Geth Mismatch of the highestBlock while syncing

Question

While syncing on my Ubuntu 16.04 machine on ropsten yesterday the highestBlock matched the current highestBlock

> eth.syncing
{
  currentBlock: 2587196,
  **highestBlock: 3528808**,
  knownStates: 3685462,
  pulledStates: 3676041,
  startingBlock: 0
}

while I had to restart for some reason now when I again start it today I see this.

> eth.syncing
{
  currentBlock: 2785412,
  **highestBlock: 3113093**,
  knownStates: 4120516,
  pulledStates: 4113759,
  startingBlock: 2729984
}

The highestBlock has changed. Earlier it was showing the correct highestBlock but now it is showing the incorrect one. Is this normal and will the geth client correct itself on the way ? The syncing is working normally.

System details
geth VERSION: 1.8.11-stable-dea1ce05
OS Ubuntu 16.04

Edit: The synchronisation has stopped at this state and is now stagnant and not progressing.

> eth.syncing
{
  currentBlock: 3116323,
  highestBlock: 3116388,
  knownStates: 27269500,
  pulledStates: 27259299,
  startingBlock: 3116323
}
> eth.blockNumber
0

Is this issue somehow related with this github issue https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/issues/16202

Answer 1

To start parity, if you already have chain data, you want it gone, run parity --light db kill.(don't worry, the new sync will download a good amount of the chain data and sync the rest)

Run parity --light. There is even a --gethflag to simulate a geth node if that is something you need.

For IPC with parity, there is a good comparative write up between parity and geth here