Peer Discovery Regression in v1.5.16+ (Issue #3168 Unresolved)

[wdsse]

System information

Geth version: geth version 1.5.17-d689f3bb-20250624 (geth 1.5.16 has the same problems)
OS & Version: Linux

After upgrading to v1.5.16 and later v1.5.17, the node is frequently unable to discover peers or maintain stable connections. Syncing becomes extremely unreliable — blocks are downloaded sporadically every few minutes, and then the node resumes searching for peers with almost no success.

This appears to be the same issue as described in #3168, which was unfortunately closed without resolution, though the underlying problem still persists.

Typical log output:

Jul 07 09:35:08 bsc1 sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:35:08.731] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:35:18 bsc1 sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:35:18.884] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:35:29 bsc1 sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:35:29.333] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
........
Jul 07 09:36:28 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:36:28.885] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:36:39 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:36:39.334] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:36:53 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:36:53.732] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:37:03 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:37:03.886] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:37:14 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:37:14.334] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:37:28 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:37:28.731] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:37:38 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:37:38.887] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:37:49 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:37:49.335] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:38:03 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:03.733] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:38:13 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:13.886] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:38:24 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:24.336] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:38:38 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:38.734] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:38:48 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:48.888] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:38:59 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:38:59.337] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:39:13 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:39:13.735] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:39:23 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:39:23.888] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:39:34 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:39:34.345] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:39:48 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:39:48.735] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:39:58 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:39:58.889] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:40:09 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:40:09.346] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57
Jul 07 09:40:23 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:40:23.736] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=5  static=57
Jul 07 09:40:33 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:40:33.889] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=7  static=57
Jul 07 09:40:44 bsc sh[3540979]: INFO [07-07|09:40:44.346] Looking for peers                        peercount=1 tried=44 static=57

All suggestions from issue #3168 and additional docs have been implemented:

• Latest known BootNodes added (from the another issue)
• Regenerated nodekey to ensure new enode

Not Caused by Hardware or Hosting
There are no hardware limitations: CPU, memory, disk, and network bandwidth are all well within safe operating limits.

This is not a hosting issue: I run multiple ethlike nodes (e.g., Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum) on the same infrastructure without any issues — only BSC nodes are affected.

Impact
After hardfork and mandatory upgrade, the current node version is effectively unusable for stable block syncing. Many operators are reporting the same issue but are left without workaround due to closure of the previous ticket.

[22november1963]

+1

[WTDuck2255]

Thx

[zzzckck]

noted, we will check the issue.

[emailtovamos]

@wdsse
Could you give details (config, flags/command etc) so that I can try reproducing it on my end?

[blibbers]

+1

The hardfork ruined our bsc nodes. But the bsc team just keeps saying there is nothing wrong.

Worth noting, removing the nodekey file as recommended in my issue previously did help a small amount.

[zzzckck]

+1

The hardfork ruined our bsc nodes. But the bsc team just keeps saying there is nothing wrong.

Worth noting, removing the nodekey file as recommended in my issue previously did help a small amount.

@blibbers could you provide the bsc.log? is it happened from the Maxwell hard fork?

[galaio]

Hi @wdsse , to be honest, this is most likely a problem with the quality of the connected node. Can you share the node configured in your config.toml?
Here:

[Node.P2P]
StaticNodes = ["xxx"]

In addition, you can set the log level to trace, which can help analyze connection problems.

[Node.LogConfig]
FilePath = "bsc.log"
MaxBytesSize = 10485760
Level = "trace"

[galaio]

By the way, I tried the official bootnode in BootstrapNodes, it's hard to find a peer to sync with now.

Here are some high-quality peers you can add to your StaticNodes in config.toml, which will help to sync quickly.

[Node.P2P]
NoDiscovery = false
BootstrapNodes = [
"enode://3063d1c9e1b824cfbb7c7b6abafa34faec6bb4e7e06941d218d760acdd7963b274278c5c3e63914bd6d1b58504c59ec5522c56f883baceb8538674b92da48a96@34.250.32.100:30311",
"enode://433c8bfdf53a3e2268ccb1b829e47f629793291cbddf0c76ae626da802f90532251fc558e2e0d10d6725e759088439bf1cd4714716b03a259a35d4b2e4acfa7f@52.69.102.73:30311",
"enode://571bee8fb902a625942f10a770ccf727ae2ba1bab2a2b64e121594a99c9437317f6166a395670a00b7d93647eacafe598b6bbcef15b40b6d1a10243865a3e80f@35.73.84.120:30311",
"enode://fac42fb0ba082b7d1eebded216db42161163d42e4f52c9e47716946d64468a62da4ba0b1cac0df5e8bf1e5284861d757339751c33d51dfef318be5168803d0b5@18.203.152.54:30311",
"enode://ad78c64a4ade83692488aa42e4c94084516e555d3f340d9802c2bf106a3df8868bc46eae083d2de4018f40e8d9a9952c32a0943cd68855a9bc9fd07aac982a6d@34.204.214.24:30311",
"enode://5db798deb67df75d073f8e2953dad283148133acb520625ea804c9c4ad09a35f13592a762d8f89056248f3889f6dcc33490c145774ea4ff2966982294909b37a@107.20.191.97:30311"
]
StaticNodes = [
"enode://accbc0a5af0af03e1ec3b5e80544bdceea48011a6928cd82d2c1a9c38b65fd48ec970ba17bd8c0b0ec21a28faec9efe1d1ce55134784b9207146e2f62d8932ba@100.24.63.118:30311",
"enode://16c7e98f78017dafeaa4129647d1ec66b32ee9be5ec753708820b7363091ceb310f575e7abd9603005e0e34d7b3316c1a4b6c8c42d7f074ed2eb4d073f800a03@54.152.209.205:30311",
"enode://ba88d1a8a5e849bec0eb7df9eabf059f8edeae9a9eb1dcf51b7768276d78b10d4ceecf0cde2ef191ced02f66346d96a36ca9da7d73542757d9677af8da3bad3f@54.81.15.224:30311",
"enode://c637c90d6b9d1d0038788b163a749a7a86fed2e7d0d13e5dc920ab144bb432ed1e3e00b54c1a93cecba479037601ba9a5937a88fe0be949c651043473c0d1e5b@34.244.120.206:30311",
"enode://bac6a548c7884270d53c3694c93ea43fa87ac1c7219f9f25c9d57f6a2fec9d75441bc4bad1e81d78c049a1c4daf3b1404e2bbb5cd9bf60c0f3a723bbaea110bc@3.255.117.110:30311",
"enode://94e56c84a5a32e2ef744af500d0ddd769c317d3c3dd42d50f5ea95f5f3718a5f81bc5ce32a7a3ea127bc0f10d3f88f4526a67f5b06c1d85f9cdfc6eb46b2b375@3.255.231.219:30311"
]

[huangyisan]

By the way, I tried the official bootnode in BootstrapNodes, it's hard to find a peer to sync with now.

Here are some high-quality peers you can add to your StaticNodes in config.toml, which will help to sync quickly.

[Node.P2P]
NoDiscovery = false
BootstrapNodes = [
"enode://3063d1c9e1b824cfbb7c7b6abafa34faec6bb4e7e06941d218d760acdd7963b274278c5c3e63914bd6d1b58504c59ec5522c56f883baceb8538674b92da48a96@34.250.32.100:30311",
"enode://433c8bfdf53a3e2268ccb1b829e47f629793291cbddf0c76ae626da802f90532251fc558e2e0d10d6725e759088439bf1cd4714716b03a259a35d4b2e4acfa7f@52.69.102.73:30311",
"enode://571bee8fb902a625942f10a770ccf727ae2ba1bab2a2b64e121594a99c9437317f6166a395670a00b7d93647eacafe598b6bbcef15b40b6d1a10243865a3e80f@35.73.84.120:30311",
"enode://fac42fb0ba082b7d1eebded216db42161163d42e4f52c9e47716946d64468a62da4ba0b1cac0df5e8bf1e5284861d757339751c33d51dfef318be5168803d0b5@18.203.152.54:30311",
"enode://ad78c64a4ade83692488aa42e4c94084516e555d3f340d9802c2bf106a3df8868bc46eae083d2de4018f40e8d9a9952c32a0943cd68855a9bc9fd07aac982a6d@34.204.214.24:30311",
"enode://5db798deb67df75d073f8e2953dad283148133acb520625ea804c9c4ad09a35f13592a762d8f89056248f3889f6dcc33490c145774ea4ff2966982294909b37a@107.20.191.97:30311"
]
StaticNodes = [
"enode://accbc0a5af0af03e1ec3b5e80544bdceea48011a6928cd82d2c1a9c38b65fd48ec970ba17bd8c0b0ec21a28faec9efe1d1ce55134784b9207146e2f62d8932ba@100.24.63.118:30311",
"enode://16c7e98f78017dafeaa4129647d1ec66b32ee9be5ec753708820b7363091ceb310f575e7abd9603005e0e34d7b3316c1a4b6c8c42d7f074ed2eb4d073f800a03@54.152.209.205:30311",
"enode://ba88d1a8a5e849bec0eb7df9eabf059f8edeae9a9eb1dcf51b7768276d78b10d4ceecf0cde2ef191ced02f66346d96a36ca9da7d73542757d9677af8da3bad3f@54.81.15.224:30311",
"enode://c637c90d6b9d1d0038788b163a749a7a86fed2e7d0d13e5dc920ab144bb432ed1e3e00b54c1a93cecba479037601ba9a5937a88fe0be949c651043473c0d1e5b@34.244.120.206:30311",
"enode://bac6a548c7884270d53c3694c93ea43fa87ac1c7219f9f25c9d57f6a2fec9d75441bc4bad1e81d78c049a1c4daf3b1404e2bbb5cd9bf60c0f3a723bbaea110bc@3.255.117.110:30311",
"enode://94e56c84a5a32e2ef744af500d0ddd769c317d3c3dd42d50f5ea95f5f3718a5f81bc5ce32a7a3ea127bc0f10d3f88f4526a67f5b06c1d85f9cdfc6eb46b2b375@3.255.231.219:30311"
]

it is useful, thank you sir!

[zeppelinen]

+1 on 1.5.16 and 1.5.17