Electrum trampoline lightning funded but 0 can send and receive

[charlie574]

new to lightning, I created a channel using Open Channel with "Electrum Trampoline",
I only typed a certain amount into it then create.

At the end, All my balance were sent to fund the channel, Status is "funded", with same capacity with my balance previously. Now I can't send any BTC since I have 0 balance and can't receive lightning just pop up "You need to open a lightning channel first"

I tried to force close the channel, it shown "request sent" , what should I do to get back my fund?

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001147997847044136/unknown.png

[1715161205]

1715161205

[1715161205]

1715161205

[1715161205]

1715161205

[1715161205]

1715161205

[1715161205]

1715161205

[_act_]

You force closed the channel, it should be successful. Go to history tab, check if the transaction to close the channel is there already and also is it confirmed already? If confirmed, you should be able to make onchain transaction with your coins.

[charlie574]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001153752339857458/electrum_1.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001153752104960120/electum2.jpg

it has 80 confirmations, but my wallet balance is still 0

[_act_]

it has 80 confirmations, but my wallet balance is still 0

Make sure your wallet synchronize with the blockchain. Make sure that your device is connected to the internet. This is what I also think could be the reason. I couldn't see the necessary information on that images, example is on the history, to know if the channel is closed or not.

It will be good if you ask your question on this thread to get better answers to your question: Electrum Lightning Network walkthrough

Rath_ will also be able to see this your post through notification. Wait for better answers.

[Abdussamad]

his wallet is synced according to the screenshot.

charlie574 why don't you post a screenshot of the history tab without blacking out the details? It looks like the last transaction is an outgoing one instead of an incoming one.

[charlie574]

it has only 1 transaction related to the open channel, it's the first one, with no description, and it draws my whole wallet balance out

[charlie574]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001564558307098624/unknown.png

0 balance available, how to fix this?

[nc50lc]

0 balance available, how to fix this?

It seems like the channel wasn't set-up properly and acted like a channel backup based from the right-click menu options.
The "Open channel" transaction isn't labeled in the history either which shouldn't happen.

The issue that I'm seeing is: Since you've mentioned that it's "trampoline", your screenshots don't agree.
First, the channel doesn't have the "kangaroo icon" beside the lightning icon; Next, the node alias isn't one of Electrum's trampoline nodes and lastly, the lightning icon is visible in lower-right which states that trampoline routing is disabled.

All you can do is to use "Request force-close" and the other party should initialize the force-closure of your channel.
For some reason, you can't initialize it yourself so it's up to the other party (not any of the trampoline nodes) if he will force-close the channel.

[Cricktor]

Have you verified that you've a genuine Electrum version? If not, where exactly did you download it from?

When you typed a certain amount (how much?) to open a trampoline channel, then why did your Electrum use the whole amount in your wallet? Your sole UTXO in address bc1qqwl7xj8x50rgvwmfmrdr00zjwql2n90ly6jhc0 was spent in total for the "funding" transaction, no change returned which contradicts what you wrote in your original post that you used a certain amount.
That's weird. Are you sure you didn't click on the max button when you opened the channel?

Next strange thing: why is there an OP_RETURN script as first output of your channel funding transaction? That makes no sense to me and I didn't observe such behavior by Electrum before. Again, do you have a genuine Electrum?

I checked opening a trampoline Lightning channel with my Testnet wallet, used 2000000 tSats to fund it and it worked like a charm with channel status OPEN, in contrary to FUNDED as yours. My Testnet channel is also a trampoline channel (no kangaroo icon, but no yellow flash icon in bottom right corner, ie. no Lightning gossip in use).

Something went clearly wrong with opening of your channel, just not sure what exactly. Strange also as mentioned by @nc50lc that you actually don't have a trampoline channel but rather one that uses Lightning gossip to populate routing info.

Which options do you get when you right-click the channel on the "Channels" tab?

I would be careful until you explicitly have verified your Electrum!

[charlie574]

I believe the Electrum is legit from electrum.org
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001925719858880582/unknown.png

and the only options can be choose are "View funding transaction" and "request force close" which I tried multiple times
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/754515786076389526/1001926654387568720/unknown.png

The scenario was I opened a trampoline routing channel with tick "Use trampoline routing (disable gossip)", the channel was opening, I choose "Electrum trampoline" with 0.01 btc, tapped "OK",
the channel was opening, I tried to send money to a merchant with lightning code in "Send", it's about 0.001 btc, then tapped "pay", Electrum shown "No path found", I thought somethings wrong, so I go back to Channel tapped "Close Channel", no response, then tapped "Force close channel" repeatly for both options, then the channel goes from "opening" to "funded", then got stuck here.

[charlie574]

One another question, if I sent force close request, another side never close, so the fund would it be trapped forever?

[nc50lc]

-snip-
The scenario was I opened a trampoline routing channel with tick "Use trampoline routing (disable gossip)", the channel was opening, I choose "Electrum trampoline" with 0.01 btc, tapped "OK",
the channel was opening, I tried to send money to a merchant with lightning code in "Send", it's about 0.001 btc, then tapped "pay", Electrum shown "No path found", I thought somethings wrong, so I go back to Channel tapped "Close Channel", no response, then tapped "Force close channel" repeatly for both options, then the channel goes from "opening" to "funded", then got stuck here.

Okay, this seems to be the issue, you opened a channel with trampoline routing but it's somehow turned disabled in the settings.
There shouldn't be any major issue in disabling that aside from blocking sending capacity but since you're experiencing this issue, it may be related.
(the timing while opening the channel maybe?)

The possible solution is to re-enable trampoline routing (disable gossip) because based from your screenshot, it's disabled.
After enabling trampoline, the other options in the right-click menu might reappear (if not, restart Electrum after enabling trampoline routing).
If "close channel" became available, use it, otherwise, use "force-close"; or "request force-close" might work now after enabling trampoline routing.

One another question, if I sent force close request, another side never close, so the fund would it be trapped forever?

I've checked the other party's "node alias" and it's indeed "Electrum Trampoline" but somehow displayed as the pubKey.
The good news is, if nothing works, you can coordinate with the owner to close the channel which is one of the developers.
You can open an issue in Electrum's Github page or contact the developers: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues
But before that, try the options above first.

[charlie574]

-snip-
The scenario was I opened a trampoline routing channel with tick "Use trampoline routing (disable gossip)", the channel was opening, I choose "Electrum trampoline" with 0.01 btc, tapped "OK",
the channel was opening, I tried to send money to a merchant with lightning code in "Send", it's about 0.001 btc, then tapped "pay", Electrum shown "No path found", I thought somethings wrong, so I go back to Channel tapped "Close Channel", no response, then tapped "Force close channel" repeatly for both options, then the channel goes from "opening" to "funded", then got stuck here.

Okay, this seems to be the issue, you opened a channel with trampoline routing but it's somehow turned disabled in the settings.
There shouldn't be any major issue in disabling that aside from blocking sending capacity but since you're experiencing this issue, it may be related.
(the timing while opening the channel maybe?)

The possible solution is to re-enable trampoline routing (disable gossip) because based from your screenshot, it's disabled.
After enabling trampoline, the other options in the right-click menu might reappear (if not, restart Electrum after enabling trampoline routing).
If "close channel" became available, use it, otherwise, use "force-close"; or "request force-close" might work now after enabling trampoline routing.

One another question, if I sent force close request, another side never close, so the fund would it be trapped forever?

I've checked the other party's "node alias" and it's indeed "Electrum Trampoline" but somehow displayed as the pubKey.
The good news is, if nothing works, you can coordinate with the owner to close the channel which is one of the developers.
You can open an issue in Electrum's Github page or contact the developers: github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues
But before that, try the options above first.

Thanks for the important information shows that channel is Legit Electrum Trampoline, I disabled gossip because it shows error 'Failed to close channel: Exception("Enable gossip first")' while clicked Request Force Close, either Disable or Enable only show "Request Force Close" option, no "close channel" appeared.

I will contact developer let's see how's going.

[nc50lc]

-snip-

Thanks for the important information shows that channel is Legit Electrum Trampoline, I disabled gossip because it shows error 'Failed to close channel: Exception("Enable gossip first")' while clicked Request Force Close, either Disable or Enable only show "Request Force Close" option, no "close channel" appeared.

I will contact developer let's see how's going.

It looks like something weird has happened and it tried to open the channel with Trampoline Routing disabled despite using "Electrum Trampoline" LN node.
And now it only acts as a channel backup based from the right-click options that you're getting (like I previously mentioned).

I saw in the 'issue thread' that ThomasV (ecdsa) already closed the channel on his side but your wallet still failed to retrieve the funds.
Anyway, there's nothing else I can add in this thread, Good luck.

[Cricktor]

To my knowledge a force close can take up to 2 weeks to settle fully. So, maybe some patience is needed.

I believe the Electrum is legit from electrum.org

I wouldn't care much about this code signing certificate. There's a thread in this forum section which describes meticulously how to check if your Electrum version is genuine.

The scenario was I opened a trampoline routing channel with tick "Use trampoline routing (disable gossip)", the channel was opening, I choose "Electrum trampoline" with 0.01 btc, tapped "OK",
the channel was opening,

This is not reflected in the funding transaction of the channel which looks a little bit strange to me.
You have to make all the choices before you click OK to open the channel. The way you describe that is different.
Did you wait until the status changed from OPENING to OPEN? This takes at least 3 confirmations on the blockchain.

I tried to send money to a merchant with lightning code in "Send", it's about 0.001 btc, then tapped "pay", Electrum shown "No path found", I thought somethings wrong, so I go back to Channel tapped "Close Channel", no response, then tapped "Force close channel" repeatly for both options, then the channel goes from "opening" to "funded", then got stuck here.

This sounds to me you're acting too hasty, especially the channel closing part.
"No path found" means your channel partner couldn't find a route to forward your LN payment to your merchant. With the single channel you opened there's no way to proceed from here with success (or it's beyond your control) unless you open another channel (additionally or not). You would need some other channel to a better connected node which may be able to find a route. But to my knowledge there's no easy way to find such a channel partner. Likely a channel partner who has lots of channels open should find a successful route to your merchant, but there's no guarantee.
Closing a channel may not give an immediate response. Be more patient. A cooperative Close needs both sides to agree to publish a channel finalization settlement transaction on-chain which needs at least 3 confirmation, too. But Electrum should indicate this somehow with a channel status of "CLOSING".
Choosing "Force close" might not have been necessary as this should be a last resort option if the channel partner is non-responsive. But I would wait some time after a normal close to see what's going on.

Do you remember at which point of your closing massaker you got the error message that you should enable "gossip routing"?

As @nc50lc said, I too have no further help for you. I'm not sure how Electrum should indicate that a Force close is in progress. You should try to resolve this in the Github issue. There are some strange issues with your channel, indeed.

[nc50lc]

To my knowledge a force close can take up to 2 weeks to settle fully. So, maybe some patience is needed.
-snip-
As @nc50lc said, I too have no further help for you. I'm not sure how Electrum should indicate that a Force close is in progress.

If force-close is used, the channel status should also change into "CLOSED" after 1 confirmation of the closing transaction with the label "Close channel <short channel ID>".
And another local "receive" transaction labeled as "our_ctx_to_local <short channel ID>" will be saved and will be broadcasted after a maximum of 2 weeks (last time I tried, it's just 1day).

[charlie574]

I have received back my funding from Developers of Electrum, since it was a bug in force-close the channel without broadcasting its commitment transaction.

Thank You for you all participants, for more details on https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7907

[Cricktor]

Thank You for you all participants, for more details on https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7907

In this thread you missed out some important information, particularly that you reset your computer and restored your Electrum wallet from some backup. The restauration of active Lightning channels is a difficult and cumbersome story.

There might have been some bugs in Electrum which were fixed with patch 90dbac5 for such an edge "mess".

Good for you, you got your funds back. I don't want to be picky but I find it disappointing when an issue is so poorly described with lots of omission of details that surely are relevant for assistance and the issue itself. I understand that a user might not be aware of important details as the awareness is proportional to knowledge on the topic.

Oh well, what matters: not all Sats were harmed and lost, only a few of them.

[BitMaxz]

That's good news if they refunded your funds.

In this thread you missed out some important information, particularly that you reset your computer and restored your Electrum wallet from some backup. The restauration of active Lightning channels is a difficult and cumbersome story.

I don't see that his Electrum wallet is restored from the backup if you read the GitHub according to him it is not a restored wallet it is still the original one.

Read this post https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/7907#issuecomment-1198443298

[nc50lc]

-snip-

I don't see that his Electrum wallet is restored from the backup if you read the GitHub according to him it is not a restored wallet it is still the original one.

But ThomasV believes otherwise. (ref.)
Because a channel wont automatically change from an active channel into a "static channel backup".

It may be a wallet backup like he suspected, a wallet restored from seed with 'recoverable channel' or restored static channel backup.
But since it's solved already and the issue in GitHub was closed, there's not much reason for charlie574 to clear this up.