I had a hard boot on my Start9 server, my router and my modem as a result of a UPS failure. Ever since, I am unable to connect to my private Electrs server with the same settings and have had to revert to the default public servers to get my balances and do transactions. All of my services on Start9 are showing green and the dependencies are all good. The only thing I have to go on right now are the following differences I’ve noticed, or other error messages:
“Error while reading proxy response” in logs for Bitcoin Core
“Could not connect:
SOCKS: Host unreachable. Check if the proxy server is running.” on Sparrow
Alert: Cannot connect to the provided Electrum server on BlueWallet
Does anyone have any advice or should I just start from scratch and rebuild the OS and do a fresh install on everything? I have a full recent backup on an external drive that I could do a restore to, but I am trying to find the best route through this. Everything has literally been working flawlessly, allowing me to operate in a maximally sovereign manner for over a year. The server has only been turned off once and it was smooth sailing even after that restart and sync. Thanks.
Hi Rexter, thanks for the reply. I am using .onion, same setup as before. What really has me puzzled is the proxy error I’m also seeing on the Bitcoin core log. I’ve never seen that before. It might not be related but I figure it probably is given the fact that the other errors are proxy errors.
Hi there. Thanks for your help. No I cannot. Here are the error messages that I get when trying to connect to the server front end via Tor from my iPhone and from my desktop PC terminal:
On Mobile:
This site can’t provide a secure connection
An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made.
NSURLErrorSecureConnectionFailed
On PC Terminal:
Onionsite Has Disconnected
Details: 0xF2 — Introduction failed, which means that the descriptor was found but the service is no longer connected to the introduction point. It is likely that the service has changed its descriptor or that it is not running.
I’d like to see your Tor logs. Please come see us in the Telegram support channels, where one of on can have you DM us the log. Or email the log, with a link to this forum.
Hi there! Sorry to hear this is still giving you trouble. I just wanted to breathe new life into this public thread so that others might chime in with some ideas. The original log you sent me, indicated that Tor was not completing it’s Bootstrap sequence, and was aborting at 95%. After I had you reset Tor on your Start9 server, it is now reaching 100%, but now the log indicates “Guard LauchYT” “is failing more circuits than usual. Most likely this means the Tor network is overloaded.”
I also see messages about your Internet speed changing. This all might indicate an unstable Internet connection. Please power-cycle any network equipment, and see if it then allows you to connect to your Start9 server, over Tor. You should also check any firewall settings, especially anything called “Smart” or “adaptive” firewall settings. Privacy enhancing technologies are often seen as suspicious, buy such systems.
I did another modem refresh after setting my modem firewall settings to default. Then hit refresh on electrs and copied the new connection url for BlueWallet and it worked over tor.
On Sparrow however, when I enter the new url and test the connection I get
“Could not connect.:
SOCKS: Host unreachable. Check if the proxy server is running.”
Getting close. Any ideas based on this new info? Thanks.
I can successfully SSH into my server from the desktop that I have the root cert installed on via command line, but it won’t accept the password to run startd to restart the daemon to see if that works. I figured it would be the same password. Hmm
Things were working over Tor for a short time last night to connect to the node via BlueWallet on mobile. And still getting a proxy error on Sparrow desktop. But BlueWallet connection has now stopped. And no longer able to connect to the server or other services via Tor on mobile. I am thinking it is a Tor issue.
It’s OK in general I can still use Bitcoin Core to do transactions with Sparrow desktop and the default network option on BlueWallet. I just miss being able to use the other services like file manager on mobile and being able to do things in the most sovereign secure way through my node for BTC stuff. Maybe I will try another TOR reset tonight.
Let’s go slow, and keep things simple. Then we can work our way up. The first thing I want to be sure of is, can you access your server’s dash screen from the Tor Browser, at your server’s .onion address?
Hi thanks for the reply. I have been away for a couple of days. I hope you had a good weekend. Here are the current results and error messages:
Attempted to connect to server dash screen using Tor Browser
Error:
Onion site has disconnected
The most likely cause is that the onion site is offline. Contact the onion site administrator.
Same attempt on iOS using Orbot
Error: This site can’t provide a secure connection. An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made. NSURLErrorSecureConnectionFailed
Thanks for your assistance. I will zap you some sats if you add me on Nostr lol.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Sep 09 03:16:33.658 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 0.0.0.0:9050
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Sep 09 03:16:33.658 [notice] Opened Socks listener connection (ready) on 0.0.0.0:9050
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Sep 09 03:16:33.658 [notice] Opening Control listener on 127.0.0.1:9051
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Sep 09 03:16:33.658 [notice] Opened Control listener connection (ready) on 127.0.0.1:9051
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 We compiled with OpenSSL 300000b0: OpenSSL 3.0.11 19 Sep 2023 and we are running with OpenSSL 300000b0: 3.0.11. These two versions should be binary compatible.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Tor 0.4.8.9 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.0.11, Zlib 1.2.13, Liblzma 5.4.1, Libzstd 1.5.4 and Glibc 2.36 as libc.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Tor can’t help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at Am I totally anonymous if I use Tor? | Tor Project | Support
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Read configuration file “/usr/share/tor/tor-service-defaults-torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Read configuration file “/etc/tor/torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 You specified a public address ‘0.0.0.0:9050’ for SocksPort. Other people on the Internet might find your computer and use it as an open proxy. Please don’t allow this unless you have a good reason.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Opening Socks listener on 0.0.0.0:9050
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Opened Socks listener connection (ready) on 0.0.0.0:9050
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Opening Control listener on 127.0.0.1:9051
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Opened Control listener connection (ready) on 127.0.0.1:9051
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Parsing GEOIP IPv4 file /usr/share/tor/geoip.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Parsing GEOIP IPv6 file /usr/share/tor/geoip6.
2024-09-08T21:16:33-06:00 Bootstrapped 0% (starting): Starting
2024-09-08T21:16:34-06:00 Starting with guard context “default”
2024-09-08T21:16:34-06:00 Signaled readiness to systemd
2024-09-08T21:16:34-06:00 Started tor@default.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP.
2024-09-08T21:16:34-06:00 New control connection opened from 127.0.0.1.
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 5% (conn): Connecting to a relay
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Opening Control listener on /run/tor/control
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Opened Control listener connection (ready) on /run/tor/control
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 10% (conn_done): Connected to a relay
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 14% (handshake): Handshaking with a relay
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 15% (handshake_done): Handshake with a relay done
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 75% (enough_dirinfo): Loaded enough directory info to build circuits
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 90% (ap_handshake_done): Handshake finished with a relay to build circuits
2024-09-08T21:16:35-06:00 Bootstrapped 95% (circuit_create): Establishing a Tor circuit
2024-09-08T21:17:06-06:00 Interrupt: exiting cleanly.
2024-09-08T21:17:06-06:00 Stopping tor@default.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP…
2024-09-08T21:17:06-06:00 tor@default.service: Deactivated successfully.
2024-09-08T21:17:06-06:00 Stopped tor@default.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP.
2024-09-08T21:17:06-06:00 tor@default.service: Consumed 1.016s CPU time.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Starting tor@default.service - Anonymizing overlay network for TCP…
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.653 [notice] Tor 0.4.8.9 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.0.11, Zlib 1.2.13, Liblzma 5.4.1, Libzstd 1.5.4 and Glibc 2.36 as libc.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.653 [notice] Tor can’t help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at Am I totally anonymous if I use Tor? | Tor Project | Support
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.653 [notice] Read configuration file “/usr/share/tor/tor-service-defaults-torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.653 [notice] Read configuration file “/etc/tor/torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Configuration was valid
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.704 [notice] Tor 0.4.8.9 running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.0.11, Zlib 1.2.13, Liblzma 5.4.1, Libzstd 1.5.4 and Glibc 2.36 as libc.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.704 [notice] Tor can’t help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at Am I totally anonymous if I use Tor? | Tor Project | Support
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.704 [notice] Read configuration file “/usr/share/tor/tor-service-defaults-torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.704 [notice] Read configuration file “/etc/tor/torrc”.
2024-09-08T21:17:07-06:00 Sep 09 03:17:07.705 [warn] You specified a public address ‘0.0.0.0:9050’ for SocksPort. Other people on the Internet might find your computer and use it as an open proxy. Please don’t allow this unless you have a good reason.
We’re not making any progress. The last log you sent me showed that Tor fully connected. This log shows it stopping at 95% again, just like the log you sent me before we did the Tor reset. I’m really starting to suspect your issue is a network issue. But that would mostly be outside the scope of what Start9 can help you with, as it’s specific to your network equipment. We already talked about turning off any network firewalls, that might be interfering with the Tor connection. But if you want to assume it’s not a network issue, the next logical step would be to re-flash the server with the Use Existing Drive recovery option. This will reinstall the OS, but use you existing service containers, which will keep them all intact. I do not think this is an issue with the service containers, so preserving them as is, should be fine. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, I think you may have to experiment with resetting, or replacing network equipment. Or perhaps you are in an area where your ISP doesn’t like Tor. In which case, you could configure your router as a VPN client, so as to bypass ISP censorship.
Ultimately, as I understand, you were able to resolve the issue by re-flashing the OS, and restoring from Backup. This is great! I’m glad you got it working again. But restoring from backup is best for disaster recovery purposes only, such as drive failure. This method will close all lightning channels, which in a high on-chain fee environment, could be expensive. Not to mention very annoying depending on the number of channels you had. In most cases, the Use Existing Drive recovery option is a better choice for restoring your server.