Bitcoin Node stuck "Starting"

Bitcoin and Lightning
1

Hi, I’ve been running a lightning node for almost a year and for the moment every problem I’ve had I have been able to solve it by either reboot the system or checking the community.getumbrel.

Today I was going to make a LN transaction and the LNode did not start. After checking I realized that the “System” was occupying arround 300GB and + ~600GB the Bitcoin Blockchain is currently at, my SSD was full.

Because 300GB of System is not normal i rebooted the system to clear any old unnecessary logs.
Currently i have 284Gb available but my bitcoin node don’t seem to start. I’m leaving a few screenshots and some Umbrels logs to see if anyone can help me.

It seems to be a problem of the file settings.json but i don’t know how to fix this file

image
image1393×581 41.5 KB

Filesystem information

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2 915G 585G 284G 68% /
/dev/sda2 915G 585G 284G 68% /

App logs

bitcoin

Attaching to bitcoin_server_1, bitcoin_i2pd_daemon_1, bitcoin_app_proxy_1, bitcoin_tor_1, bitcoin_bitcoind_1, bitcoin_tor_server_1
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
app_proxy_1 | Validating token: 53bcffe29fca …
server_1 | umbrel-middleware
server_1 | ::ffff:10.21.0.26 - - [Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:26:14 GMT] “GET /v1/bitcoind/info/status HTTP/1.1” 304 - “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/112.0.0.0 Safari/537.36”
server_1 |
server_1 | umbrel-middleware
server_1 | ::ffff:10.21.0.26 - - [Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:26:17 GMT] “GET /v1/bitcoind/info/status HTTP/1.1” 304 - “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/112.0.0.0 Safari/537.36”
server_1 |
server_1 | umbrel-middleware
server_1 | ::ffff:10.21.0.26 - - [Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:26:20 GMT] “GET /v1/bitcoind/info/status HTTP/1.1” 304 - “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/112.0.0.0 Safari/537.36”
server_1 |
server_1 | umbrel-middleware
bitcoind_1 |
bitcoind_1 | Error: Failed loading settings file:
bitcoind_1 | - Unable to parse settings file /data/.bitcoin/settings.json
bitcoind_1 |
bitcoind_1 | Error: Failed loading settings file:
bitcoind_1 | - Unable to parse settings file /data/.bitcoin/settings.json
bitcoind_1 |
bitcoind_1 | Error: Failed loading settings file:
bitcoind_1 | - Unable to parse settings file /data/.bitcoin/settings.json
bitcoind_1 |
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:16:28@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t create inbound tunnel, no peers available
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:17:05@680/error - SSU2: RelayIntro unknown router to introduce
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:17:43@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t select next hop for tz9RhdJsIguypvBBVH4A40EOf8uWYKGG756ZNPv-wNs=
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:17:43@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t create inbound tunnel, no peers available
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:19:59@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t select next hop for SyxHJSTkTWOJtL5y4cLoXXmv2DPGN93MGxrROW3wDgk=
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:19:59@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t create inbound tunnel, no peers available
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:20:14@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t select next hop for rul0s-8GDCpm5xMcdq0IReHIJYwkMqSvGsuw6hSRtuk=
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:20:14@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t create inbound tunnel, no peers available
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:22:59@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t select next hop for lk1iABKWUVT~mGJSeV5ot6Xp0b4Ikp4CU3AObFhKgrI=
i2pd_daemon_1 | 10:22:59@666/error - Tunnels: Can’t create inbound tunnel, no peers available
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:34.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 55% (loading_descriptors): Loading relay descriptors
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:34.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 61% (loading_descriptors): Loading relay descriptors
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:35.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 68% (loading_descriptors): Loading relay descriptors
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:35.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 75% (enough_dirinfo): Loaded enough directory info to build circuits
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 80% (ap_conn): Connecting to a relay to build circuits
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 85% (ap_conn_done): Connected to a relay to build circuits
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 89% (ap_handshake): Finishing handshake with a relay to build circuits
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 90% (ap_handshake_done): Handshake finished with a relay to build circuits
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 95% (circuit_create): Establishing a Tor circuit
tor_1 | Apr 26 10:06:36.000 [notice] Bootstrapped 100% (done): Done

2 Likes
2

So, i managed to fixe it

In the directory ./umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin there’s a file named “settings.json”
I wrote “nano settings.json” to access the file.
Inside I simply wrote {} pressed “control X” and saved the file.

Reboot and the node was synchronizing again
Hope it helps someone :slight_smile:

6 Likes
3

good deal

4

How did you connect to umbrel to be able to edit this json file ?

5

Thanks for the tip. No idea why my node stopped working after 68 days of uptime. Editing the file resolved the issue.

6

My node it stopped because it was full due to the system occupying ~300Gb (probably due to spam transactions or a bug or something)

7

I am running Umbrel on an old laptop using “Ubuntu Server”, so I connected simply by turning on the screen

8

I’m running umbrel 5.3 on Raspberry Pi4… encountered same problem - same Debug Log info… Can anyone tell me how to find, access, and edit the “settings.json” in a clear step-by-step fashion (assume I am old and not very bright)?

9

I just tried this, but it doesn’t appear to have worked for me. My Node stopped syncing after it lost power without shutting down properly. I’ve tried a sudo reboot and your suggestion but no luck yet.

10

Good evening, I had to restart my node a couple of times and now the bitcoin node won’t start. I am a beginner and not sure if I have the same problem. As described above. The debug script did not find anything, so far I understood. A proper restart brings nothing. After login I always see the same as in the picture. Can someone help me further?

Best regards

2023-05-12_20-33
2023-05-12_20-331294×979 32.9 KB

1 Like
11

Hello, I do not understand, I can easily log in via browser but in the console my password is wrong? The node runs on a Pi4 and I use Manjaro as the main computer. Can someone help me please? LG

12

Hi! I am not an engineer, but my guess is you probably have to SSH into your raspberrypi ssh umbrel@ipadress of your raspberry pi.
if it asks for a password it will probably be money printergobrrr.

13

to you guys with the bitcoin node not starting due to a power outage. Do this.

And it cant hurt for you others as well.

ssh into your node

ssh <umbrel@your node ip here> without the ><

and then

sudo mv umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/peers.dat umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/peers.dat.bak

this makes a backup of your peers.dat file in essence deleting what your node is looking for. you could delete it if you want this is just my preference

to delete it if you want the command is

sudo rm umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/peers.dat

once you do either of those go to your bitcoin node if you can.

and restart it by clicking the three sot in the upper right. Choosing advanced and restart it.

If you cant get there go to umbrel and your settings and restart there.

This should get your bitcoin node back to running.

report back :slight_smile:

1 Like
14

For visibility, I’m linking to my solution here.

16

do you have containers stuck in a startup loop?

ssh in
docker container ls -a

look for ones starting up over and over

18

if you can tell me what youve done what happened that may have caused the issue
were you synced? did power go out?
can you uninstall and reinstall?

details

20

First you’ll want to check the debug logs (see Generating Troubleshooting Logs here), if this is still occurring it’s usually one of three errors a corrupted blockchain error that looks like:

LevelDB read failure: Corruption: block checksum mismatch: /data/.bitcoin/chainstate/1066593.ldb

Solution is here under “Resolving Corrupted Blockchain Issues”

A peers.dat error can be resolved with these steps

Or a settings.json error can be resolved with these steps

Working to make the FAQ more accessible, any other recommendations or feedback welcome

And feel free to post your debug log via attaching it here or can attach it in the Telegram in the Support channel here

3 Likes
21

follow what usernameisJim suggests but you can probably save your chain.
I believe in those troubleshooting tips will be a way to recheck it.
hopefully you wont have to start over from scratch unless catastrophic disk failure

2 Likes
24

Hey @anon56546899 can you post a debug log?

You can reference Generating Troubleshooting logs in the FAQ and then attach it as a text file with this button here 6FEAF41B-0BD7-45C2-9B08-7CAB590306C9_4_5005_c or share it as a link from pastebin.com feel free to post here or in the Telegram for review

25

Thanks, it works for me