# Bitcoin Core Synch constantly timing out - Ping test 0ms, 0% packet loss - Wired LAN - No firewall

**URL:** https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391
**Category:** StartOS Support
**Created:** [June 2, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391 "2023-06-02T12:01:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/1 "2023-06-02T12:01:47Z")

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Self build EmbassyOne. Bitcoin Core intermittent and constantly timing out. Having to either restart or stop/start with veeery long restart periods. 150Mbs down | 150 Mbps up connection. Connected directly to router.

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### Author: ![start9dave](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/start9dave/32/6_2.png) [@start9dave](https://community.start9.com/u/start9dave)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/2 "2023-06-02T21:17:38Z")

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What are your hardware specs and how many services are you running?

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### Author: ![Raspysky4EF](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Raspysky4EF](https://community.start9.com/u/Raspysky4EF)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/3 "2023-06-05T14:27:53Z")

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I am having the exact same issue since the system update version 0.3.4~2. Sometimes bitcoin core has a yellow triangle and sometimes green dot. When it has a green dot, eletrs is spinning trying to sync. Its back and forth. Tried to restart and it never does. Just sits there at the “restart in progress” screen. Has this been answered or have you found a solution. The actual help on the issue from start9 is slim im noticing.

 ![Screenshot 2023-06-04 at 2.32.59 PM](https://community.start9.com/uploads/default/original/1X/6119c6fd98f7705868c6631aa57b26e24bdc96ab.jpeg)

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### Author: ![start9dave](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/start9dave/32/6_2.png) [@start9dave](https://community.start9.com/u/start9dave)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/4 "2023-06-05T14:48:16Z")

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What are your hardware specs?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Raspysky4EF](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Raspysky4EF](https://community.start9.com/u/Raspysky4EF)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/5 "2023-06-05T15:00:54Z")

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embassy one (canakit for umbrel) but installed embassy OS on SD card. 8G memory, 2TB drive. Been working great for 6-7 months.

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### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/6 "2023-06-06T15:16:16Z")

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Intel Pentium G3240 3.10Ghz 64 bit  
RAM: 8GB

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/7 "2023-06-06T15:20:34Z")

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Could the RAM on the Raspberry used in the self build be a contributing factor? I think it might be 2GB RAM?

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### Author: ![start9dave](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/start9dave/32/6_2.png) [@start9dave](https://community.start9.com/u/start9dave)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/8 "2023-06-06T15:21:48Z")

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You definitely need more than 2GB of RAM, and on a Pi, we highly recommend 8GB, as the 4GB model is known to have issues with Bitcoin.

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### Author: ![h0mer](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/h0mer/32/20_2.png) [@h0mer](https://community.start9.com/u/h0mer)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2023, 6:20am UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/9 "2023-06-07T06:20:37Z")

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I have the same issue after update to 0.3.4~2. Bitcoind timeout. Its on my Pi with 8gb of ram. I have no issues on the second one on x86. Same version of startOS.

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### Author: ![beglass](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@beglass](https://community.start9.com/u/beglass)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/10 "2023-06-11T17:04:15Z")

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Same hardware and I keep having the same issue as well. And only started after the update to 0.3.4~2

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### Author: ![beglass](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@beglass](https://community.start9.com/u/beglass)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/11 "2023-06-11T18:43:06Z")

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Seems to fix the issue when I hard restart (power off) the raspberry pi. But it inevitably acts up again.

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### Author: ![George](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/george/32/91_2.png) [@George](https://community.start9.com/u/George)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/12 "2023-06-11T22:55:32Z")

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@beglass @Raspysky4EF @h0mer @DonnieBrasco:

If you go to:  
Services \> Bitcoin Core \> Config \> RPC Settings \> Advanced  
What are your settings for:  
`Threads`  
`Work Queue`

Known good settings are:  
`Threads` 16  
`Work Queue` 128

It could be that yours are stuck lower than that and causing health checks and dependent services to fail for bitcoin.

Also, take a look at your ram usage @ System \> Monitor \> Memory  
What values are there for Total and Available?

If you have little ram left, try shutting down some services that you don’t actually use.

Last, if you’ve done all that and it looks good and yet the problems persist, it might be worth trying `System > System Rebuild`.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![beglass](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@beglass](https://community.start9.com/u/beglass)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/13 "2023-06-12T02:47:47Z")

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My work queue was at 64. Trying 128.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2023, 9:58am UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/14 "2023-06-16T09:58:09Z")

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Thanks very much for the input and recommendations George.

RPC settings for Threads and Work queue are the same as those you’ve indicated.  
RAM - Total: 1899.01MiB ; Available: 1304.50MiB; Used: 500MiB -

Only service currently running is Bitcoin Core.

I’ve considered System Rebuild option but hesitant as I don’t know the consequences of doing so on the progress made thus far - will I be starting from scratch?

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### Author: ![George](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/george/32/91_2.png) [@George](https://community.start9.com/u/George)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/15 "2023-06-18T16:53:39Z")

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A System Rebuild will only rebuild the docker containers of any services you have installed. Your data will be safe.

Total ram of less than 2GB is not ideal - I know it claims you have a lot of ram free since you only have bitcoin installed, but there is some bug on low-memory Pis \<8GB that we’ve been unable to explain which makes bitcoin absolutely crawl. You may just be experiencing this. Perhaps try our x86\_64 build and some cheap repurposed hardware or upgrade your Pi to an 8GB. Unfortunately that’s the best advise we can give after spending lots of time to try to figure out what’s wrong to no avail. It’s one reason we’re moving away from the Pi for builds w/ external drives, and don’t support the \<8GB pi anymore.

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### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2023, 11:04am UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/16 "2023-06-19T11:04:46Z")

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Thanks once again for a very helpful reply George. I’d like to consider a X86\_64 self build but I don’t seem to find any instructions / video on the hardware requirements and build instructions. I’m about as far from being proficient at tech builds as can be (the Raspberry Pi build was a challenge) Would you mind guiding me to any relevant information/instructions I may be missing?

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### Author: ![DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@DonnieBrasco](https://community.start9.com/u/DonnieBrasco)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/17 "2023-06-19T15:35:11Z")

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Ok. So I found some resources on x86\_64 option - As I understand it, it’s not a “build” per se. Rather it involves flashing a copy of Start9 OS on a pre-built mini PC? And I noticed a forum covering different types of compatible hardware ranging from Lenovo Thinkcentre to HP Mini. So as I understand all that would be required would be to obtain one of these with the adequate memory and storage, flash a copy of Start9 on to it, and go from there??

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![h0mer](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/h0mer/32/20_2.png) [@h0mer](https://community.start9.com/u/h0mer)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/18 "2023-06-19T16:06:57Z")

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Yes. This is correct.

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### Author: ![simono](https://community.start9.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@simono](https://community.start9.com/u/simono)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2023, 9:49am UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/20 "2023-10-27T09:49:01Z")

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Facing same problem here. I did a rebuild time ago: no improvement.

0% packet loss, ping around 25/45ms, download around 100Mbs  
Last ping check results:  
“271 packets transmitted, 271 received, 0% packet loss, time 270396ms  
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 25.504/32.620/116.403/8.612 ms”

Hardware: a laptop with Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU N3540 @ 2.16GHz / 2TB ssd / 8gb ram.

Services installed: Bitcoin Core, Electrs, Jam, LN Terminal, LND, Mempool, Ride The LN.

There are moments where my node is just unusable, bitcoin core fails and everything falls apart (sometimes only the synced section, sometimes both rpc and synced, sometimes remains 1 or 2 blocks behind). This is a big problem, did someone of you guys are facing this issue? Did you find a way to fix it?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![start9dave](https://community.start9.com/user_avatar/community.start9.com/start9dave/32/6_2.png) [@start9dave](https://community.start9.com/u/start9dave)
#### Post date: [November 2, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391/21 "2023-11-02T18:07:05Z")

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Unfortunately, your build is only slightly more powerful than a RasPi. Running an extensive Bitcoin stack is likely to only be viable for a short time with this hardware due to the growing resource consumption.

It’s also worth mentioning for any visitor to this thread that a healthcheck timeout is not necessarily indicative of a real problem. We have a bug that causes this message to be overly-aggressive, and it will be fixed in StartOS v040. You can check your Bitcoin logs to verify if you have a real problem or not.

[Next page](https://community.start9.com/t/bitcoin-core-synch-constantly-timing-out-ping-test-0ms-0-packet-loss-wired-lan-no-firewall/391.md?page=2)
