line)
Privacy concerns of running transaction via a 3rd party node.


As you can see, both options have some PROs and CONs... you need to work out with is more important to you... security or convenience, then make your choice as appropriate.

If you have access to a second PC it is possible to "reduce" your risks by doing the export/import "offline" etc...