Need help! old Bitcoin core node and wallet not recognising value

[Smashme1984]

I accidentally sent all my bitcoin with 0 fee. I waited 6 weeks already and neither the receiving address nor my node shows the bitcoins.

I checked on the blockchain mempool and my transaction code cannot be found - most likely "forgotten"

I also checked the blockchain for my wallet's address balance and the online platform shows that that the missing bitcoins are there / should be in my core nodes wallet

So I am stuck - Without the transaction code I cant pay services to help process it. My node wont let me resend it because it shows 0 bitcoins.
My node version is very old - 0.8.3 beta so I cant do any RBF, PPFC etc. and I have been trying to transfer it to electum by dumpkey but it says key cannot be found error code -4

What can I do here?

[ABCbits]

Most likely your Bitcoin-qt 0.8.3 cannot sync properly (even though 0.8 and above still can connect to more modern nodes). I would recommend you to :
1. Backup your wallet
2. Upgrade Bitcoin-qt 0.8.3 to newest Bitcoin Core (0.20.1 at time of writing this post)
3. Let Bitcoin Core fully synced
4. If the unconfirmed transaction is still there, delete it manually.

[bob123]

So I am stuck - Without the transaction code I cant pay services to help process it.

Payed transaction accelerators are mostly scam. You shouldn't bother with them.

Upgrading core to the latest version would probably the best idea. Is there any specific reason you are using an old version and don't want to upgrade?
If so, you might want to try to delete the transaction from core (i.e. using -zapwallettxes)
Is it shown in the history tab as an unconfirmed transaction ?

Before doing anything, make sure to have a backup of your wallet.dat file.

[nc50lc]

-snip- and I have been trying to transfer it to electum by dumpkey but it says key cannot be found error code -4

That means your wallet doesn't have the private key for the specified address in the dumpprivkey command.

Are you the sender? then you should type the inputs instead of the outputs of that "forgotten" transaction.
If you're the receiver, then use the output(s) but if it's a dropped unconfirmed transaction, there should be any balance in that address.

[Smashme1984]

Thank you all for the replies. Let me give it the suggestions a try.

To answer some questions posted. I am the sender and the unconfirmed transaction is in my node history. That is probabl why my node reads 0 balance because it has the history that i've sent it out. I tried upgrading to a newer node before, but since a certain version of Bt core,  an upgrade required a complicated procedure that meant a reset of the blockchain download.. it'd take me like 3 months to sync up again. Which is nearly ehat I just did before committing that silly mistake, and that why I wanted to try Electrum - without syncing up

[TryNinja]

To answer some questions posted. I am the sender and the unconfirmed transaction is in my node history. That is probabl why my node reads 0 balance because it has the history that i've sent it out.

If you right click the transaction which is stuck, do you see an "Abandon Transaction" option?

If it is grayed out, "then you must go to the Bitcoin Core datadir and delete the mempool.dat file. Then restart Bitcoin Core with the -walletbroadcast=0 option and then you should be able to use "Abandon Transaction".

Once the transaction is either Abandoned or cleared from the wallet, you can simply go to the Send tab and send the Bitcoin again but make sure that you include a sufficient transaction fee."[1]

[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1802212.0

[nc50lc]

I am the sender and the unconfirmed transaction is in my node history. -snip- and that why I wanted to try Electrum - without syncing up

Then your dumpprivkey attempt should work.
Make sure to paste the right address after the command, maybe because the transactions in the 'transactions' tab
only show the recipient(s) and 'copy address' option also only copies the recipient(s). <-based from latest version BTW.

As instructed above, you need to dump the private key of the sender's address (your address).
You can find it in the previous "inbound transaction" that funded that "forgotten transaction".
Also, use walletpassphrase first before using dumpprivkey, IDK how 0.8.3 behaves when the wallet is encrypted and you try to dump keys.

If it still resulted with "error code -4", then, you most likely doesn't have the private key for that input to begin with or the wallet was corrupted somehow

[Smashme1984]

I think 0.8.3 is so old that it does not have the functions described such as abandon transaction. All I can do is view the transaction details (amount and addressee), or view transaction ID

I also cant find the mempool.dat file to delete in the bitcoin programme folder (c:/program files/bitcoin). Am I missing something?

[BASE16]

Even though your wallet does not read the expected balance,
The balance should still be there when you check it on a block chain explorer.
So you try that and if that is indeed correct then you can try to collect your private key and import it into a new wallet (like electrum) which will most likely read the correct balance after being imported and your funds will be spendable immediately.

The last thing i would advise you is to start deleting things... DON'T DELETE ANYTHING.

[bob123]

I think 0.8.3 is so old that it does not have the functions described such as abandon transaction.

Actually i believe this functionality indeed got introduced later at some point.

I also cant find the mempool.dat file to delete in the bitcoin programme folder (c:/program files/bitcoin). Am I missing something?

It is located in your data directory, usually:

Code:

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin

Exporting the private keys should still work tho.

[HCP]

I think 0.8.3 is so old that it does not have the functions described such as abandon transaction. All I can do is view the transaction details (amount and addressee), or view transaction ID

I have checked with an old copy of 0.8.6 as I don't have 0.8.3... and it has the console available (Help -> Debug Window -> Console) and dumpprivkey works as it should:


Note: the first address is not in the wallet so "code -4" is the correct response.

If you are getting the "Private key for address XXXX is not known (code -4)" error, then you are most likely using the wrong address with the command... Click on the "receive" tab and then try the dumpprivkey command with one of the addresses shown there, to confirm that it is all working OK.

Figuring out which addresses in your wallet the bitcoins are actually on is going to be the next challenge... as they could be on change addresses, which I believe are not show on that "receive" tab. I'd probably be inclined to just use PyWallet to dump the contents of the entire wallet, extract ALL the private keys and then import them all into Electrum... and let it do the job of find which keys have coins

[Smashme1984]

I think 0.8.3 is so old that it does not have the functions described such as abandon transaction. All I can do is view the transaction details (amount and addressee), or view transaction ID

I have checked with an old copy of 0.8.6 as I don't have 0.8.3... and it has the console available (Help -> Debug Window -> Console) and dumpprivkey works as it should:
https://i.imgur.com/sVLqykN.png

Note: the first address is not in the wallet so "code -4" is the correct response.

If you are getting the "Private key for address XXXX is not known (code -4)" error, then you are most likely using the wrong address with the command... Click on the "receive" tab and then try the dumpprivkey command with one of the addresses shown there, to confirm that it is all working OK.

Figuring out which addresses in your wallet the bitcoins are actually on is going to be the next challenge... as they could be on change addresses, which I believe are not show on that "receive" tab. I'd probably be inclined to just use PyWallet to dump the contents of the entire wallet, extract ALL the private keys and then import them all into Electrum... and let it do the job of find which keys have coins

I am quite sure I have the right address applied because I only have one address and I have been using this wallet / address for years

[Smashme1984]

Update: I just started the upgrade to v0.20.0 process now and found the mempool file in the appdata folder - which shows that the older BT core did not use a mempool.dat file. Wow.. I guess I'll check in in 2 weeks time - i had to delete all the files except the wallet in order to upgrade due to the forks and upgrades etc.. (estimated blockchain download) from Genesis block.

[bob123]

I am quite sure I have the right address applied because I only have one address and I have been using this wallet / address for years

Do you see this address somewhere in the Transactions tab, i.e. a transaction to this address which is marked as incoming transaction ?