BitcoinTalk

ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!

237
Satoshi-only
BitcoinTalk
#1
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
My Bitcoin have this ERROR:


"Warning: displayed transactions may not be correct! you may need to upgrade, or other nodes may need to upgrade"

My bitcoin is in error. I had about 13,000 BTC. I tried to transfer these coins to another computer. But I find the following error. Did not transfer the blocks that are being generated are invalid. What to do?
BitcoinTalk
#2
From:
theymos
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Dhaw sent me some of his debug.log files. Symptoms I saw:
- In most of the files his block count remains "stuck" at 1698.
- In one file he accepted blocks beyond that, but it went back to 1698 after he restarted Bitcoin.
- Any blocks he receives after 1698 he probably considers invalid. I haven't seen the actual block rejection (it keeps getting removed by the auto-trim), but his debug.log is full of "block xxx have" messages for blocks that he clearly doesn't recognize as valid.
- He is connected to real peers. He connected successfully to IRC, and he was able to connect to me with -addnode. I verified at my end that he is successfully sending getblocks messages.

I'm almost sure that Dhaw is not a scammer, and is a victim of some bug. My guess is that every time he restarts Bitcoin, his block database is corrupted.

He speaks 'Portuguese (Brazilian)'. A translator would be helpful.
BitcoinTalk
#3
From:
nelisky
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: theymos on October 21, 2010, 10:00:26 PM
Dhaw sent me some of his debug.log files. Symptoms I saw:
- In most of the files his block count remains "stuck" at 1698.
- In one file he received blocks up to 2933, but it went back to 1698 after he restarted Bitcoin.
- Any blocks he receives after 1698 he probably considers invalid. I haven't seen the actual block rejection (it keeps getting removed by the auto-trim), but his debug.log is full of "block xxx have" messages for blocks that he clearly doesn't recognize as valid.
- He is connected to real peers. He connected successfully to IRC, and he was able to connect to me with -addnode. I verified at my end that he is successfully sending getblocks messages.

I'm almost sure that Dhaw is not a scammer, and is a victim of some bug. My guess is that every time he restarts Bitcoin, his block database is corrupted.

He speaks 'Portuguese (Brazilian)'. A translator would be helpful.

I can translate. Just post or PM and I'll have it in English for all.
BitcoinTalk
#4
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
I wanted a providence. A few months bitcoin'm using the same open 24 hours a day, and right now I want to sell BTC, I have this problem. I beg you to solve my problem. I thank Theymos, tried to help me for some time. But please, solve my problem, I have no intention of stealing, just want to sell my coins, which have long'm joining. I can not lose 13,000 BTC, took a long time to stop generating.
BitcoinTalk
#5
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: nelisky on October 21, 2010, 10:03:02 PM
Quote from: theymos on October 21, 2010, 10:00:26 PM
Dhaw sent me some of his debug.log files. Symptoms I saw:
- In most of the files his block count remains "stuck" at 1698.
- In one file he received blocks up to 2933, but it went back to 1698 after he restarted Bitcoin.
- Any blocks he receives after 1698 he probably considers invalid. I haven't seen the actual block rejection (it keeps getting removed by the auto-trim), but his debug.log is full of "block xxx have" messages for blocks that he clearly doesn't recognize as valid.
- He is connected to real peers. He connected successfully to IRC, and he was able to connect to me with -addnode. I verified at my end that he is successfully sending getblocks messages.

I'm almost sure that Dhaw is not a scammer, and is a victim of some bug. My guess is that every time he restarts Bitcoin, his block database is corrupted.

He speaks 'Portuguese (Brazilian)'. A translator would be helpful.

I can translate. Just post or PM and I'll have it in English for all.

Thanks for the help. In what can help me, everything will be easier.
BitcoinTalk
#6
From:
LZ
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
I can't reproduce it. I think he should get the block chain in a different way.

This is a link to the block chain up to the block 74000: download.
BitcoinTalk
#7
From:
joe
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
1. Go to a different computer
2. Download and install bitcoin from bitcoin.org
3. Run bitcoin
4. Wait for block count to reach the latest current block count
5. Stop bitcoin
6. Copy wallet.dat from old computer with the 13000 bitcoins over to the new computer's installation's wallet.dat file.
7. Restart bitcoin
8. Problem should be solved now and your 13000 bitcoin balance should be displayed.
BitcoinTalk
#8
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
i will try!
BitcoinTalk
#9
From:
caveden
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: theymos on October 21, 2010, 10:00:26 PM
He speaks 'Portuguese (Brazilian)'. A translator would be helpful.

I speak it too. If you need help PM me.
BitcoinTalk
#10
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: joe on October 22, 2010, 05:57:57 AM
1. Go to a different computer
2. Download and install bitcoin from bitcoin.org
3. Run bitcoin
4. Wait for block count to reach the latest current block count
5. Stop bitcoin
6. Copy wallet.dat from old computer with the 13000 bitcoins over to the new computer's installation's wallet.dat file.
7. Restart bitcoin
8. Problem should be solved now and your 13000 bitcoin balance should be displayed.


Not getting results with this procedure. The coins remain to be sent, and I sent has not arrived yet.
BitcoinTalk
#11
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: lzsaver on October 22, 2010, 03:10:20 AM
I can't reproduce it. I think he should get the block chain in a different way.


This is a link to the block chain up to the block 74000: download.

just perform the installation procedure on the machine that has the BTCS?
BitcoinTalk
#12
From:
mcjohn
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Somewhere on the 21st of this month more than 10000 BTC's had to be sent to Dhaw (should be in the block chain)

as he had 1200 BTC at 11:33 am (see http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1904;sa=showPosts )

and reported that he is missing 13000 BTC at 08:46 pm (in this forum subject)

when he wanted to sent some of the 13000 BTC
BitcoinTalk
#13
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
try to understand my case, I send you all the screenshots if needed. I had BTC 8200, and transferred to another computer, but that did not. I continued to leave the program generates, and generated more than 4,200, only the site that sent the first 8200 not received. That is, I have all these bitcoins, those who currently own and was not sent and received, adding that gives BTC 8200. Theymos saw all my case it was an afternoon trying to help me. I hope it is resolved and not lose my coins.
BitcoinTalk
#14
From:
Gavin Andresen
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Dhaw generated all of these coins on his (her?) own machines.

Unfortunately, either due to a bug or some oddness with Dhaw's network connections they were all generated on an alternate block chain.

The Bitcoin client really shouldn't allow coin generation until you have all of the blocks up to the last block checkpoint.
BitcoinTalk
#15
From:
theymos
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: gavinandresen on October 22, 2010, 02:25:14 PM
Dhaw generated all of these coins on his (her?) own machines.

Unfortunately, either due to a bug or some oddness with Dhaw's network connections they were all generated on an alternate block chain.

The Bitcoin client really shouldn't allow coin generation until you have all of the blocks up to the last block checkpoint.

That's probably the case, but something must have failed really badly. His block count is constantly stuck at 1698, but he somehow managed to generate and mature 13,000 BTC? He's generating at a work computer, so maybe it's some crazy antivirus.

Just to be sure that the entire balance is bad (maybe it just failed recently), Dhaw should post the raw transaction so that the inputs can be checked against the block chain.

Dhaw:
1. On the computer where you sent the 8,750, modify the Bitcoin shortcut so it runs in debug mode:
http://static/img264.imageshack.us/static/img264/2526/85647303.png
http://static/img146.imageshack.us/static/img146/723/90684161.png
2. Run Bitcoin.
3. Double-click the 8,750 transaction:
http://static/img525.imageshack.us/static/img525/6200/90747626.png
4. Copy all of the "inputs" to http://pastebin.com/ and post the link here.
http://static/img263.imageshack.us/static/img263/6645/68205424.png
To copy from that window, you have to use Ctrl+C after selecting the text. I've found that it sometimes takes a few tries to work.
BitcoinTalk
#16
From:
LZ
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: Dhaw on October 22, 2010, 09:59:27 AM
just perform the installation procedure on the machine that has the BTCS?
Yes, but before that make sure that the client is closed. Your block chain will be overwritten.
And also it will be nice, if you will make backup of your block chain and upload it for analysis.
Just open %APPDATA%\Bitcoin directory and make copy of blk0001.dat and blkindex.dat files.
This should be done before the block chain will be overwritten. Be careful with the wallet.dat!
BitcoinTalk
#17
From:
joe
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: theymos on October 21, 2010, 10:00:26 PM
Dhaw sent me some of his debug.log files. Symptoms I saw:
- In most of the files his block count remains "stuck" at 1698.
- In one file he accepted blocks beyond that, but it went back to 1698 after he restarted Bitcoin.
- Any blocks he receives after 1698 he probably considers invalid. I haven't seen the actual block rejection (it keeps getting removed by the auto-trim), but his debug.log is full of "block xxx have" messages for blocks that he clearly doesn't recognize as valid.
- He is connected to real peers. He connected successfully to IRC, and he was able to connect to me with -addnode. I verified at my end that he is successfully sending getblocks messages.

What does it take for a client to reject an incoming block from the network? If we know this we can work backwards and find out why he wants to reject every new block. There must be a transaction in the main chain 1699 or prior that his client disagrees with.

In any case, all the 1000s of bitcoins he generated were generated into a chain branch that only he was participating on, so they are worthless on the main chain. He would be generating 50 every 5 minutes being the only participant on that branch. The other curiosity is why he stood at 1698; this should have eventually started going up by 1 every 5 minutes when he recalculated difficulty.
BitcoinTalk
#18
From:
Dhaw
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
And now??
=(
More than 3 months lose?
BitcoinTalk
#19
From:
theymos
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: joe on October 23, 2010, 08:09:17 AM
What does it take for a client to reject an incoming block from the network? If we know this we can work backwards and find out why he wants to reject every new block. There must be a transaction in the main chain 1699 or prior that his client disagrees with.

He would have to disagree with 1699, but that is an empty block. There's no reason he should disagree with that one.

My theory:

His antivirus cuts off files after a certain size. This caused his block database to be limited at 1698 (and maybe he rejects blocks after that due to corruption). However, his block index was not cut off (because it's shorter), so he ignores incoming blocks as "already have", even though he doesn't really have them. Every time he generates a block, it is quickly destroyed by the antivirus, but its confirmations are preserved by the block index for some reason.
BitcoinTalk
#20
From:
jimbobway
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
dhaw, what kind of antivirus or spyware are you running?
BitcoinTalk
#21
From:
satoshi
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: theymos on October 21, 2010, 10:00:26 PM
his block count remains "stuck" at 1698.
He was generating invalid blocks at difficulty 1.0.  He must have a corrupted entry in his blk0001.dat or blkindex.dat file.  He just needs to delete blk*.dat and let it redownload.

The safety lockdown detected the problem and was displaying "WARNING: Displayed transactions may not be correct!" because it saw a longer chain existed that it was unable to accept.  The safety lockdown cannot stop generation or it would create an attack possibility.

Quote from: gavinandresen on October 22, 2010, 02:25:14 PM
The Bitcoin client really shouldn't allow coin generation until you have all of the blocks up to the last block checkpoint.
Good idea, I made a change to make sure it won't generate before checkpoint block 74000.
BitcoinTalk
#22
From:
theymos
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
Quote from: satoshi on October 23, 2010, 06:22:49 PM
He was generating invalid blocks at difficulty 1.0.  He must have a corrupted txindex entry in his blkindex.dat file.  He just needs to delete blk*.dat and let it redownload.

He already did that, and the same problem occurred right away. So it's probably an antivirus issue.
BitcoinTalk
#23
From:
satoshi
Subject:
Re: ERROR - PLEASE HELP ME!
Date:
OK, if it really won't get past block 1698 on redownload, then we're in stranger territory.

Yes, possibly he has antivirus software or even a router or filewall that is pattern matching a sequence of bytes and censoring it.

It would be instructive to get knightmb's blk*.dat and see if that gets him past that point.