Plain language, no technical knowledge needed. Find your
situation below.
Your node moves through a few simple stages to connect. If it gets
stuck, this page tells you — in ordinary words — where it stopped and the
one thing to do about it. You never need to understand any error codes.
The normal flow (what "working" looks like)
1
Starting up — the
node launches on your machine.
2
Finding the
controller — it reaches out to the brain of the network.
3
Registering — it
introduces itself and gets an identity.
4
Measuring speed —
a ~3-second benchmark decides your tier.
5
Working —
connected and ready. You'll see a steady IN SYNC and
a heartbeat every few seconds.
When it's healthy, you'll see heartbeat lines appear
regularly — that's the node and controller saying hello to each other. Steady
heartbeats mean everything is fine.
If it's stuck — find your situation
"Can't reach the controller" / status stays "waiting"
The node can't find the brain of the network. Almost always one of:
The controller isn't running. It needs to be started and
left running in its own window. If you closed that window, start it again.
The address is wrong. The node is looking in one place
and the controller is somewhere else.
Fix: start the controller and leave its window open, then start
the node.
"The controller doesn't recognise this node"
The node has an old identity from a previous run, but the controller was
restarted with a clean memory. This is harmless — the node
automatically re-registers and continues. If it doesn't
recover within a minute, do a fresh start.
Fix: usually nothing — it self-heals.
"Wrong program is answering"
Something else on your computer is using the address the controller wants.
Stop the other program (or restart your machine), then start the controller.
Fix: free up the address, then start the controller.
The node keeps restarting or shows a long error
This usually means the software wasn't fully installed. Run the one-step
installer again — it checks and completes anything missing.
Fix: re-run the start/installer; it self-repairs.
The two things that fix almost everything
Make sure the controller is running and its window is open.
Do a fresh start. It clears old, confused state and begins
clean. Always safe.
How to check quickly
IN SYNC — connected and healthy. Done.
DEGRADED — connected but slow; self-corrects.
OFFLINE — not connected right now; local jobs
still work, and it reconnects on its own.
There's also a connection trace on the node dashboard that
lists each step in order and marks exactly where it stopped, in plain language.
Still stuck? The connection trace spells out the exact step that
failed and why — share it with whoever set up your node.