Extremely slow to sync lately

[cellard]

I don't know what to do, but im stuck at "2 weeks ago" and it's just so slow lately it seems, or maybe is because I spent a longer time without syncing, but still, in "Network traffic" there are huge periods of inactivity. I have only downloaded like 31 MB in one hour. So I see green spikes, and big periods where nothing happens.

How do I make it go faster?



At this rate, I will never finish. Right now it says there's an hourly progress of 0.06%..

[LoyceV]

Déjà vu: Big periods of inactivity while syncing the blockchain. It's either your internet, your hard drive, or your CPU that's limiting you. Your CPU is 10 years old, which is a likely cause to make it extremely slow to synchronize blocks.

[cellard]

Déjà vu: Big periods of inactivity while syncing the blockchain. It's either your internet, your hard drive, or your CPU that's limiting you. Your CPU is 10 years old, which is a likely cause to make it extremely slow to synchronize blocks.

Indeed but notice that in the older screenshot, I was able to manage to download 403 MB, on this take, I was able to download 31MB. Unfortunately I cut the image a bit so you can't see the downloaded amount but just look at the green spikes, they are now narrower. I always leave my node syncing for the same amount of time because I leave it on when I go out and im doing other tasks. In the same time frame, I was downloading 400MB, now 30MB, the situation is getting worse, and I only manage to connect to two peers, on the former screenshot I was connected to 9 peers I think. I will never be able to sync at this rate. My HDD and CPU are the same as it was a month ago.

then:


now:

[LoyceV]

I always leave my node syncing for the same amount of time because I leave it on when I go out and im doing other tasks.

Have you tried not turning it off once synced? If you can spare less than 10%^* of your 8 GB from other tasks, and keep it dedicated for Bitcoin Core, it shouldn't consume much resources while doing your normal work.

In the same time frame, I was downloading 400MB, now 30MB, the situation is getting worse, and I only manage to connect to two peers, on the former screenshot I was connected to 9 peers I think. I will never be able to sync at this rate. My HDD and CPU are the same as it was a month ago.

I'd say the two connections might be a cause. I always have exactly 8 connections.
I wouldn't know how to change that though.

^* I based this assumption on my Bitcoin Core using 5.3% out of 12 GB on Linux.

[aleksej996]

Maybe you are losing connections due to your firewall or even your ISP blocking connections.
I seriously suggest installing Linux, you will not need antivirus software then and your bitcoins sure would be a lot safer.

When you are using your computer for transacting and storing money, I really don't think it is reasonable to use Windows.

[jvdp]

Déjà vu: Big periods of inactivity while syncing the blockchain. It's either your internet, your hard drive, or your CPU that's limiting you. Your CPU is 10 years old, which is a likely cause to make it extremely slow to synchronize blocks.

Indeed but notice that in the older screenshot, I was able to manage to download 403 MB, on this take, I was able to download 31MB. Unfortunately I cut the image a bit so you can't see the downloaded amount but just look at the green spikes, they are now narrower. I always leave my node syncing for the same amount of time because I leave it on when I go out and im doing other tasks. In the same time frame, I was downloading 400MB, now 30MB, the situation is getting worse, and I only manage to connect to two peers, on the former screenshot I was connected to 9 peers I think. I will never be able to sync at this rate. My HDD and CPU are the same as it was a month ago.

then:


now:

This is too long time to get the synchronization has been done. Normally on blockchain or bitcoin core. It takes 3 days to max 1 week of time but this is ridiculous. As Loyce mentioned it may be the SSD size issue or Internet issue.
In setting you may find the default 450 MB so increase that 2 GB and more. I am sure process will be speed more significantly.

Please refer the below link.
https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/49583/blockchain-synchronization-is-painfully-slow-best-way-to-download-blockchain

[cellard]

Maybe you are losing connections due to your firewall or even your ISP blocking connections.
I seriously suggest installing Linux, you will not need antivirus software then and your bitcoins sure would be a lot safer.

When you are using your computer for transacting and storing money, I really don't think it is reasonable to use Windows.

I don't use Windows to store private keys, it's just where I had my node originally, and I have been delaying setting up a Linux node, mainly because it will be a nightmare syncing the entire blockchain from scratch and I keep delaying it... but sooner or later i will need to do it.

I have left my computer on all day and I have finally reached 8 active conections and it's back to downloading at a more reasonable rate (0.22% per hour), still very slow.. but that's as good as it gets I guess.

I have an HDD, not SSD. Also my "size of database cache" is 300MB in the GUI, which was the default I think.

[ranochigo]

I have left my computer on all day and I have finally reached 8 active conections and it's back to downloading at a more reasonable rate (0.22% per hour), still very slow.. but that's as good as it gets I guess.

I have an HDD, not SSD. Also my "size of database cache" is 300MB in the GUI, which was the default I think.

Try increasing your DB cache, if you have the ram. The rate increases by an incredibly amount once you increase it. Mine was about 0.3%/hour and it went to 5%/hour. The only side effect is that more of your ram would be used but otherwise, its a pretty reasonable tradeoff.

[cellard]

I have left my computer on all day and I have finally reached 8 active conections and it's back to downloading at a more reasonable rate (0.22% per hour), still very slow.. but that's as good as it gets I guess.

I have an HDD, not SSD. Also my "size of database cache" is 300MB in the GUI, which was the default I think.

Try increasing your DB cache, if you have the ram. The rate increases by an incredibly amount once you increase it. Mine was about 0.3%/hour and it went to 5%/hour. The only side effect is that more of your ram would be used but otherwise, its a pretty reasonable tradeoff.

Im using 4,78 GB right now with Firefox opened, a bitcoin wisdom tab, a youtube tab, a couple of forum tabs, Bitcoin Core opened and Open Calc opened..

How much did you increase your DB cache from? just to get an idea. I don't want to put it too high and have my computer freeze.

A node with a linux computer running lubuntu would be ideal. Windows 7 alone takes a ton of ram. Lubuntu takes a ridiculously small amount of RAM, I would have so much free ram I could have huge db cache values, but still, the computer would need to be an old 2008 computer otherwise you would be using a compromised computer (Intel Management Engine)... I guess I could use SSD for a node since I wouldn't be storing private keys in an online node. Hopefully the smart people find out how to remove IME from the modern CPU's, until then we are stuck with pre 2008 ones.

[LoyceV]

Im using 4,78 GB right now with Firefox opened, a bitcoin wisdom tab, a youtube tab, a couple of forum tabs, Bitcoin Core opened and Open Calc opened..

If your mainboard still allows to add RAM, that could be a relatively cheap fix. My PC was suffering with 4 GB, and it works very nice again with 12. Ever since I upgraded I've been saying I should have done it sooner.
I noticed Chromium browser starts consuming more RAM if I leave it open for a week, so once in a while I restart my browser. With Chromium, Firefox, Virtual Box and Bitcoin Core running, it's now using 5.6 GB for applications. There's another 5.9 GB in use for buffers and file cache. I don't use a swap partition.
I've never increased the database cache size in Bitcoin Core, it's set to the default (300 MB). Any other caching I leave up to my Linux kernel, which is very good at this.

I have been delaying setting up a Linux node, mainly because it will be a nightmare syncing the entire blockchain from scratch and I keep delaying it... but sooner or later i will need to do it.

Why don't you just try it? Install it, turn on Bitcoin Core, don't load anything else, and let your PC crunch for a day. It might be done already.

the computer would need to be an old 2008 computer otherwise you would be using a compromised computer (Intel Management Engine)...

As paranoid as I am, IME isn't something I worry about amongst all other possible risks.

[aleksej996]

the computer would need to be an old 2008 computer otherwise you would be using a compromised computer (Intel Management Engine)...

As paranoid as I am, IME isn't something I worry about amongst all other possible risks.

According to Wikipedia, AMD released it's own IME equivalent in 2013. So you would be able to have some nice quad core CPU.

[cellard]

If your mainboard still allows to add RAM, that could be a relatively cheap fix. My PC was suffering with 4 GB, and it works very nice again with 12. Ever since I upgraded I've been saying I should have done it sooner.
I noticed Chromium browser starts consuming more RAM if I leave it open for a week, so once in a while I restart my browser. With Chromium, Firefox, Virtual Box and Bitcoin Core running, it's now using 5.6 GB for applications. There's another 5.9 GB in use for buffers and file cache. I don't use a swap partition.
I've never increased the database cache size in Bitcoin Core, it's set to the default (300 MB). Any other caching I leave up to my Linux kernel, which is very good at this.

You use Linux under a windows virtual box VM?

Why don't you just try it? Install it, turn on Bitcoin Core, don't load anything else, and let your PC crunch for a day. It might be done already.

Yeah I will, but like I said before, im going to do it under an old computer, most likely some sort of lenovo laptop which can be librebooted, so it's going to be slow, no way it will be done for a day, most likely a week of non stop downloading+processing... it's the world we live in at. Modern computers aren't safe at all for bitcoin.

As paranoid as I am, IME isn't something I worry about amongst all other possible risks.

IME is a nightmare for any bitcoin user. I wouldn't store private keys on it at all. Maybe, to run a node in which private keys are never seen.. but that's about it. Ideally, you don't want the IME bullshit on your bitcoin stuff. Hopefully, we will be able to get rid of IME on modern i3, i5 and i7 computers soon. I remember reading they were rather close.

[LoyceV]

You use Linux under a windows virtual box VM?

No, the VM is to isolate altcoin wallets.

IME is a nightmare for any bitcoin user. I wouldn't store private keys on it at all. Maybe, to run a node in which private keys are never seen.. but that's about it. Ideally, you don't want the IME bullshit on your bitcoin stuff. Hopefully, we will be able to get rid of IME on modern i3, i5 and i7 computers soon. I remember reading they were rather close.

After reading a bit more about it, it does seem like something to worry about. But not only for Bitcoin, it would basically be a risk to all my computer activities.