eth getBalance always returns 0 in testnet

Question

I am developing an ethereum wallet api. I want to get the balance for specific address by using eth.getBalace() on running the following testnet:

alias geth = 'geth --ipcpath /home/tom/.ethereum/testnet/geth.ipc'
geth console

At this time, I can see the eth.syncing is true. And I sent 3 ether in http://faucet.ropsten.be:3001/. But I can get balace by using eth.getBalance() method.

How can I get balance in my local?

Answer 1

You are not connecting to the right network when starting geth, hence the 0 balance. The --ipcpath just tells geth where to store the IPC file when other local processes want to connect to your node. You need to specify the --testnet option to connect to Ropsten. It looks like you want to use the coinbase account for checking your balance, so you should also pass in your address with the --etherbase option.

alias geth = 'geth --ipcpath /home/tom/.ethereum/testnet/geth.ipc --testnet --etherbase \'YOUR_ADDRESS_HERE\''

You can get the full list of geth commands here.

Once geth starts, you'll also have to wait for your node to sync in order to get your balance.