RPC error could not read file "global/pg_filenode.map": Input/output error

DIY Community Support
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1

First off, apologies if i use the wrong terminology. Non-technical

I’ve bought a miniPC to install StartOS on it and an external 2TB drive, to store the Bitcoin blockchain and some other stuff.

Bitcoin Core started synchronizing relatively well, but from ca. 80%+ it has kept giving me problems. Now sitting at 98%, but the system is permanently disconnecting and resyncing, it takes ages, and I read in the logs something about RPC.

Now the newest one is that this morning I went in to see the progress, and for some reason StartOS kicked me out and I needed to re login. When introducing my password it just does not work, this is the error I get:

RPC ERROR: Database Error error returned from database: could not read file “global/pg_filenode.map”: Input/output error

I guess this might be the “parent error” for Core not synchronizing?

I’ll turn off and on again, and see what happens. I wanted to write this before, so that I can copy the error message.

Thanks in advance for the support.

2

What are the specs of this mini PC? From your description of the problem, you might have made one of these mistakes…

  • Too little RAM
  • Your SSD connected via USB
  • An underpowered processor (so likely an old mini PC you bought used)
  • A cheap/slow drive
3

Thank you @StuPleb for your response. Maybe I even was to quick to say there was a problem, as Core just finally completed syncing. Now it’s electrs turn. Anyhow, I felt something was off, it had been at least 5 days with little to no progress, where I needed to restart a couple of times.

To your questions:

  • 8GB RAM
  • correct, 2TB SSD connected via USB (though theoretically 3.0). The internal memory is 256GB SSD
  • For what I read, processor Alder Lake N95, if that says anything
  • not sure about the drive
4

You’ve got three potential bottlenecks then.

The Bitcoin UTXO set is now above 8 gigs, so needing to move it in and out of RAM over and over to verify blocks makes 8GB RAM in 2025 a bottleneck.

While the processor should be completely fine despite being basic, and would be if you had, say, 12GB RAM, in the current situation it might be a bottleneck.

The drive, both its unknown read/write speed and it’s USB connection, maybe have been fine if it was the only bottle neck, but in light of the two issues above, it might well be a bottleneck now.

I think if you fixed just one of these things, you’d rsolved the problem. One that you might able to doing right away is open up the device and see if you can attach the drive internally. It should just work when booted back on.