Hey everyone,
Hoping someone here can help a fellow Bitcoiner out. I’ve been running a Bitcoin full node (via Bitcoin Core) on my old Linux box for a while now, mostly just to support the network and feel like I’m doing my part. But lately, it’s been acting up — slow syncs, occasional crashes, and now it's refusing to stay connected to peers more than a few minutes at a time.
Here’s the basic setup:
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Ubuntu 22.04
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Bitcoin Core v25.x
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External SSD for blockchain data
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Decent internet (100Mbps stable)
I’ve tried:
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Restarting the node (of course)
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Checking disk health (all good)
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Port forwarding is set (8333 is open)
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Logs don’t show anything obviously broken, just keep dropping connections randomly
At this point I’m wondering — is this a software version thing, or maybe some recent update that broke compatibility? Anyone else facing similar issues with their node setup lately?
Also: If anyone has tips on best practices for long-term node stability, or maybe a lightweight monitoring script to catch issues early, I’d love to hear it. I’m not a total noob, but I’m far from a sysadmin wizard 😂
Appreciate any guidance you folks can offer — the community is what makes Bitcoin tick, and I’m grateful for all the knowledge you share.
Hey, thanks for the detailed write-up — sounds like you’ve already done a lot of solid troubleshooting. Respect for running a full node and sticking with it 💪
A few thoughts based on your setup and symptoms:
🔌 Peer Connectivity Issues
If you're dropping connections frequently, even with port 8333 open, it might be worth checking:
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ISP limitations — some ISPs silently throttle or limit inbound connections over time, especially on residential lines.
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UPnP — try disabling UPnP in
bitcoin.conf(upnp=0) and rely strictly on manual port forwarding. -
Connection slots — are you hitting any max connection limits in your config? If you’ve tweaked
maxconnections, maybe try increasing it (or remove it to revert to default).
🧠 Software Stability
Bitcoin Core v25.x should be pretty stable — but if you’re running a point release (like v25.0), check the release notes for known peer issues or upgrade to the latest minor patch if available. Also try starting it with -debug=net for more verbose peer connection logging.
⚙️ System Monitoring
For long-term stability and alerts, you might try:
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htoporglancesfor live monitoring CPU/mem/disk I/O -
A simple bash script that checks if
bitcoindis responding and restarts if not (cronjob every 10 mins) -
Log parsing with
grepto check for repeated disconnection patterns (grep disconnect ~/.bitcoin/debug.log)
Also, double check your SSD’s performance over time — even if the health check passes, throttling or overheating can cause slowdowns that aren’t immediately obvious.
🧱 Bonus Tip
If you’re running over Tor (either fully or as optional peers), try temporarily disabling it to see if that helps — Tor relays can sometimes be slow or unreliable.
