Invalid hex string in json-rpc-provider

[Augustinio]

Describe the bug
Whenever I try to call a method from a deployed contract I get the following error:

Error: invalid hex string (argument="value", value="-0x0e8800", code=INVALID_ARGUMENT, version=bytes/5.5.0)
    at Logger.makeError (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\logger\src.ts\index.ts:225:28)
    at Logger.throwError (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\logger\src.ts\index.ts:237:20)
    at Logger.throwArgumentError (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\logger\src.ts\index.ts:241:21)
    at hexStripZeros (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\bytes\src.ts\index.ts:304:16) 
    at hexValue (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\bytes\src.ts\index.ts:295:21)      
    at D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\providers\src.ts\json-rpc-provider.ts:646:35 
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at Function.JsonRpcProvider.hexlifyTransaction (D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\providers\src.ts\json-rpc-provider.ts:644:100)
    at D:\blockchain\tokenart\tokenart-contracts\node_modules\@ethersproject\providers\src.ts\json-rpc-provider.ts:210:60 
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5) {
  reason: 'invalid hex string',
  code: 'INVALID_ARGUMENT',
  argument: 'value',
  value: '-0x0e8800'
}

Reproduction steps
It happens on all contracts I dfeploy. Including on both Ganache and Rinkeby. Although it does not always happen on Rinkeby (there's times that it works fine).

const Contract = await ethers.getContractFactory("Contract");
const contract = await Contract.deploy();
console.log("Contract deployed to: ", contract.address) ;

console.log(await contract.someMethod());

Environment:
Node v17.1
Windows 10
Ganache 2.5.4
Package:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@ensdomains/ens-contracts": "0.0.8",
    "@openzeppelin/contracts": "4.3.3"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers": "^2.0.2",
    "@nomiclabs/hardhat-etherscan": "2.1.7",
    "@nomiclabs/hardhat-waffle": "2.0.1",
    "@openzeppelin/hardhat-upgrades": "1.12.0",
    "ethers": "5.5.1",
    "hardhat": "2.6.8",
    "hardhat-contract-sizer": "2.1.1"
  }
}

Search Terms
Hexlify, invalid_argument, negative hex string, json-rpc-provider

[c194]

I just started having this same issue too, only slightly different hex string value:

Error: invalid hex string (argument="value", value="-0x0bb558", code=INVALID_ARGUMENT, version=bytes/5.5.0)
      at Logger.makeError (node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/src.ts/index.ts:225:28)
      at Logger.throwError (node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/src.ts/index.ts:237:20)
      at Logger.throwArgumentError (node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/src.ts/index.ts:241:21)
      at hexStripZeros (node_modules/@ethersproject/bytes/src.ts/index.ts:304:16)
      at hexValue (node_modules/@ethersproject/bytes/src.ts/index.ts:295:21)
      at /home/gblink/projects/gold-hunt/node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/src.ts/json-rpc-provider.ts:646:35
      at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
      at JsonRpcProvider.hexlifyTransaction (node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/src.ts/json-rpc-provider.ts:644:100)
      at EthersProviderWrapper.JsonRpcProvider.prepareRequest (node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/src.ts/json-rpc-provider.ts:514:40)
      at EthersProviderWrapper.<anonymous> (node_modules/@ethersproject/providers/src.ts/json-rpc-provider.ts:554:27)

It also is preventing me from interacting with any of my contracts. I had a test suite of known-working tests that now all fail with this same error message.

I have reinstalled NodeJS and all of my dependencies from scratch but was unable to resolve the issue.

[Augustinio]

@c194 are you on hardhat as well? I might try truffle to see if it makes a difference.

[c194]

@Augustinio Yes - in my case, I had set gas: 30000000 in my hardhat.config which I eventually figured out through trial and error was the root cause of the problem. Switching it to gas: 30_000_000 resolved the issue, so perhaps verify that all of the settings in your config are correct. Hope this helps! Error message could certainly be more helpful lol

[PaulMuller]

same problem here

Error: invalid hex string (argument="value", value="-0x05c1e8", code=INVALID_ARGUMENT, version=bytes/5.5.0)

Reinstall not helping

{ "devDependencies": { "@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers": "^2.0.0", "@nomiclabs/hardhat-etherscan": "^2.1.8", "@nomiclabs/hardhat-waffle": "^2.0.0", "bignumber.js": "^9.0.1", "bn.js": "^5.2.0", "chai": "^4.2.0", "ethereum-waffle": "^3.4.0", "ethers": "^5.0.0", "hardhat": "^2.6.8" }, "dependencies": { "@chainlink/contracts": "^0.2.2", "@openzeppelin/contracts": "^4.4.0", "@uniswap/lib": "^4.0.1-alpha", "@uniswap/v2-core": "^1.0.1", "web3": "^1.7.0" } }

[PaulMuller]

OMG, i am fiugured out.

Solved by replacing gas property in network configuration by gasLimit
Look like this is related with
node_modules@ethersproject\providers\src.ts\json-rpc-provider.ts : line 644

[ricmoo]

I don’t think ethers does any maths on values, so it shouldn’t be overflowing anything.

I do recall hardhat does some math to accommodate intrinsic gas costs or something like that?

@alcuadrado?

[alcuadrado]

That sounds like a possible source for this error. We are disabling that functionality by default pretty soon.

More info: NomicFoundation/hardhat#2159

[artifynft]

Solved by replacing gasPrice property in network configuration (hardhat.config.js) by gasLimit. This means documentation on BNB Test net (https://docs.bnbchain.org/docs/BSCtestnet) is misleading and caused this error. By default settings should be working. It was giving error while deploying the contract, and when changed the gasPrice to gasLimit (which make sense too) issue got resolved and contract got deployed.
thank you PaulMuller for hinting about it! You saved my day :)