<p>A node that is very close to the current chaintip (no more than 200 minutes behind the current chaintip) will immediately start downloading blocks.</p>
<p>Nodes that have fallen further behind from the current chaintip, will behave just like for initial synchronization. Such a node will first acquire descriptions of its peers’ best chaintips, then synchronize the block header chain from a single peer, and finally download the block data from multiple peers in parallel.</p>
<p>Since you say you only bring your node online every few days, you may have had bad luck with the first peer that you requested the block header chain from. If that peer is providing data slowly, it may seem like nothing is happening for a while.</p>
<p>As Pieter suggested in the comments on your question, just waiting a bit longer (10-20 minutes instead of one minute) will likely resolve any sort of issues with slow peers.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-03T11:38:22.603Z
Extremely helpful, thank you!
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-02T18:25:02.337Z
2024-01-02T18:32:18.920Z
2024-01-02T18:32:18.920Z
Murch
<p>I have bitcoin core version 25 and the blockchain is fully synchronized. Every 2-3 days I open up core to sync with the newest blocks. When i am syncing the newest blocks from the past few days the block just gets stuck randomly almost like core freezes. I don't get the spinning circle and if I quit core and reopen it the blocks end up syncing. It usually freezes two times before succesfully synching to most recent block. I used to be able to do this without it ever freezing like this.</p>
<p>What could be causing this issue?</p>
<p>I looked into the debug log. There is a part after the last block that synced it says the following: skipped DNS seeding, dnsseed thread exit. Imported mempool transactions from disk: 2876 succeeded, 359 failed, 0 already there, 0 waiting for installation broadcast. Does this help anyone?</p>
<p>This is the only thing I see In debug log after every freeze. Only thing that is different is number of failed or successes from disk.</p>
<p>Also important to note I have core running on an ssd and I had to switch the format from ExFAT  to APFS after mac sonoma update a few months back. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.</p>
<p>Should I try redownloading most recent bitcoin core? Not sure what to do and this is making me not want to run a node at all...</p>
<p>Also if I have to start from scratch and delete core from sdd and start all over from genesis block am I safe to delete everything off sdd? I have everything on a hardware wallet so I'm not using core wallet.</p>
<p>Any assistance here from a pro would be greatly appreciated. I'm not a coder or computer science person so this is already cumbersome for me but I'm trying. I posted a few days ago but never got a resolution and this thread is a bit more detailed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T17:40:54.750Z
bitcoind (command-line) or bitcoin-qt (GUI)? Does it hang completely, or does it just not make progress syncing? Have you tried waiting, if so, for how long? Do you have any open connections to the network?
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:16:52.707Z
@PieterWuille what do you mean by bitcoind or bitcoin qt? I am  on version 25 looking at the debug log. I've tried waiting a few minutes but not long. I guess my thought process would be why wait any longer then a few minutes if all other blocks are syncing fast. As far as connection I usually have 10 or more connections looks like debug log shows connected to peers
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:23:57.123Z
Sometimes a peer stalls, and it takes a few minutes for bitcoin core to decide to kick it and switch to another peer. Are you using the user interface (like, do you have a Bitcoin Core visual window you see), or the command line interface (as in on a terminal, in text mode)?
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:32:34.363Z
@PieterWuille I have the syncing screen that I'm looking at where I can see a block is synching and when it starts to pause Once block Is paused I wait a min or two shut it down and go to debug log. That's where I see the issues I mentioned in my question.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:41:55.767Z
Does this answer your question? [Bitcoin core synchronizing gets stuck on block](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/121169/bitcoin-core-synchronizing-gets-stuck-on-block)
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:46:49.697Z
I suggest waiting a bit longer (say, 10-20 minutes) to see if it doesn't fix itself
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T18:59:44.167Z
@PieterWuille I will try that next time. If  that does not fix it what do you recommend?
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T19:00:53.850Z
@RedGrittyBrick that was my original post and unfortunately did not help
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T20:51:36.213Z
@PieterWuille Also if you dont mind answering this last question, appreciate your help  If I have to start from scratch and delete core from ssd completely and start all over with new download and resyncing from genesis block am I safe to delete everything off ssd? I have everything on a hardware wallet so I'm not using core wallet.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-30T23:21:55.260Z
You can edit the original question to add new information rather than starting a new "question". The aim of this website is to build up a repository of good answers to common questions that other people may also have in the future. By repeating the question you make it harder for people to find the good answer.  By only having answers in comments it looks like the question only has no answer and future people seing just the title with 0 answers may not realise that there is useful information. You can post an answer too.  Using the site the way it was intended pays back the help you receive.
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-31T00:13:18.387Z
@RedGrittyBrick understand will make sure of that in the future. New to the site so still learning. If you can help with my above question it would be appreciated.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-12-31T17:00:41.420Z
@PieterWuille waiting about 10min resolved the issue
John
<synchronization>
Block Stuck With Bitcoin Core Need Help
John
# Block Stuck With Bitcoin Core Need Help

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-12-30)

I have bitcoin core version 25 and the blockchain is fully synchronized. Every 2-3 days I open up core to sync with the newest blocks. When i am syncing the newest blocks from the past few days the block just gets stuck randomly almost like core freezes. I don't get the spinning circle and if I quit core and reopen it the blocks end up syncing. It usually freezes two times before succesfully synching to most recent block. I used to be able to do this without it ever freezing like this.

What could be causing this issue?

I looked into the debug log. There is a part after the last block that synced it says the following: skipped DNS seeding, dnsseed thread exit. Imported mempool transactions from disk: 2876 succeeded, 359 failed, 0 already there, 0 waiting for installation broadcast. Does this help anyone?

This is the only thing I see In debug log after every freeze. Only thing that is different is number of failed or successes from disk.

Also important to note I have core running on an ssd and I had to switch the format from ExFAT to APFS after mac sonoma update a few months back. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Should I try redownloading most recent bitcoin core? Not sure what to do and this is making me not want to run a node at all...

Also if I have to start from scratch and delete core from sdd and start all over from genesis block am I safe to delete everything off sdd? I have everything on a hardware wallet so I'm not using core wallet.

Any assistance here from a pro would be greatly appreciated. I'm not a coder or computer science person so this is already cumbersome for me but I'm trying. I posted a few days ago but never got a resolution and this thread is a bit more detailed.

**Tags:** synchronization

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: bitcoind (command-line) or bitcoin-qt (GUI)? Does it hang completely, or does it just not make progress syncing? Have you tried waiting, if so, for how long? Do you have any open connections to the network?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 what do you mean by bitcoind or bitcoin qt? I am  on version 25 looking at the debug log. I've tried waiting a few minutes but not long. I guess my thought process would be why wait any longer then a few minutes if all other blocks are syncing fast. As far as connection I usually have 10 or more connections looks like debug log shows connected to peers  
> **username_1**: Sometimes a peer stalls, and it takes a few minutes for bitcoin core to decide to kick it and switch to another peer. Are you using the user interface (like, do you have a Bitcoin Core visual window you see), or the command line interface (as in on a terminal, in text mode)?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I have the syncing screen that I'm looking at where I can see a block is synching and when it starts to pause Once block Is paused I wait a min or two shut it down and go to debug log. That's where I see the issues I mentioned in my question.  
> **username_2**: Does this answer your question? [Bitcoin core synchronizing gets stuck on block](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/121169/bitcoin-core-synchronizing-gets-stuck-on-block)  
> **username_1**: I suggest waiting a bit longer (say, 10-20 minutes) to see if it doesn't fix itself  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I will try that next time. If  that does not fix it what do you recommend?  
> **username_0**: @username_2 that was my original post and unfortunately did not help  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Also if you dont mind answering this last question, appreciate your help  If I have to start from scratch and delete core from ssd completely and start all over with new download and resyncing from genesis block am I safe to delete everything off ssd? I have everything on a hardware wallet so I'm not using core wallet.  
> **username_2**: You can edit the original question to add new information rather than starting a new "question". The aim of this website is to build up a repository of good answers to common questions that other people may also have in the future. By repeating the question you make it harder for people to find the good answer.  By only having answers in comments it looks like the question only has no answer and future people seing just the title with 0 answers may not realise that there is useful information. You can post an answer too.  Using the site the way it was intended pays back the help you receive.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 understand will make sure of that in the future. New to the site so still learning. If you can help with my above question it would be appreciated.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 waiting about 10min resolved the issue  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-01-02. Score: 2

A node that is very close to the current chaintip (no more than 200 minutes behind the current chaintip) will immediately start downloading blocks.

Nodes that have fallen further behind from the current chaintip, will behave just like for initial synchronization. Such a node will first acquire descriptions of its peers’ best chaintips, then synchronize the block header chain from a single peer, and finally download the block data from multiple peers in parallel.

Since you say you only bring your node online every few days, you may have had bad luck with the first peer that you requested the block header chain from. If that peer is providing data slowly, it may seem like nothing is happening for a while.

As username_1 suggested in the comments on your question, just waiting a bit longer (10-20 minutes instead of one minute) will likely resolve any sort of issues with slow peers.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Extremely helpful, thank you!  

---

