Found my old wallet.dat from 2013. Why is it empty?

[Mavverick]

Hey all! First time posting here. I did a little mining back in 2013 but must have given up on it. I lost the files until today, and had to learn how to use the Bitcoin core, after reading this post: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1839867.msg18308407#msg18308407

I have syncronised the blockchain until a month after I stopped mining, which was November 2013.  Once it got to that date, I quite the core, overwrote wallet.dat, then ran Bitcoin Core with -upgradewallet.  Balance still at 0.00.  I then quit, overwrote the file again with my backup version, then just started Bitcoin Core without any other command/s.  Still the same result.

Am I missing a step or something? Thank you!

[LoyceV]

Any chance you used a mining pool back in 2013, that required you to claim your share?

[buwaytress]

Quick way to confirm if you've ever received anything at all is to look up the addresses in your wallet from an explorer. If there weren't any transactions, then you already know you never received anything. Don't need to download entire blockchain to see that. You can then rule out that they were sent after the date you mentioned. From there, you can proceed to the other possibilities as above.

[Mewnbot]

Any chance you used a mining pool back in 2013, that required you to claim your share?

I would check this list to see pools that were active back in 2013, might be what LoyceV about claiming your shares
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Comparison_of_mining_pools

[Mavverick]

Thanks guys - really appreciate it. LoyceV and Mewnbot I searched all the email accounts that I was probably using at the time for all those 2013 active mining pool names, and didn't find anything. Thanks for that idea. It is possible I used one, but I don't recall it, and no record in my emails suggest I probably didn't.

ETFbitcoin what is the best method to import my bitcoin address? Or rather - how do I find my bitcoin address?

buwaytress I guess it's the same question. What is an explorer?  In the mean time I'll do some searching on bitcoin wallet explorers.

Thanks all!

[Mavverick]

I've found that in my debug.log file, my IP address from the time was 101.165.120.84, and confirmed it was indeed my IP at that time.  I've searched https://blockchain.info using that IP address, which returned no results.

Any other advice would be really appreciated!

[Mavverick]

If I was playing with mining at the time, would I have had to use a mining pool to end up with any whole or fractions of coins?

[ranochigo]

I've found that in my debug.log file, my IP address from the time was 101.165.120.84, and confirmed it was indeed my IP at that time.  I've searched https://blockchain.info using that IP address, which returned no results.

Any other advice would be really appreciated!

The information searching that on a block explorer would give is the transactions for which the explorer first sees it from. It does not necessarily mean that the transaction were sent from that IP address, only that it was relayed from there. Its pretty useless.

If I was playing with mining at the time, would I have had to use a mining pool to end up with any whole or fractions of coins?

Possibly. I can't see how anyone could've mined a block without at least an array of GPUs.

[LoyceV]

my IP at that time.  I've searched https://blockchain.info using that IP address, which returned no results.

Your IP address is irrelevant for finding your balances.

I don't use Bitcoin Core, but if i'm right, you should able to find list your bitcoin address at "Receive" tab or "File then receiving or sending addresses".

This doesn't include change addresses.
For the complete list: Click Help > Debug window > Console > enter listaddressgroupings.

[Mavverick]

Thanks everyone.

I don't use Bitcoin Core, but if i'm right, you should able to find list your bitcoin address at "Receive" tab or "File then receiving or sending addresses".

This doesn't include change addresses.
For the complete list: Click Help > Debug window > Console > enter listaddressgroupings.

Thanks. Did this and it gave the following result:

------------------------------------
23:21:00 listaddressgroupings

23:21:12
[
]
------------------------------------

Have I imported my wallet.dat correctly?  I waited until the block time synchronized up until November 21, 2013, which is after any of the last modified dates on all my Bitcoin files. Then I quit Bitcoin Core, backed up the wallet.dat it had created yesterday, then overwrote it with my backed up one from 2013.

I then started Bitcoin Core with the -updatewallet command (suggested on this forum here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1839867.msg18308407#msg18308407), and this is where I am now.  Is that the correct way to import/use my backed-up wallet.dat again?

[jackg]

Thanks everyone.

I don't use Bitcoin Core, but if i'm right, you should able to find list your bitcoin address at "Receive" tab or "File then receiving or sending addresses".

This doesn't include change addresses.
For the complete list: Click Help > Debug window > Console > enter listaddressgroupings.

Thanks. Did this and it gave the following result:

------------------------------------
23:21:00 listaddressgroupings

23:21:12
[
]
------------------------------------

Have I imported my wallet.dat correctly?  I waited until the block time synchronized up until November 21, 2013, which is after any of the last modified dates on all my Bitcoin files. Then I quit Bitcoin Core, backed up the wallet.dat it had created yesterday, then overwrote it with my backed up one from 2013.

I then started Bitcoin Core with the -updatewallet command (suggested on this forum here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1839867.msg18308407#msg18308407), and this is where I am now.  Is that the correct way to import/use my backed-up wallet.dat again?

I'm not sure updatewallet does so much, maybe try -salvagewallet with a backup of the wallet.dat safely stores somewhere else. As it looks like your wallet file could be corrupted however, the use of salvagewallet may help with this. How many addresses are avaliabke when you load up the wallet. And you don't happen to have a full copy of the debug.log that you could share from just before you started syncing up to November 2013?

Look at something like blockchain.Info and place each address in the search bar to see if any have anything in them also as that'll work much faster. Although, if there aren't any addresses from that command, what I said about blockchain.info will not work initially and will only work once the salvage wallet command is used or pywallet is used to try to recover it (github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet) I think is the link To it.

[Mavverick]

I'm not sure updatewallet does so much, maybe try -salvagewallet with a backup of the wallet.dat safely stores somewhere else. As it looks like your wallet file could be corrupted however, the use of salvagewallet may help with this.

Thanks I ran -salvagewallet. It also did a -rescan. But when Bitcoin Core finished the scan, there's still a zero balance, but with the <!> warning that the balance may not display until the entire blockchain has synchronized.

Below is what debug.log has reported. I've <removed> anything that I'm guessing shouldn't be shown. Is there anything of note here? The "Salvage(aggressive) found 350 records" line looks interesting, but I really don't know what that means.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018-01-29 00:09:05 Bitcoin version v0.15.1
2018-01-29 00:09:05 InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -whitelistforcerelay=1 -> setting -whitelistrelay=1
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Assuming ancestors of block <removed> have valid signatures.
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Setting nMinimumChainWork=<removed>
2018-01-29 00:09:07 ParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -salvagewallet=1 -> setting -rescan=1
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using the 'standard' SHA256 implementation
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using RdRand as an additional entropy source
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Default data directory /Users/<removed>/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using data directory /Volumes/<removed>
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using config file /Volumes/<removed>/bitcoin.conf
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using at most 125 automatic connections (2560 file descriptors available)
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using 16 MiB out of 32/2 requested for signature cache, able to store 524288 elements
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using 16 MiB out of 32/2 requested for script execution cache, able to store 524288 elements
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using 4 threads for script verification
2018-01-29 00:09:07 scheduler thread start
2018-01-29 00:09:07 init message: Verifying wallet(s)...
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using BerkeleyDB version Berkeley DB 4.8.30: (April  9, 2010)
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Using wallet wallet-old.dat
2018-01-29 00:09:07 CDBEnv::Open: LogDir=/Volumes/<removed>/untitled folder/database ErrorFile=/Volumes/<removed>/untitled folder/db.log
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Renamed wallet-old.dat to wallet-old.dat.1517184547.bak
2018-01-29 00:09:07 Salvage(aggressive) found 350 records
2018-01-29 00:09:08 Cache configuration:
2018-01-29 00:09:08 * Using 2.0MiB for block index database
2018-01-29 00:09:08 * Using 8.0MiB for chain state database
2018-01-29 00:09:08 * Using 440.0MiB for in-memory UTXO set (plus up to 286.1MiB of unused mempool space)
2018-01-29 00:09:08 init message: Loading block index...
2018-01-29 00:09:08 Opening LevelDB in /Volumes/Whisper/<removed>/blocks/index
2018-01-29 00:09:08 Opened LevelDB successfully
2018-01-29 00:09:08 Using obfuscation key for /Volumes/Whisper/untitled folder/blocks/index: 0000000000000000
2018-01-29 00:09:14 LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file = 110
2018-01-29 00:09:14 LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file info: CBlockFileInfo(blocks=390, size=68633590, heights=281823...282740, time=2014-01-22...2014-01-27)
2018-01-29 00:09:14 Checking all blk files are present...
2018-01-29 00:09:14 LoadBlockIndexDB: transaction index disabled
2018-01-29 00:09:14 Opening LevelDB in /Volumes/<removed>/untitled folder/chainstate
2018-01-29 00:09:15 Opened LevelDB successfully
2018-01-29 00:09:15 Using obfuscation key for /Volumes/<removed>/untitled folder/chainstate: <removed>
2018-01-29 00:09:15 Loaded best chain: hashBestChain=<removed> height=282524 date=2014-01-26 08:58:26 progress=0.108720
2018-01-29 00:09:15 init message: Rewinding blocks...
2018-01-29 00:09:16 init message: Verifying blocks...
2018-01-29 00:09:16 Verifying last 6 blocks at level 3
2018-01-29 00:09:16 [0%]...[16%]...[33%]...[50%]...[66%]...[83%]...[99%]...[DONE].
2018-01-29 00:09:39 No coin database inconsistencies in last 7 blocks (1736 transactions)
2018-01-29 00:09:39  block index           30917ms
2018-01-29 00:09:39 init message: Loading wallet...
2018-01-29 00:09:39 nFileVersion = 150100
2018-01-29 00:09:39 Keys: 101 plaintext, 0 encrypted, 0 w/ metadata, 101 total
2018-01-29 00:09:40 Performing wallet upgrade to 60000
2018-01-29 00:09:42 keypool added 2000 keys (1000 internal), size=2000 (1000 internal)
2018-01-29 00:09:43 keypool reserve 1
2018-01-29 00:09:43 keypool keep 1
2018-01-29 00:09:44  wallet                 5402ms
2018-01-29 00:09:44 keypool added 1 keys (0 internal), size=2000 (1000 internal)
2018-01-29 00:09:45 init message: Rescanning...
2018-01-29 00:09:45 Rescanning last 282524 blocks (from block 0)...
2018-01-29 00:10:45 Still rescanning. At block 142651. Progress=0.004718
2018-01-29 00:11:45 Still rescanning. At block 170952. Progress=0.008943
2018-01-29 00:12:45 Still rescanning. At block 185346. Progress=0.014776
2018-01-29 00:13:45 Still rescanning. At block 195002. Progress=0.021427
2018-01-29 00:14:45 Still rescanning. At block 204167. Progress=0.028002
2018-01-29 00:15:45 Still rescanning. At block 212510. Progress=0.034252
2018-01-29 00:16:45 Still rescanning. At block 218800. Progress=0.040983
2018-01-29 00:17:45 Still rescanning. At block 224476. Progress=0.047721
2018-01-29 00:18:45 Still rescanning. At block 230258. Progress=0.054007
2018-01-29 00:19:45 Still rescanning. At block 235443. Progress=0.060090
2018-01-29 00:20:45 Still rescanning. At block 241407. Progress=0.066600
2018-01-29 00:21:45 Still rescanning. At block 249048. Progress=0.072905
2018-01-29 00:22:45 Still rescanning. At block 255914. Progress=0.079623
2018-01-29 00:23:45 Still rescanning. At block 262687. Progress=0.086280
2018-01-29 00:24:45 Still rescanning. At block 269224. Progress=0.092337
2018-01-29 00:25:45 Still rescanning. At block 273816. Progress=0.098970
2018-01-29 00:26:45 Still rescanning. At block 278801. Progress=0.104561
2018-01-29 00:27:29  rescan              1064352ms
2018-01-29 00:27:29 setKeyPool.size() = 2000
2018-01-29 00:27:29 mapWallet.size() = 0
2018-01-29 00:27:29 mapAddressBook.size() = 1
2018-01-29 00:27:29 mapBlockIndex.size() = 506581
2018-01-29 00:27:29 nBestHeight = 282524
2018-01-29 00:27:29 torcontrol thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:29 Bound to [::]:8333
2018-01-29 00:27:29 Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333
2018-01-29 00:27:29 init message: Loading P2P addresses...
2018-01-29 00:27:29 Imported mempool transactions from disk: 0 successes, 0 failed, 0 expired
2018-01-29 00:27:30 Loaded 25096 addresses from peers.dat  242ms
2018-01-29 00:27:30 init message: Loading banlist...
2018-01-29 00:27:30 init message: Starting network threads...
2018-01-29 00:27:30 net thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:30 dnsseed thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:30 addcon thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:30 opencon thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:30 msghand thread start
2018-01-29 00:27:30 init message: Done loading
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How many addresses are avaliabke when you load up the wallet. And you don't happen to have a full copy of the debug.log that you could share from just before you started syncing up to November 2013?

How do I find the addresses? I have a full backup of my entire Bitcoin folder from 2013. It has been untouched since then.  If I post debug.log, is there any data that I shouldn't make public?

Look at something like blockchain.Info and place each address in the search bar to see if any have anything in them also as that'll work much faster. Although, if there aren't any addresses from that command, what I said about blockchain.info will not work initially and will only work once the salvage wallet command is used or pywallet is used to try to recover it (github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet) I think is the link To it.

Thanks. I still don't know what an address is yet. I'll research this in the mean time. Thank you!!

[jackg]

There isnt anything you need to hide from your debug log (unless you want to hide your username as you have done).

Use the listaddressgroupings command you were given before and see if it returns anything. (If you get antthing and want to message me on here with what it gives I'll check a few of your addresses on blockchain.info just to see if there is anything on them).

[Mavverick]

There isnt anything you need to hide from your debug log (unless you want to hide your username as you have done).

Use the listaddressgroupings command you were given before and see if it returns anything. (If you get antthing and want to message me on here with what it gives I'll check a few of your addresses on blockchain.info just to see if there is anything on them).

Thanks jackg. Here is my debug.log from 2013.

I ran listaddressgroupings and... no results.

[jackg]

There isnt anything you need to hide from your debug log (unless you want to hide your username as you have done).

Use the listaddressgroupings command you were given before and see if it returns anything. (If you get antthing and want to message me on here with what it gives I'll check a few of your addresses on blockchain.info just to see if there is anything on them).

Thanks jackg. Here is my debug.log from 2013.

I ran listaddressgroupings and... no results.

You might have to resort to trying pywallet if both don't show addresses.
Pywallet can be downloaded from: www.github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet (I'm not the dev, the user jackjack on here is if you need help with it).

[Mavverick]

You might have to resort to trying pywallet if both don't show addresses.
Pywallet can be downloaded from: www.github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet (I'm not the dev, the user jackjack on here is if you need help with it).

Ok thank you. I'll give it a try, and will ask jackjack if I run in to any problems.

[drwhobox]

Try checking out your Wallet adress at Blockchain.info and see if you have recived some Bitcoins from mining last 2013 or check out the pool that you're using if it's on manual withdrawal and calim your funds from it.

Hope this helps.

[Mavverick]

Try checking out your Wallet adress at Blockchain.info and see if you have recived some Bitcoins from mining last 2013 or check out the pool that you're using if it's on manual withdrawal and calim your funds from it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Mahirap. I still haven't found my address though. I haven't tried Pywallet yet, as suggested above, so I will do that soon.