3.3.8 not connecting since days?

[alex777b]

I have a problem since several days, Electrum showing the red icon in the lower right and doesn't want to connect to any server.

Running 3.3.8 since it came out in July. Back then it worked fine and nothing on my laptop config has changed since then.

What I've tried so far:
- tried all different electrum versions (portable, installer etc.), same result for each
- whitelisted in firewall
- deleted the file blockchain_headers
- tried to manually connect to the servers that are available inside the software, as well as those listed at https://1209k.com/bitcoin-eye/ele.php
- have been waiting a good 10 mins between trying new servers
- above issues are both for NO proxy and with proxy

It feels like I tried everything there is to try. It doesn't make sense that 3.3.8 would work fine for me a few weeks ago and now it doesn't since days.

Any other ideas?

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[Rath_]

Have you tried installing Electrum on a different device connected to your network? I doubt that it's your ISP's or router's fault but it's worth giving it a try. Do you use any antivirus software beside Windows Defender?

[alex777b]

Have you tried installing Electrum on a different device connected to your network? I doubt that it's your ISP's or router's fault but it's worth giving it a try. Do you use any antivirus software beside Windows Defender?

I don't have another laptop and i'm not putting any crypto stuff on my mobile (i don't trust mobiles). I use comodo internet security (both antivirus + firewall, but all electrum files are whitelisted in both already).

[o_e_l_e_o]

Presumably you've not had problems with any other application, website, etc? Do you use a VPN? Have you tried disabling (not just whitelisting) Comodo altogether to see if it works then?

It would be worth trying it on your phone as BitCryptex suggested, to rule out issues with your router. You don't need to restore your wallet to your phone - just create a throwaway wallet and see if it connects.

[Pmalek]

What I've tried so far:
- tried to manually connect to the servers that are available inside the software, as well as those listed at https://1209k.com/bitcoin-eye/ele.php
Any other ideas?

When you connected to Electrum servers manually did you untick the option Select Server Automatically?
If not try it again making sure that the option is unticked.

[Lucius]

I use comodo internet security (both antivirus + firewall, but all electrum files are whitelisted in both already).

I remembered one case where user is had problem to sync Ledger Live, and problem was in Comodo firewall even though the user is give some permissions to Ledger Live in firewall. You should try to turn off Comodo firewall only temporarily to see whether it is causing the problem.

Comodo firewall just need to be set up to allow Ledger Live incoming / outgoing connection, and when Comodo is ask you anything related to Ledger Live just click allow and check option to remember this setting / rule. You can also determine this manually for each program if you check firewall settings. More help how to using Comodo firewall : The Complete Guide To Using Comodo Firewall

[AB de Royse777]

If you know the address then check the balance in any explorer. If they are there then you are stress free that your coins has not gone anywhere.

Now the 2nd part, I see you have tried possibly everything and you do not have a 2nd laptop too. However try the other things also suggested by the other poster and if you still find yourself in a position that nothing worked then continue here.

I see two possible issue:
1. Something in your system is preventing to connect the server despite trying possibly everything
2. Your internet service provider has an issue.

So, this is what I would do:
1. Uninstall the OS and reinstall it then try Electrum with a fresh OS (make sure you have your wallet files are backed up. The best practice is to have the back up of the seeds)

2. If I still see the problem then I will take my computer to a friend who use internet service from another service provider and check from their internet connection.

One should really work from here.

[alex777b]

Presumably you've not had problems with any other application, website, etc? Do you use a VPN? Have you tried disabling (not just whitelisting) Comodo altogether to see if it works then?

It would be worth trying it on your phone as BitCryptex suggested, to rule out issues with your router. You don't need to restore your wallet to your phone - just create a throwaway wallet and see if it connects.

No problems with any other app, website etc. Not behind a VPN. Disabled and turned off Comodo, no difference.

Installed electrum on android phone and made new wallet, network shows 9 connections immediately. Used Wifi (so same router as the one my laptop uses), hence it must be something on my laptop.

When you connected to Electrum servers manually did you untick the option Select Server Automatically?

yes, of course.

Uninstall the OS

Ugh, I don't think so.

[hugeblack]

It feels like I tried everything there is to try. It doesn't make sense that 3.3.8 would work fine for me a few weeks ago and now it doesn't since days.

What changes have you made since the last synced to that wallet? (check restore point or edit/uninstall new apps)
I expect the problem to be with your comodo internet security.
Generally, if you do not want to make any modifications to your computer (lazy solution) you can sign transactions through the computer (offline) and then broadcast it through your phone.

[alex777b]

Unfortunately I don't have any recent restore points. Disk quite full, last one would be more than a year ago...

I checked the firewall logs, and I see lots of outgoing UDP connections from Electrum to 162.242.211.137, regardless of what server I manually select. Is that normal?

Also, when I try to check for updates from within Electrum, the update check fails with "Sorry, but we were unable to check for updates. Please try again later." - that really looks like something is blocking electrum completely. I found out my windows firewall was still activate despite having comodo firewall, but turning it off didn't help either.

Asked a friend to install electrum (whom I know uses comodo AV + firewall, too - confirmed he is running same version as me, including same settings), electrum connects right away on his machine. So it doesn't seem to be this either.

What else could be blocking the connection?

[NeuroticFish]

What else could be blocking the connection?

Does your Electrum have a green rectangle around it? If so, it's contained by Comodo (Comodo Auto-Containment) and may behave oddly.
Another thing that comes into my mind is that under Comodo you may also have Windows Defender Firewall, with its own settings to be checked.

Or, although it doesn't solve your issue, at least can allow you use Electrum: install Oracle Virtual Box, install an OS on it (can be either a linux, either win10 without activation), put Electrum there and you have it. And if needed you can enable clipboard sharing between your main computer and the virtual pc.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I know in your first post you said you tried all different versions, but have you tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling Electrum from scratch?

I checked the firewall logs, and I see lots of outgoing UDP connections from Electrum to 162.242.211.137, regardless of what server I manually select. Is that normal?

162.242.211.137 is the address of a NordVPN DNS server. Not sure why Electrum would be trying to connect to that. You are sure you don't have a VPN running? Or perhaps you have incompletely uninstalled one? Have you been fiddling around with your DNS settings recently, either manually or within Comodo?

[HCP]

I checked the firewall logs, and I see lots of outgoing UDP connections from Electrum to 162.242.211.137, regardless of what server I manually select. Is that normal?

That IP address seems to belong to NordVPN... I vaguely recall other users having issues relating to VPNs etc. but you said it wasn't setup within the Electrum network settings to use a proxy or anything like that?



One last thing, have you checked the "shortcut" you're using to start Electrum and checking to see if there are any extra commandline arguments being passed in the shortcut, like this:

[alex777b]

Does your Electrum have a green rectangle around it?

No, i also whitelisted it from any virtualization and other modules in Comodo.

have you tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling Electrum from scratch?

yep, also only using the portable version now, so there is no shortcut and the exe doesn't have any commandline arguments either.

The NordVPN IP is quite interesting. I did have that VPN installed on my laptop in the past, but at some point had no need for it anymore so uninstalled it with revo uninstaller pro. I just checked again and can't find any obvious traces in my C:/programs etc. either. But I never configured NordVPN with electrum in any way, so why would electrum now try to connect this way?

Also checked network adapters in windows control panel but there are none from NordVPN (or other VPNs).

EDIT: I solved it! There were no other VPN network adapters, but I found 2 from VMware and 1 from virtualbox. Once I disabled both VMware adapters, electrum was able to connect again immediately. If I turn the adapters back on and restart electrum, it doesn't connect anymore, this is reproducable.

I'm glad I finally fixed this with all you guys' help, but why would electrum try to prioritize and connect via a vmware network adapter instead of just the normal ethernet?

[Abdussamad]

I'm glad I finally fixed this with all you guys' help, but why would electrum try to prioritize and connect via a vmware network adapter instead of just the normal ethernet?

It depends on the routing table of your operating system.

To all the regulars here I'd like to point out that Electrum now has a debug log option under tools > preferences  > general tab. In future in situations like these please advise users to turn that on and pastebin the log files. They can found in the electrum data dir.