Setting up Bitcoin Core Wallet

Trying to set up Bitcoin Core Wallet.

I've started blockchain synchronization 4 times and each time it has reached a certain percentage and then failed. I've followed instructions on the website, tried running it in pruned mode, tried running it with reindex. Is anyone else facing the same problem?

Worse still, it restarts downloading every block after it fails. Any ideas? Is there a way to force a restart at a location. This is very frustrating. And have to say this is poor quality software. Bitcoin has no future if just setting up a full wallet is so difficult.

Debug.log

Rahul Deshmukh

Posted 2018-03-28T17:29:41.067

Reputation: 11

Could you please upload your debug.log file so we can help diagnose the issue? – MeshCollider – 2018-03-28T19:24:23.727

Thanks. I've updated the question with a link to zipped log file – Rahul Deshmukh – 2018-03-28T20:56:25.053

Answers

Thanks, that was helpful.

Now, I have never had a problem with that computer. Can't remember it blue screening a single time. So the question was, why was Bitcoin Core synchronization causing hardware failures?

From experience, I know unexpected hardware problems are usually a result of a system stretched to the limit, but neither CPU usage nor hard disk access was operating around 100%. So I downloaded Open Hardware Monitor (No plug here. I have no stake in this application) and started snooping around. Among other things, it provides current temperature information about the CPU and some other components. I noticed even though CPU wasn't running anywhere close to 100% capacity its operating temperature was hovering around its limit with synchronization running.

I realized I needed to figure out a way to keep the temperature under control. I am running Bitcoin Core on an Intel NUC, which is tiny and I figured the internal cooling wasn't up to snuff. So I blasted away a table fan on the computer and let it rip. Sure enough, operating temperature started staying reasonably below the limit. I also shut off the Bitcoin Core for 3-4 minutes every few hours to let the CPU cool down (I don't think that was necessary, but I wasn't taking any chances). In the end, it took some extra effort and monitoring, but block synchronization is now completed. My Bitcoin Core Wallet is up-to-date.

Thanks for your help again MeshCollider.

Rahul Deshmukh

Posted 2018-03-28T17:29:41.067

Reputation: 11

From your debug.log file, you can see these lines:

018-03-28 18:05:07 LevelDB read failure: Corruption: block checksum mismatch
2018-03-28 18:05:07 Corruption: block checksum mismatch

Typically this error is caused by faulty hardware. There have been a number of reports on github of the same issue, for example https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/10897

So nothing wrong with the software, you just have poor quality hardware :)

MeshCollider

Posted 2018-03-28T17:29:41.067

Reputation: 8 735