Topic: [Reward] Armory Wallet Stuck (Read 446 times)

PhoenixFire and HCP,

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me with this, however, I had run out of patience by 2:00PM yesterday.

So I returned that Dell G7 machine and picked up a HP Spectre, 1TB SSD Drive laptop.
Core 0.18 installed, Armory 96.5 installed, wallet fixed.................

what a pain-in-the-ass.....................

But it's fixed and I learned some new things, so thank you both.

Please PM me you Bitcoin address so I can send you some coins for
your time.

Cheers,
Mark

As expected, it was simply a "pathing" issue... Armory was looking for your Bitcoin data in the "default" location... and failing:



It's just a "text" file with a .conf file extension... so you should be able to open it with notepad (or another texteditor) and just put the text there... or download the .conf files that PhoenixFire has created for you

It will store on C: usually but I think you mentioned you'd like them both on D: ?
I've set it to "D:\ArmoryDB" in the config file.

Great. I've made these .conf files for you to download:
https://gofile.io/?c=qu6xRt

You may need to manually create a new folder named "ArmoryDB" on D: (i.e at the same level as the Bitcoin folder).

• Open just Armory and go to File> Settings
• Make sure your settings look like this:
  
• Click Save and close Armory entirely - make sure ArmoryDB is not running in the background
• Type the following into your taskbar and hit return:

• This should open a window with your Armory wallet files and log files, but if you don't see that you can get there manually (some folders may be hidden by default):

• Copy the downloaded "armoryqt.conf" to this directory
• Navigate to D:\Bitcoin and rename the existing "bitcoin.conf" to "bitcoin.backup" (or anything else) and copy the downloaded "bitcoin.conf" here.
• Go to D:\. Make a new folder here called "ArmoryDB", just in case Armory doesn't create it
• If Bitcoin Core has been running, shut it down - you could restart the machine at this step, for good measure, if you want to make sure everything is shut down.
• Start Bitcoin Core again and wait for it load the blockchain i.e. let it get to the overview screen
• Keep Bitcoin Core running and start Armory.
• Cross your fingers

At this point Armory should start building from the correct and current blockchain. Will take a little while but there should be progress info in the Armory window.
If this doesn't do it, we really need to see your logs as has been suggested by bob123.

Thanks for the info, just testing the config files before I upload and finish writing instructions

"Datadir" = D:Bitcoin
"Where on D: do you want Armory to store its database?" Thought this is automatic when you download the program?
Bitcoin Core is on the D: drive
Armory is on the C: or D: drive. I've tried both

Here's the Armory log> https://pastebin.com/aaSmUqSc

Also:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You will also need a "bitcoin.conf" file in your Bitcoin "datadir" that has the following line in it:
Code:

server=1


That will enable the RPC component in Bitcoin Core and allow Armory to communicate with your Bitcoin Core instance correctly... In the Bitcoin Core GUI "network" settings (Settings -> Options -> Network), you need to check the "Allowing Incoming Connections" option
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have the bitcoin.conf file but there's nothing in there. Not sure how to put the "server=1" in it.

Bitcoin core has the box checked to "Allowing Incoming Connections"
In fact those settings look exactly like yours.

I did change Armory to find the Bitcoin Core directory in the "D" drive, but something is still off.

I get the feeling when I make a change in some way, the entire configuration is still off. Everything needs to be properly configured. I' just not sure if I'm leaving something simple unchanged or i'm making changes in the wrong place.
The fact that I'm running dual drives is complicating things.

If I don't get this solved by tonight I'm taking this thing back to exchange for a single drive laptop. Unless you folks feel otherwise.........

That's what I needed to know.
Will get those up.....

It would help us a lot if you could post your armoy logs.

Upload them to https://pastebin.com/ or any similar site and provide us the URL.

My guess would be that some configuration is wrong. Without the logs we can't say whether it is the directory or anything else. 

Good info for sure. Thank you.

I will not be getting back to this issue until Wednesday late.
My free time being pretty limited lately, hence the need to get this thing fixed on the quick!
Any and all insight on this is welcomed.

I'll get back to you guys sometime on Thursday.

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Mark

I use Bitcoin Core 0.18 and Armory 0.96.5 on Windows 10 and it all seems to work fairly well.

I simply start the Bitcoin Core GUI (it's configured with a datadir of E:\Bitcoin)... and after it is up and running and synced, I start Armory (I've left it to just use the default Armory locations for it's databases etc, but that is easy enough to change). So, my settings in Armory look like this:



You will also need a "bitcoin.conf" file in your Bitcoin "datadir" that has the following line in it:

That will enable the RPC component in Bitcoin Core and allow Armory to communicate with your Bitcoin Core instance correctly... In the Bitcoin Core GUI "network" settings (Settings -> Options -> Network), you need to check the "Allowing Incoming Connections" option:

FWIW. It's blazingly fast compared to my old desktop that I was using before.    Only took a day and a half to download the entire blockchain.
My desktop would take 4 weeks or more! 


I will perform the steps and get the info you've requested above when I get back to the laptop.

Thanks!

I would say it was viable. My only minor concern is that the 1TB drive is 5400rpm (standard for laptops) rather than 7200rpm (expected for desktops). In my experience the difference in class can make a substantial difference to performance and reliability, but you've also managed to sync the blockchain on it without any mention of it being a painfully slow process.

We'll probably want to wipe the other partial blockchain copy that I expect you have eating up storage on your SSD, but keep everything else installed as is.

Okay, a few things.
Armory by default is set up to automatically run a background version of bitcoin which downloads the blockchain for you. Smart, right? Unfortunately when things go wrong it isn't obvious where things have broken so we (or at least I do) tend to recommend that you opt for a more manual setup.
For day to day this basically means that you keep doing what you are doing now. You open Bitcoin Core, let it sync, keep it open once complete and then open Armory. Works for me, hopefully acceptable for you. I've had to get Armory to rescan and rebuild a few times in the past 2 years but nothing drastic and usually related to client upgrades.

Before that, we need:

• a configuration file to tell Armory where to look for the blockchain and where to store the Armory database
• another config file to make sure Bitcoin Core is looking in the same place and allows Armory access to the information it needs.

To do that I need some information from you on where things are stored and where they should be stored. I can give you correct config files and tell you where to place them. Nothing complicated, just text files.

You've mentioned that the HDD is the D: drive which is a good start.
- Where have you downloaded the blockchain to on D: ? If you don't know or you're not sure, the easiest way is to open up Bitcoin Core, then Window > Information. I need the value next to "Datadir" in this window. Should be "D:\yourpathhere"
- Where on D: do you want Armory to store its database?
- Where have you installed Bitcoin Core? (the program itself)
- Where have you installed Armory? (again, the program itself, you mentioned somewhere on D: too)

We'll also need to turn off the automatic bitcoind setting.

Well I do plan on keeping this Laptop for awhile.
So if you think it can be a viable dual drive setup I'll stay with it.

Should I just wipe off all the Bitcoin Core and Armory stuff and start over?
Or would you just recommend moving things around between the drives?

Perhaps a check list of some sort?
Once I have the wallet up I can access my coins and then can pay you for your time..............

Bitcoin and Armory see a lot of benefit when their data files are on a SSD but it has taken a while for SSD storage to come down in price. The blockchain has increased in size by ~50GB in the past 12 months, and will be about the same in the next 12. My fully synced blocks folder is at 236GB right now, nearly half of that 535GB SSD (ignoring Windows and anything else). I'd want a 1TB SSD to see me through if I planned to have that laptop for a while.

Up to you really but there is nothing stopping you from having a working setup with dual drives. I have Armory and Core installed to one drive, while Armory's DB and the blockchain are on a larger drive.
With some information from you I'm hoping to provide you with config files that you can just put in place. Should give you a nice stable setup

I'm at work, laptop is at home, but I wondered....

Would it be easier to to return this laptop and get one with a single larger SSD Drive
for the application, or is this dual drive setup workable for Core/Wallet applications?

I bought this G7 gaming laptop with the thinking that the addition of the second 1TB HDD was better than
a stand alone 535GB SSD laptop.... 

Lately I've been starting Bitcoin Core and leaving it open.
Then starting Armory.

I also been having trouble getting Armory to download and stay in the D: drive which is where Core is.
I'll download Armory to the D: drive. Then when it starts and runs, I can look in the directories and Armory files are in the C: drive 

So I think you're onto something here.
I'll try you recommendation tomorrow>

"What you want to do is open Armory and go to File > Settings.
Is there a value in the "Bitcoin Home Dir" box and is it the same folder that you have Bitcoin Core set up to use on your hard drive?
If no to either, change it to the correct directory and close Armory. Make sure ArmoryDB.exe has closed too before restarting Armory"

As I'm out of time for today.

Thanks for the help thus far. It is very much appreciated.

I'll report back the results later.

Cheers,
Mark

Okay following up on this.
I'm pretty sure Armory isn't looking in the correct location for the Bitcoin blockchain that Core has downloaded.
Sorry, I should've realised when I saw "Node Status" but I haven't done a fresh sync for quite some time. To my knowlege, Node Status displays the progress Core has made towards downloading the blockchain. Going by the block count you gave, your core installation is fully synced so this would make very little sense.

Unless you've configured Armory to tell Bitcoin Core otherwise, Bitcoin Core will download to %appdata%\Bitcoin by default. I expect there will be some blockchain files there now, using up space on your SSD.

What you want to do is open Armory and go to File > Settings.
Is there a value in the "Bitcoin Home Dir" box and is it the same folder that you have Bitcoin Core set up to use on your hard drive?
If no to either, change it to the correct directory and close Armory. Make sure ArmoryDB.exe has closed too before restarting Armory.

Let me know if it was/wasn't correct and see if that helps or changes the situation.
Unless it all magically works perfectly, please answer these questions from my previous post too

Great!

Not so great to be on the same spot an hour later.
I don't know how accurate that node progress percentage is but if 169113 is the 72% of blocks that you have to go, then 100% would be #234879 which can't be right. I could be making a huge math fail too!

Going to refresh my memory on a Win10 VM but this has made me think: how have you got Armory & Bitcoin Core set up to work together? Are you starting Bitcoin Core, leaving it open and then starting Armory? Or have you been closing Bitcoin Core?
In Armory under File > Settings is "Let Armory run Bitcoin Core/bitcoind in the background" checked or unchecked?

Core Information: Current block = 579869 Last Block = Sat June 8th 16:50:17 2019

Looks good.

Armory still stuck at 28%, 169113................

I'll let it play out for awhile

I deleted the chainstate and installed 0.18, ran Core to completion.
Deleted Armory databases and started the scan and rebuild process.

Armory is for sure loading much differently this time around. Instead of the "Node" loading quickly,
it is now taking it's sweet time and giving detailed info it never did before.

"Node Status" = 28% 169113 blocks remaining...............

Fingers crossed...............     We'll see how it goes........