Bitcoin Limbo?

[pjm]

I sent 13 bitcoins from my wallet to a store for payment. I sent the coins back on the 16th, but the transaction has not processed and the transaction is not in the chain. The store never received the bitcoins I sent them. I double checked the address to ensure I did not send them elsewhere.

I read that if the transaction is not completed in 24 hours the bitcoins are returned to my wallet. I had 16 bitcoins in my wallet on the 16th before I sent the 13. I now have 3 coins in my wallet. Are the other 13 gone for good? Are they in bitcoin limbo? If they are gone what caused the problem to happen?

[Fiyasko]

Woah, Now that Is Weird, Could you please post the bitcoin address that you sent to, that way we can track it on the http://blockexplorer.com/

Also, Is your bitcoin client FULLY caught up? If it's not, Then the other party Will Not get the coins

[pjm]

The address is 1C1JiC5uak7oq7MHNPfYzQcsHbPgufbQKa

Blockexplorer's site says the adress was never used on the network.

Also my client is fully caught up with the chain.

[Fiyasko]

Woahhhhhh.....

[pjm]

Woahhhhhh.....

I have a feeling that I have broken new ground in bitcoin problems.

[Stephen Gornick]

I read that if the transaction is not completed in 24 hours the bitcoins are returned to my wallet.

That is not how it works for Bitcoin clients.

I had 16 bitcoins in my wallet on the 16th before I sent the 13. I now have 3 coins in my wallet. Are the other 13 gone for good? Are they in bitcoin limbo? If they are gone what caused the problem to happen?

There could be a couple things happening.  Know that bitcoin doesn't lose funds.  Either they are spent or they are still available to you for spending (presuming you still have access to the wallet).

So possibly the transaction is not being relayed.  Is this wallet.dat possibly from a backup and the coins chosen for the transaction were already spent?

One way to force a recheck in the database is to do a -rescan

 $ bitcoin -rescan

Are you using a current client?

[pjm]

Are you using a current client?

I have been running multibit 0.3.3. I was never able to get the stock client to download the whole blockchain.

Is this wallet.dat possibly from a backup

It is. I had to upgrade to 0.3.3 for anything to work.

the coins chosen for the transaction were already spent

No

$ bitcoin -rescan

I am a bit lost on exactly how to do this and what it does.

[Stephen Gornick]

$ bitcoin -rescan

I am a bit lost on exactly how to do this and what it does.

Ya, that was assuming you were using the bitcoin.org client.  With mutlibit, I'm going to have to defer to someone knowledgeable with that client.  The Multibit thred would be the best place to ask.  Are you still stuck in newbie jail or can you post there?

[Stephen Gornick]

$ bitcoin -rescan

I am a bit lost on exactly how to do this and what it does.

Ya, that was assuming you were using the bitcoin.org client.  With mutlibit, I'm going to have to defer to someone knowledgeable with that client.  The Multibit thred would be the best place to ask.  Are you still stuck in newbie jail or can you post there?

MultiBit allows easy export of the keys, so worst case you should be able to import them elsewhere and do the transaction there.

You could also try to reset (and re-download):
 - http://multibit.org/help_resetBlockchain.html

[Rainarrow]

Can the OP tell us what happened in the end?

[pjm]

You could also try to reset (and re-download):

I tried it before, and it did not work. I am going to give it another shot right now though.

MultiBit allows easy export of the keys, so worst case you should be able to import them elsewhere and do the transaction there.

This means I can move my wallet from multibit to the stock bitcoin client? I did manage to get the client to download the full chain.

Update

Can the OP tell us what happened in the end?

After resetting the chain I got my coins back.