[bug]: I'm completely unable to be synced with the Lightning network.

[drkhero]

• version of lnd - lnd version 0.17.4-beta commit=v0.17.4-beta
• which operating system (uname -a on *Nix) - macOS Sonoma
• version of btcd, bitcoind, or other backend - Bitcoin Core 26.0

---

I'm completely unable to be synced with the Lightning network. When I run lnd on the macOS terminal, I am flooded with error messages like this every few seconds:

When I type "lncli getinfo" in the macOS terminal, this is what I get:

"synced_to_chain": true,
"synced_to_graph": false.

For info, I'm running a Bitcoin Core pruned node.

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Perhaps the issue is in my lnd.conf or/and bitcoin.conf file ? Please help.

[saubyk]

Hi @drkhero is your node connected with any n/w peers? From the log it appears like a network connectivity issue

What's the output of lncli listpeers?

[drkhero]

@saubyk I just deleted my peers.dat bitcoin core file to get rid of problematic Bitcoin peers, and changed debuglevel to debug.

It's still saying "synced_to_graph = false".

Also, by manually connecting to some big network peers, do you mean I should try opening a channel with them and send funds?

In any case, here's a screenshot of the terminal log. I'm getting a lot more messages after enabling debug

[saubyk]

Also, by manually connecting to some big network peers, do you mean I should try opening a channel with them and send funds?

I meant, just adding more network peers so that your node gets data from other network graphs. Not opening channel or anything else.

In any case from the log it appears that the node is getting graph updates just fine. How long have you been trying to sync the graph? Are you keeping the node online all the time?

[drkhero]

@saubyk I've tried keeping it on for hours on end, closing/reopening dozens of times and nothing changes. It's running on my laptop, so it can't be on 24/7, only when I use the computer I can have it running. Usually it's for a few hours before I close it.

How do I add more network peers ? Could you let me know the exact terminal command I should type?

[saubyk]

Here's the command:

$ lncli connect --help

NAME:
   lncli connect - Connect to a remote lightning peer.

USAGE:
   lncli connect [command options] <pubkey>@host

More details here: https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/lightning/connect-peer

Also please note that it's critical for lightning nodes to be always online. I would not recommend running node on your work laptop which is periodically switched off. You need to get a dedicate device to run a lightning node, which must be on and online all the time.

[drkhero]

@saubyk Thanks. I ended up being able to connect to a node, opened a channel with them for arround 500k sats, but still unable to send any transactions.

Everytime I attempt a transaction, I get this error: "Payment status: FAILED, reason: FAILURE_REASON_INSUFFICIENT_BALANCE"

Even though I'm only trying to make a transaction for 5000 satoshis, and the channel size I opened was 500,000 satoshis. The channel I opened was with ACINQ.

[saubyk]

Is the channel opening transaction confirmed and the channel status active?

[drkhero]

@saubyk Yes, that's correct, the channel opening transaction was confirmed. I tried about 10 transactions since yesterday, and they all failed with the same error message.

I noticed here however that it says "active": false, so perhaps the channel status is inactive? Not sure why.

Here's what my terminal is logging when I type lncli listpeers:

 [
        {
            "active":  false,
            "remote_pubkey":  "censored",
            "channel_point":  “censored:1”,
            "chan_id":  "censored",
            "capacity":  "censored",
            "local_balance":  "censored",
            "remote_balance":  "0",
            "commit_fee":  "3140",
            "commit_weight":  "772",
            "fee_per_kw":  "2500",
            "unsettled_balance":  "0",
            "total_satoshis_sent":  "0",
            "total_satoshis_received":  "0",
            "num_updates":  "0",
            "pending_htlcs":  [],
            "csv_delay":  720,
            "private":  false,
            "initiator":  true,
            "chan_status_flags":  "ChanStatusDefault",
            "local_chan_reserve_sat":  "4000",
            "remote_chan_reserve_sat":  "4000",
            "static_remote_key":  false,
            "commitment_type":  "ANCHORS",
            "lifetime":  "1690",
            "uptime":  "1448",
            "close_address":  "",
            "push_amount_sat":  "0",
            "thaw_height":  0,
            "local_constraints":  {
                "csv_delay":  720,
                "chan_reserve_sat":  "4000",
                "dust_limit_sat":  "354",
                "max_pending_amt_msat":  "180000000",
                "min_htlc_msat":  "1",
                "max_accepted_htlcs":  30
            },
            "remote_constraints":  {
                "csv_delay":  144,
                "chan_reserve_sat":  "4000",
                "dust_limit_sat":  "546",
                "max_pending_amt_msat":  "396000000",
                "min_htlc_msat":  "1",
                "max_accepted_htlcs":  483
            },
            "alias_scids":  [],
            "zero_conf":  false,
            "zero_conf_confirmed_scid":  "0",
            "peer_alias":  "ACINQ",
            "peer_scid_alias":  "0",
            "memo":  ""
        }
    ]
}

the "censored" was added by me to protect my privacy

[saubyk]

If the channel opening transaction was confirmed and is more than 6 blocks deep, the channel status should be "active" : true. If for whatever reason the channel is not active (which seems to be the case for you), the transactions will not succeed.

• Is your node synced to chain and graph?
• What's the output of lncli pendingchannels and lncli listchannels?
• Can you share the channel point, so that we can inspect the transaction onchain?

[saubyk]

Also moving this to a discussion, as it's a troubleshooting request