No nodes???

[Stephen123]

My wallet is not connecting and downloading the bitcoins I purchased. I trashed the two files recommended in the wiki, to restart synchronization, but no change in status. What else can I do? I have backed up the wallet as it now stands onto a USB. What else can I go to connect?

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[JJJJust]

From what I can tell from the OTHER threads you started about this problem, you may have a firewall preventing connection to the Bitcoin nodes or your router may not be configured to allow access to the necessary ports. This is preventing you from downloading the block chain, which is preventing you from seeing the coins you've been sent.

See also: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Do_I_need_to_configure_my_firewall_to_run_bitcoin.3F

If you don't have access to firewall or router configuration, your best bet would probably be to use pywallet, dump your wallet.dat and its private keys, and begin using an online wallet/ewallet.

pywallet thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34028.0

If you're using bitcoin-qt and the version is > 0.5.99 you should use the pywallet file found here: https://github.com/joric/pywallet

[flatfly]

I believe Electrum is a safer choice than web-based wallets, while still being
very lightweight - give it a try   (disclaimer: I'm a huge Electrum fan and make
Windows-optimized builds for each new release)

You will still need to export the keys from your wallet.dat file, though.

[Stephen123]

From what I can tell from the OTHER threads you started about this problem, you may have a firewall preventing connection to the Bitcoin nodes or your router may not be configured to allow access to the necessary ports. This is preventing you from downloading the block chain, which is preventing you from seeing the coins you've been sent.

See also: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Do_I_need_to_configure_my_firewall_to_run_bitcoin.3F

If you don't have access to firewall or router configuration, your best bet would probably be to use pywallet, dump your wallet.dat and its private keys, and begin using an online wallet/ewallet.

pywallet thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=34028.0

If you're using bitcoin-qt and the version is > 0.5.99 you should use the pywallet file found here: https://github.com/joric/pywallet

I don't have a firewall running at all. I have removed the dat files recommended by the wiki and am re-synchronizing. This however is taking much longer than the first time. This is proving to be more than troublesome and is making me wary of bitcoin. I understand it is in its infancy, but with given my limited experience, it is proving to be untested, unstable, and a sure way to lose money. It is difficult to get correct information, and the forums are proving unhelpful. Whilst my questions have had a lot of views, they have also had very few replies, which tells me that there is not a lot of knowledge out there!

[JJJJust]

I don't have a firewall running at all. I have removed the dat files recommended by the wiki and am re-synchronizing. This however is taking much longer than the first time. This is proving to be more than troublesome and is making me wary of bitcoin. I understand it is in its infancy, but with given my limited experience, it is proving to be untested, unstable, and a sure way to lose money. It is difficult to get correct information, and the forums are proving unhelpful. Whilst my questions have had a lot of views, they have also had very few replies, which tells me that there is not a lot of knowledge out there!

Since you're in the Newbie section, it's safe to say that your post is going to be read by a lot of newbies who have insufficient knowledge to contribute to your problem.

I myself can only manage about 8 connections at a time to the Bitcoin network, which makes my block downloading extremely slow. There are places where you can download the entire block chain via HTTP, which may be faster, though it is more than a GB in size. However, I've never used any and as such will leave it to someone else to recommend a site.

[Raoul Duke]

Your wallet doesn't "download" your Bitcoins even if everything is fine.
All your bitcoins are on the blockchain, in every computer connected to the network.
Just don't lose your wallet.dat(the keys to the safe) and you'll always have your bitcoins.

Be patient and it will eventually download the blockchain. Double check you have at least 2 GB free in your HDD.
If there are no nodes you might want to forward port 8333 TCP to your computer local IP on your router config.
Try to turn UPnP on first, in the Bitcoin client Options, before forwarding the port.
This may help: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getting_started

[Stephen123]

I downloaded the block chain successfully using http, and the payments showed up in my wallet, so the problem must be that my wallet will not connect unless using http. Is this correct? I have a very fast connection for my laptop 1.1gb took approximately 3 minutes. But if I have to download 1gb every time i want to check do a transaction my hard drive will be filling up pretty quickly!

[Raoul Duke]

No! Now the blockchain is there, it will only update the parts you still don't have.

Just check it has at least 8 connections to the network. If it doesn't, then that's a problem with your network, not with Bitcoin. You might want to do what I said and just forward port 8333 TCP to your laptop. If you don't know how to do that, check your router Instruction Manual.

[Stephen123]

No! Now the blockchain is there, it will only update the parts you still don't have.

Just check it has at least 8 connections to the network. If it doesn't, then that's a problem with your network, not with Bitcoin. You might want to do what I said and just forward port 8333 TCP to your laptop. If you don't know how to do that, check your router Instruction Manual.

How do I do that? I have a green tick on the bottom right of the wallet, three bars coloured, the small one red, next two yellow, and the fourth colourless. Is there anywhere with an explanation of the icons used? Where do I find if I have eight connections?
It seems to me that if you want to attract more people to use this system you need to create something simple enough for non tech heads to use. I understand that each case has many variables, but there has to be more troubleshooting guides than there appear to be. In fact on the bitcoin org download site you are just referred to a forum for any queries, no faq sheets etc. Bitcoin, from the outside, appears to have a very elitist culture. Just sayin' !

[Raoul Duke]

No! Now the blockchain is there, it will only update the parts you still don't have.

Just check it has at least 8 connections to the network. If it doesn't, then that's a problem with your network, not with Bitcoin. You might want to do what I said and just forward port 8333 TCP to your laptop. If you don't know how to do that, check your router Instruction Manual.

How do I do that? I have a green tick on the bottom right of the wallet, three bars coloured, the small one red, next two yellow, and the fourth colourless. Is there anywhere with an explanation of the icons used? Where do I find if I have eight connections?

That tells me that you have the blockchain fully updated and 8 connections to the network.
Try to hover your mouse over the icons. It will tell you everything you need to know.

You seem to be one of those persons who needs someone to hold their hand whenever they are working with a computer and who panics over nothing and everything. I know lot's of persons like that, some of them younger than me. Just sayin'!

[Stephen123]

You seem to be one of those persons who needs someone to hold their hand whenever they are working with a computer and who panics over nothing and everything. I know lot's of persons like that, some of them younger than me. Just sayin'!

Hey mate, it's my fiftieth birthday tomorrow, so i'm assuming I have seniority in age at least! The hand holding I can agree with! There does seem to be a lack of straightforward troubleshooting faqs for this, and the ones that do, require a certain level of knowledge that appears to me to be out of the reach of non techheads. It is not  question of panicking, but a frustration at the lack of clear guidance. My wallet seems to have resolved itself after removing the dat files recommended, but I did have to manually download the blockchain, which, incidentally I found out for myself-no hand holding needed! I would still like to know why the wallet froze, and what the optimum settings in the preferences are?

[Stephen123]

I would also like to say thanks to you ,Psy, for at least initiating a dialogue with me. You seem to be reasonably conversant with the software etc. I'll toast you tomorrow!

[Raoul Duke]

You seem to be one of those persons who needs someone to hold their hand whenever they are working with a computer and who panics over nothing and everything. I know lot's of persons like that, some of them younger than me. Just sayin'!

Hey mate, it's my fiftieth birthday tomorrow, so i'm assuming I have seniority in age at least! The hand holding I can agree with! There does seem to be a lack of straightforward troubleshooting faqs for this, and the ones that do, require a certain level of knowledge that appears to me to be out of the reach of non techheads. It is not  question of panicking, but a frustration at the lack of clear guidance. My wallet seems to have resolved itself after removing the dat files recommended, but I did have to manually download the blockchain, which, incidentally I found out for myself-no hand holding needed! I would still like to know why the wallet froze, and what the optimum settings in the preferences are?

lol

Well, like I said, some of those persons who need hand holding, or spoon feeding, like some call it, are at least 10 years younger than me, and given that I'm 20 years younger than you, you get my point... You are not the worst, for sure. I'll tell you what I tell them: Stay calm, take your time, read the tips that appear when you hover the mouse over things, if nothing else works, read the user manual(or ask for help).

About the documentation: You must understand that Bitcoin is a Open Source project who doesn't have a company backing it, like for instance, Wordpress or Ubuntu, so the docs are a community driven effort.
Now that you learnt something, maybe you could head on to the wiki and share that knowledge with others that may encounter the same problems. I suck at writing documentation, so I'm not the right person to do it. At most I can contribute to the translation, like I do already for other Open Source projects.

Will refrain myself from congratulating you for your birthday because it's only tomorrow and I heard it's not good to do it in advance

[memvola]

I would still like to know why the wallet froze, and what the optimum settings in the preferences are?

You probably already know this, but to clear things up; with Bitcoin, you don't "download" your money. In other words, there are no actual "coins" to speak of. Owning bitcoins means that you have the keys to some boxes on a ledger. Block chain is that ledger, the wallet.dat file has your keys in it. As long as you have the wallet file (and it doesn't get stolen), your money is safe. Though the Bitcoin client can't see what's in those boxes without downloading the ledger.

If the download was totally frozen, probably you didn't have enough disk space or you had some weird network issue that prevented you from connected to the seed nodes. There are other possible explanations, like addr.dat file being corrupt, etc. but since you have connections now, I'm guessing that wasn't the case.

Download can also be incredibly slow for various reasons. If you have a router, forwarding the port 8333 to your computer (or letting the client do it automatically using Setting->Options->UPnP) will help. You can check if that port is open, using http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/portStatus.php while running the client.

Also, for instance, my connection count increased 10-fold after changing my ISP, even though both ISPs use the exact same fiberoptic line (to reach outside the island I mean). So, it depends on many factors, but it almost always works. You did a good thing by downloading the chain over http, however you will still have to catch up (download the new blocks) every time you keep your client offline for a considerable time.

This is proving to be more than troublesome and is making me wary of bitcoin. I understand it is in its infancy, but with given my limited experience, it is proving to be untested, unstable, and a sure way to lose money.

Most of these problems would go away if the default client was a lightweight one (no block chain download, transaction relaying, etc.) using deterministic wallets by default (like Electrum). You just launch the client and see your transactions instantly.

The problem is, if the default was a lightweight client, every newbie would be using that without even trying the real deal, which would lead to far less relay nodes and far less copies of the block chain, which poses a security risk by itself. It's not that the software is unstable or unreliable (it really isn't), the network and the technology itself is too new.

If the problem persists though, I suggest you switch to Electrum.

[ErebusBat]

If the problem persists though, I suggest you switch to Electrum.

I believe he is on a Mac and there are no builds of Electrum for the Mac