Bitcoin Core runs briefly then dies...

[SWLABR]

Bitcoin Core version V25 the very latest

   Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
   Intel Xeon E5 v2 @ 3.00GHz   38 °C
   Ivy Bridge-EP/EX 22nm Technology
RAM
   16.0GB DDR3 (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
   Dell Inc. 09M8Y8 (SOCKET 0)
Graphics
   HP E271i (1600x900@60Hz)
   1023MB NVIDIA Quadro K600 (NVIDIA)   58 °C
Storage
   238GB LITEONIT LCS-256L9S-11 2.5 7mm 256GB (SATA (SSD))
   2794GB Hitachi HUA723030ALA640 (SATA )   43 °C
   2794GB External USB3.0 SCSI Disk Device (USB (SATA) )   44 °C

Eager to remove my bitcoin from Nicehash before it closes in the UK, I thought I better update my Bitcoin Core database which I haven't indexed for some time. In the end, I had to delete the old database (it was corrupted, I gathered) and create a new one. This I did and Bitcoin Core worked fine throughout. So far as I'm aware it's up to date now. I did that while it was still V22. When I try to run it now though, and updating to the very latest version makes no difference, it runs for a few minutes saying "Loading block index" and then simply dies. It disappears. It goes away. It stops running. What to do? :-(

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[SWLABR]

I found this (debug.log)
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z Bitcoin Core version v25.0.0 (release build)
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z Qt 5.15.5 (static), plugin=windows (static)
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z Static plugins:
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z  QWindowsIntegrationPlugin, version 331520
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z  QWindowsVistaStylePlugin, version 331520
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z Style: windowsvista / QWindowsVistaStyle
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z System: Windows 10 Version 2009, x86_64-little_endian-llp64
2023-10-01T14:07:28Z Screen: \\.\DISPLAY1 1600x900, pixel ratio=1.0
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using the 'sse4(1way),sse41(4way)' SHA256 implementation
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using RdRand as an additional entropy source
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Default data directory C:\Users\bill\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using data directory F:\bitcoin
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Config file: F:\bitcoin\bitcoin.conf (not found, skipping)
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using at most 125 automatic connections (2048 file descriptors available)
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using 16 MiB out of 16 MiB requested for signature cache, able to store 524288 elements
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z GUI: "registerShutdownBlockReason: Successfully registered: Bitcoin Core didn't yet exit safely…"
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using 16 MiB out of 16 MiB requested for script execution cache, able to store 524288 elements
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Script verification uses 3 additional threads
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z scheduler thread start
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using wallet directory F:\bitcoin
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z init message: Verifying wallet(s)…
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using /16 prefix for IP bucketing
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z init message: Loading P2P addresses…
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Loaded 19003 addresses from peers.dat  94ms
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z init message: Loading banlist…
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z SetNetworkActive: true
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Failed to read fee estimates from F:\bitcoin\fee_estimates.dat. Continue anyway.
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Cache configuration:
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z * Using 2.0 MiB for block index database
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z * Using 8.0 MiB for chain state database
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z * Using 440.0 MiB for in-memory UTXO set (plus up to 286.1 MiB of unused mempool space)
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z init message: Loading block index…
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Assuming ancestors of block 000000000000000000035c3f0d31e71a5ee24c5aaf3354689f65bd7b07dee632 have valid signatures.
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Setting nMinimumChainWork=000000000000000000000000000000000000000044a50fe819c39ad624021859
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Opening LevelDB in F:\bitcoin\blocks\index
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using obfuscation key for F:\bitcoin\blocks\index: 0000000000000000

[SWLABR]

I tried running bitcoind.exe, that ran happily for a few minutes till I stopped it.

[Cricktor]

You can edit your post to amend details or sentences. There's no need to write multiple posts after another within a short time frame (less than a day) in one thread.

Your debug.log is likely incomplete and thus doesn't show any hints why your Bitcoin GUI is killed or stops due to some unrecoverable error condition.

Code:

2023-10-01T14:07:29Z GUI: "registerShutdownBlockReason: Successfully registered: Bitcoin Core didn't yet exit safely…"

Did you try to force Bitcoin Core to exit too early before it could finish something important?

I tried running bitcoind.exe, that ran happily for a few minutes till I stopped it.

And what was the purpose to let it run only for a few minutes? What did you want to achieve?

[SWLABR]

"Your debug.log is likely incomplete and thus doesn't show any hints why your Bitcoin GUI is killed or stops due to some unrecoverable error condition."
It says the same thing as shown over and over with a small gap in between.

No I'm not forcing Bitcoin Core to quit early, it does it for unknown reasons. I wondered about that too. Is it likely some other program could be stopping it running? It ran fine while it was updating the index so that seems unlikely I'd think...

bitcoind... in the absence of any immediate response here I've been floating round the other forums and found advice to see if bitcoind would run ok without promptly dying, so I tried it for a short time, and it worked OK. I thought I'd mention it before someone here suggested it. 

[NeuroticFish]

Just a shot in the dark: is that F drive an external HDD? Are you 100% sure the connection with it is stable?
I think I had something similar when my cable was crappy, but I don't remember how did the log look like, it was some years ago.
Maybe, if possible, start with putting your data to internal HDD at least; then see if it solves the problem.

PS. As a later step, when all works, you may want to put the indexes onto SSD to gain much better speed.

[SWLABR]

It's an internal HDD, never had a problem with it before. Could I run a test for that or does it need to be pulled out and have the connections checked physically? It's a good thought either way, thanks...

[DaveF]

Run CrystalDiskInfo https://sourceforge.net/projects/crystaldiskinfo/files/9.1.1/CrystalDiskInfo9_1_1.exe/download or similar HD diagnostic to see if any smart errors are popping up for drive health.
It will not detect a bad cable but if there are other drive issues it will usually tell you about them.

Otherwise there are other apps like electrum: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0 that are a lot less resource intensive that should let you move your BTC

Keep in mind if there is something that is wrong with the system in general or other issues you are moving you coins to to vulnerable environment (all hot wallets are) but also one that may have other hardware issues.
Make backups of you seed / wallet

-Dave

[SWLABR]

It hasn't yet grown a wallet, the only wallet.dat I have on my system is my backup from earlier days which is parked in Dropbox. That might tell us something... like it isn't installing properly maybe. Crystal liked my E drive, isn't sure at all of my F drive and had no idea what to make of my SSD C drive. Hmmmm... I'm moving the index to the E drive and then I'll adjust the shortcut to accommodate the change and then see how that goes. Possibly I'll rebuild it there, it won't take too long. I may well find myself cloning the C drive too as that drive's been hinky for a while, though everything else works ok on it.

[Cricktor]

You should take care to have a stable system as the base for Bitcoin Core. It can take lengthy operations if the block data or indexes get corrupted and need to be checked or recreated.

I don't recommend Windows as a base for Bitcoin Core or other wallets. Due to its market share it is the most targeted environment for malware. And because you're likely familiar with Windows and use it as your daily driver you're going to make a mistake to install your Bitcoin Core and your wallet(s) on your daily driver. You should avoid this as all your internet shit will hit your daily driver. That's not the safest place for your wallet(s).

I consider a Linux box that's not being used for daily computer stuff a better approach. Older decent business laptops aren't very expensive from refurbishers (it might be different in your country). Most business laptops are easy to upgrade with a larger SSD and should then serve as a nice and stable haven for your crypto wallet stuff.

[SWLABR]

You have a point there, thanks.

[nc50lc]

I tried running bitcoind.exe, that ran happily for a few minutes till I stopped it.

I found this (debug.log)
-snip-
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Default data directory C:\Users\bill\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
2023-10-01T14:07:29Z Using data directory F:\bitcoin

So you set the data directory through the GUI given by the log which didn't indicated "Config file arg" or "Command-line arg" before the data dir.

So, it's something in your F: drive's data directory, probably a corruption in your "block index" where the logs are cut off.
The daemon might have worked because it's using the default data directory if not supplied with --datadir arg or config file inside the default data dir.
(it's a guess because you haven't given any information about that working session of bitcoind)

You can probably solve it by launching Bitcoin Core with --reindex command line option. (instructions)
If it starts, it'll have to rebuild your block index which could take a while to complete so be patient while waiting for it to finish.
Bitcoin Core may look like frozen and unresponsive during reindex or IBD, but don't kill its process because it's 100% working in the background.

[NotATether]

You have a point there, thanks.

I can't help but noting that although your CPU temperatures are normal, your disks are running a bit hot.

On which disk are you downloading Bitcoin Core blocks to?

You should run a SMART test on your disks to make sure they are healthy and nothing is wrong with them. Also the SSD does not have enough space to download all the Bitcoin Core blocks, though you probably already know this. Just make sure that the datadir is set to a folder in one of the other disks.

[DaveF]

You have a point there, thanks.

I can't help but noting that although your CPU temperatures are normal, your disks are running a bit hot.

On which disk are you downloading Bitcoin Core blocks to?

You should run a SMART test on your disks to make sure they are healthy and nothing is wrong with them. Also the SSD does not have enough space to download all the Bitcoin Core blocks, though you probably already know this. Just make sure that the datadir is set to a folder in one of the other disks.

I know I have said it before but basic smart tests are well...just that basic.
Something like crystal disk info or Hard Disk Sentinel are better tools.

Most basic SMART are pass / fail the above give more detail.

Also, since core is just crashing it could be a CPU / system issue that once it's ramps up something else is failing. If there is a cooling issue, or a power issue core trying to do something can be causing it to have a problem.
Any one of bunch of utilities that can stress the system a bit can be used to see if that is part of the issue.
Remember we are talking about a system that is close to 10 years old with a CPU that has a TDP of 95 watts. There can be a lot of things that have cooked in that case over the years.

-Dave

[SWLABR]

Thanks to all who responded. I now have an up to date version of Bitcoin Core with the complete (bar 30 minutes or so) database on an external drive so I can port it between computers. I may well observe advice and set up a dedicated Linux box though as I have stuff lying around I can do that with. 
I now have trouble getting the wallet.dat file to play ball... but that's a new query so I'll start a new thread. Thanks everyone!