0.9.1 Ethereum Wallet app installation, downloading blockchain, and importing existing wallet

[ericjarvies]

Version: `0.9.0`
OS & Version: windows/linux/osx
Node version: `geth 1.7.0-stable-6c6c7b2a` 
Number of blocks synchronized: 4,330,035

• Removed all traces of Ethereum Wallet, Mist Browser, Geth, and all related folders/files.
• Installed Ethereum Wallet 0.9.1 and launched app, kept it at the initial splash screen (where one can ‘select either main or test network’ or simply ‘launch application’). From here I monitored the blockchain download status.
• Took 2 1/2 hours to download blockchain from this initial splash window.
• Performed speed tests a few minutes after it began, half way through, and a few minutes before it ended.
• • First speed test was 41ms ping & 30Mbps download & 10Mbps upload and Ethereum Wallet downloaded 100,000 blocks in ~45 seconds.
• • Second speed test was 55ms ping & 19Mbps download & 9Mbps and Ethereum Wallet downloaded 100,000 blocks in ~365 seconds.
• • Third speed test was 51ms ping & 15Mbps download & 8Mbps and Ethereum Wallet downloaded 100,000 blocks in ~900 seconds.
• Not all blocks would download, so the ‘use the main network’ option was selected, and an existing wallet was dropped into place, and then app crashed.
• Restarted app, wallet was recognized. At this point 12,451 .ldb files had been downloaded consuming 25.48GBs.
• Another 2 hours were spent downloading additional blocks and chain structure, this time from the secondary splash screen (the one that is displayed after having selected the network and a wallet)
• At this point -12,680 .ldb files had been download consuming 26.48GBs.
• Secondary splash screen indicated “downloading block 4,329,826 of 4,329,929” and “chain structure 7,613,940 of 7,663,292.”
• Closed/launched app again. This time secondary splash screen showed “downloading block 4,329,826 of 4,329,954” and “chain structure 1 of 1x.” The chain structure kept counting upward until it reached ~6 million, at which time the secondary splash screen dissapeared and the primary GUI screen appeared... and not ETH in the wallet, and 128 blocks remaining, and it sat there for 10-15 minutes, at which point I closed the app.
• Launched app, let is sit on secondary splash screen for a while, as it counted arbitrarily, going up and down in value. After a few minutes, it closed, and main GUI screen opened, and ETH was present. Closed the app.
• Launched app, and no ETH present. Waited and waited, and nothing. Closed app.
• Launched app, secondary splash screen counted upwards, would fall back down to a lower number, count upwards again, until a few moments later, it closed and GUI screen opened, and ETH was present.
• Have closed and launched app a few times since, and everything is working as it should, which is to say my ETH balance is correctly represented.

Apart from the few seconds that it took to install the app, the chain structure and blocks took under two hours to download (mas o menos). It 'should' have been completed at this point, as was the case for the 0.9.0 and 0.8.x installations before it. But, it took another couple of hours of having to launch and close the app, and witness unusual behavior.

For a first time user of Ethereum (or any blockchain), problems like these would be terribly difficult to resolve. Yesterday I spent 12 hours installing and downloading blocks and chain structure, reading various issues and comments, and trying numerous possible fixes in an effort to simply -and only- get my wallet's ETH to show up. Tonight I spent ~6 hours getting it to work, and I am certainly no novice, nor am I new to blockchains, but having spent some ~20 hours just trying to get my ETH to show up... well, that is not good.

Whilst there are no doubt many other features and functionalities that are needed/wanted/required, having an app that simply installs and works is of paramount importance, as it pertains to new users giving it a try. Assuredly, the majority of my Facebook friends, family and associates would not (could not) survive this process, and would therefore abandon it, hence, miss out on it.

Here is the log file for the above mentioned experience (I combined all of the node.log.x files into one txt file). Hopefully it may shed some light on the problem.

Eric

node.log.txt

Here are some screenshots of the secondary splash & GUI screens in chronological, beginning AFTER the chain structure and blocks had supposedly completed downloading;

[serga76]

Это какое то издевательство... Скачал 4,3 млн блоков, а последние 100 блоков мусолит уже кучу времени! В чем дело?

[ericjarvies]

Закройте и запустите приложение, и оставайтесь на заставке, чтобы отслеживать структуру цепи и загружать блоки. Позвольте автозапуску GUI с экрана заставки. Если главный GUI не показывает ETH, закройте и повторите попытку.

[serga76]

Жуть, как по минному полю идешь...
С установкой и обновлением разобрался. Теперь, после того как сформировал в кошельке адрес и закинул туда эфиров у меня перестал запускаться кошелек. Появляется заставка с надписями "Ethereum node up-to-date" далее "Ethereum node starting up" а за тем "Ethereum node connected". И все, дальше никаких движений. Раньше появлялось окно с информацией о количестве блоков и надпись "Launch application", а теперь такое окно не появляется. В чем может быть проблема?

[serga76]

Разобрался сам со своей проблемой. Удаляешь папку "lightchaindata" и кошелек нормально грузится. Однако мудреный у вас кошелек...

[AndyEdmonds]

I had a similar experience on Windows Server 2012. This same server runs a Bitcoin node with no problems. A couple of months ago I downloaded whatever version was available then, and also found the system hung.
My connectivity is good, the server is fast with a Xeon and 12GB of ram. I'm a very experienced programmer and application developer. I want to like Etherium, but stuff like this is fatal. You need to fix this before anything else.

[ericjarvies]

I want to like Ethereum too.

At this point, and imho, the Ethereum Wallet should be abandoned, so that only the Mist Browser is available to users.

When Mist is download and launched for the first time, it should immediately connect to a proxy node so that wallet functionality is fully functional from the get-go. The user should not be presented any advanced options whatsoever... as advanced options can -and will- be accessed by advanced user via the menu bar and/or elsewhere.

The obvious blockchain problems and the crashing problems (like when adding existing wallet) should be immediately fixed, and problems such as form fields acting strange, and form submissions not changing state -after a given action, and various other bugs and nuances.... not to mention wording and herding issues need serious improvement.

Otherwise, I want to like Ethereum :-)

[serga76]

2 дня назад перечислил на свой кошелек Эфиры. Увидеть их и приобрести Token смог только посредством lightchaindata. Так как кошелек с lightchaindata не грузился, я удалил эту папку и стал пользоваться обычным способом. Эфиры свои я при этом не видел до сегодняшнего дня. Сегодня обновил кошелек, увидел Light Client и воспользовался им. Теперь вижу на балансе эфиры. Token, который я приобрел увидеть в приложении Ethereum Wallet до сих пор не могу . Его наличие на балансе кошелька я вижу только через Etherscan.io. Как мне увидеть наличие Token на балансе через установленное на моем компьютере приложение Ethereum Wallet?

[ericjarvies]

Контракты> Пользовательские токены> Ток для просмотра

[serga76]

Спасибо!

[fulldecent]

Syncing will take a long time. Some of the people here seeing this issue are "stuck" just because they have not waited the full 7 days to sync. And some people may have waited the full seven days but another issue (connectivity, peer issues) have conspired against them. In these cases, the "stuck" experience is consistent with Mist's full node functionality and this issue is not actionable.

HOWEVER, if you believe that Mist should start and open right away and then sync later, then please consider #3476. That issue is actionable and changes the user experience and the design of the Mist project. Please give us a comment or thumbs up there if you think that actionable solution helps you.