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i've downloaded geth but i don't know if it's doing anything. the terminal says "Fatal: Error starting protocol stack: resource temporarily unavailable" when i try to start it. i'm not really sure what all info is needed to help me, this is all new to me. thanks for any help

Brandon Carpenter
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  • Hi there. Please take a look at the duplicate post. If that doesn't help, I'd suggest creating a new question which focuses on the error to start the protocol stack. – Richard Horrocks Jul 10 '17 at 18:05

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First, I would answer your question by saying, No, you have not started geth correctly, the error message is fatal (not sure why without further information). I would recommend downloading Mist wallet, that comes with geth in the back-end and provides a good user interface. https://github.com/ethereum/mist/releases

You haven't mentioned what platform/OS you are on.

xgabrielx
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  • Thanks for the response, I'm using a mac and I just downloaded and am opening up the mist wallet now. it says "downloading block 2,546,280 of 4,003,907," the ethereum wallet i was using prior to this was maybe downloading 1,000 blocks a day (on fast days). I just downloaded geth yesterday, and am trying to understand how to use it properly. i believe that fatal:error was when i tried to use the --fast command. it says something about "blockchain not empty-fast sync disabled" whenever i open geth. i also apologize for the lack of information in the original post. a lot of new info to understand – Brandon Carpenter Jul 10 '17 at 17:46
  • --fast is on by default now a days, but it only works on the first attempt, so if you start it, don't stop the download until it's done. Should take ~4-5h on a SSD and much longer if you have a HDD. – xgabrielx Jul 10 '17 at 17:48
  • ok, so if it's too late for me to use that option, what could i do instead? – Brandon Carpenter Jul 10 '17 at 18:03
  • Sorry i wasn't clear. when you download the blockchain it is stored in a directory called chaindata (location depends on OS/installation). When you start geth, or mist which in turn starts geth it checks the directory. If it's empty it does a fast sync, but if it's not it will run a normal sync resuming where you last left off. If you have a previous download, you can delete the chaindata directory, that will start a fast download next time. – xgabrielx Jul 10 '17 at 18:05
  • ok i think i understand, so how can i delete the chaindata directory? – Brandon Carpenter Jul 10 '17 at 18:42
  • Just delete it as you would any other directory on your computer. or use this geth command "geth removedb" – xgabrielx Jul 10 '17 at 18:44
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    ok, finally figured it out and it's moving a lot quicker now. thanks for your help and patience explaining things! – Brandon Carpenter Jul 11 '17 at 16:59