The method eth_getBalance does not exist/is not available

Question

I'm trying to follow the simple "Getting Started with Geth" page instructions but it is not written very well and I'm doing something wrong. This is the page I'm looking at:Getting Started with Geth

I am using Ubuntu 20.04. This is what I've done so far:

clef init
clef newaccount //(twice, created 2 accounts)

These accounts were created at /home/ubuntu/.ethereum/keystore

Next I did

clef --keystore /home/geth/keystore --chainid 5 (I created a /geth/keystore folder in the /home directory)

I got this message:

INFO [04-10|12:55:04.440] Using CLI as UI-channel
INFO [04-10|12:55:04.702] Loaded 4byte database                    embeds=146841   locals=0 local=./4byte-custom.json
WARN [04-10|12:55:04.702] Failed to open master, rules disabled    err="failed s  tat on /root/.clef/masterseed.json: stat /root/.clef/masterseed.json: no such fi  le or directory"
INFO [04-10|12:55:04.702] Starting signer                          chainid=5 key  store=/home/ubuntu/.ethereum/keystore light-kdf=false advanced=false
DEBUG[04-10|12:55:04.703] FS scan times                            list="82.335µ  s" set="7.149µs" diff="3.942µs"
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.703] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=ledger ve  ndor=11415 failcount=1 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
DEBUG[04-10|12:55:04.703] Ledger support enabled
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.703] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=trezor ve  ndor=21324 failcount=1 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
DEBUG[04-10|12:55:04.703] Trezor support enabled via HID
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.703] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=trezor ve  ndor=4617  failcount=1 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
DEBUG[04-10|12:55:04.703] Trezor support enabled via WebUSB
INFO [04-10|12:55:04.703] Smartcard socket file missing, disabling err="stat /ru  n/pcscd/pcscd.comm: no such file or directory"
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.704] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=ledger ve  ndor=11415 failcount=2 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.704] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=trezor ve  ndor=21324 failcount=2 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
ERROR[04-10|12:55:04.704] Failed to enumerate USB devices          hub=trezor ve  ndor=4617  failcount=2 err="failed to initialize libusb: libusb: unknown error [  code -99]"
INFO [04-10|12:55:04.704] Audit logs configured                    file=audit.lo  g
DEBUG[04-10|12:55:04.704] IPCs registered                          namespaces=ac  count
INFO [04-10|12:55:04.704] IPC endpoint opened                      url=/root/.cl  ef/clef.ipc
------- Signer info -------
* extapi_version : 6.1.0
* extapi_http : n/a
* extapi_ipc : /root/.clef/clef.ipc
* intapi_version : 7.0.1

Next I did this command: geth --goerli --syncmode "light" --http --signer=/root/.clef/clef.ipc because I saw this line displayed in the previous command: * extapi_ipc : /root/.clef/clef.ipc

Then it started syncing the Goerli network. Then I sent one of my addresses some "GOETH" using a faucet.

I wanted to check if I received anything by using the following command:

web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance("<my_address>"),"ether ") and got this error:

Error: the method eth_getBalance does not exist/is not available at web3.js:6347:37(47) at web3.js:5081:62(37) at :1:28(7)

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Assuming Clef and Geth are both running without errors, when you open a console make sure you attach to the correct geth.ipc, which you can find in the output of the geth command you included above. I ran into this problem when I pasted the addresses wrong and ended up running geth attach /path/to/clef/clef.ipc, when it should be:

geth attach /path/to/geth/geth.ipc

From inside that console, run web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(XXX), "ether") and the methods should all be there. If not, you might have to add --rpcapi="db,eth,net,web3,personal" when starting geth (from this answer).

However, you might find that Clef can't find your accounts, since the keystore you used to create them is different from the one you used when launching Clef. You can do clef newaccount --keystore /home/geth/keystore (or use the default keystore when opening clef).