I'm using Bitcoin Core v0.14.0 on Windows 8.1. My PC wallet hasn't been touched for a while, and I'm trying to send some bitcoin from it. The client seems to be working fine and is synced with the network. I enter the destination address in the 'pay to' field, hit tab, and then the field turns red. I can't send any bitcoin at this point. Anyone know what's going on and how to fix this?
Are you sure you inputed the right address? And besides, the version of Bitcoin core you are using is quite outdated 0.14 .0 There have been lots of new releases over the years, consider updating to the latest version of Bitcoin Core, as newer versions often include bug fixes and improvements.
You can check here to see how to update your version
https://bitcoincore.org/en/releases/26.0/
It will be highlighted in red if the string is invalid.
Could it be that you're trying to send to a bech32/bech32m address (starts with "bc1")?
Because Bitcoin Core v0.14.0 doesn't support sending to SegWit addresses.
If not, try to check each characters since a Bitcoin address has checksum, one wrong character will invalidate it.
Step 1 before upgrading Bitcoin Core should be to make another backup of your wallet.dat, for instance on a new USB stick. Step 2 should be to create another backup on another stick.
Then you can start upgrading
FYI support for Windows 8.1 ended since last year[1], which means you're exposed to more security issue.
For additional context, Bitcoin Core support SegWit since version 0.13[2]. But support for Bech32 only added since version 0.16[3].
[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-8-1-support-ended-on-january-10-2023-3cfd4cde-f611-496a-8057-923fba401e93
[2] https://bitcoincore.org/en/2016/10/27/segwit-upgrade-guide/
[3] https://bitcoincore.org/en/releases/0.16.0/
IIRC it would show as a bad address if you try to send to a bech32/bech32m
Are you sure it's fully synced? It should be showing synced to block 836242.
Keep in mind the blockchain is over 500GB at the moment so you should have at least a 1 TB drive.
Just saying that since it is Win 8.1 and most of the machines running it are / were older & slower & less well equipped and back in 2013 - 2014 most PCs were coming with either a 256GB or 512GB drive.
-Dave