diff --git a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
index bb53a632e862..fd7c1ee7d6b2 100644
--- a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
+++ b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
@@ -797,6 +797,13 @@ func dbHasLegacyReceipts(db ethdb.Database, firstIdx uint64) (bool, uint64, erro
 	if numAncients < 1 {
 		return false, 0, nil
 	}
+	// If offline block-pruning has advanced the freezer tail past firstIdx,
+	// scanning from position 0 will fail with "out of bounds" on the first
+	// Ancient() call. Clamp firstIdx to the current tail so we scan only
+	// the accessible range.
+	if tail, terr := db.Tail(); terr == nil && tail > firstIdx {
+		firstIdx = tail
+	}
 	if firstIdx >= numAncients {
 		return false, firstIdx, nil
 	}
diff --git a/core/rawdb/database.go b/core/rawdb/database.go
index 6f09c2324267..a712503cc5e9 100644
--- a/core/rawdb/database.go
+++ b/core/rawdb/database.go
@@ -226,14 +226,22 @@ func NewDatabaseWithFreezer(db ethdb.KeyValueStore, ancient string, namespace st
 	// it to the freezer content.
 	if kvgenesis, _ := db.Get(headerHashKey(0)); len(kvgenesis) > 0 {
 		if frozen, _ := frdb.Ancients(); frozen > 0 {
-			// If the freezer already contains something, ensure that the genesis blocks
-			// match, otherwise we might mix up freezers across chains and destroy both
-			// the freezer and the key-value store.
-			frgenesis, err := frdb.Ancient(chainFreezerHashTable, 0)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to retrieve genesis from ancient %v", err)
-			} else if !bytes.Equal(kvgenesis, frgenesis) {
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("genesis mismatch: %#x (leveldb) != %#x (ancients)", kvgenesis, frgenesis)
+			// If offline block-pruning has advanced the freezer tail past
+			// block 0, the ancient store can no longer produce genesis;
+			// the kv store is the sole source of truth in that case and
+			// snapshot prune-block copied genesis there before truncating.
+			// Skip the ancient cross-check when we detect a non-zero tail.
+			frtail, _ := frdb.Tail()
+			if frtail == 0 {
+				// Genesis still lives in ancient; cross-validate the genesis
+				// blocks match, otherwise we might mix up freezers across
+				// chains and destroy both the freezer and the key-value store.
+				frgenesis, err := frdb.Ancient(chainFreezerHashTable, 0)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to retrieve genesis from ancient %v", err)
+				} else if !bytes.Equal(kvgenesis, frgenesis) {
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("genesis mismatch: %#x (leveldb) != %#x (ancients)", kvgenesis, frgenesis)
+				}
 			}
 			// Key-value store and freezer belong to the same network. Ensure that they
 			// are contiguous, otherwise we might end up with a non-functional freezer.
diff --git a/core/state/pruner/block_pruner.go b/core/state/pruner/block_pruner.go
index 0781cb3217d8..e29b9fba4066 100644
--- a/core/state/pruner/block_pruner.go
+++ b/core/state/pruner/block_pruner.go
@@ -143,6 +143,40 @@ func (p *BlockPruner) Prune() error {
 		"blocksToDelete", newTail-oldTail,
 		"amountReserved", p.amountReserved)
 
+	// Preserve the genesis block in the kv store before truncating the
+	// ancient tail. The freezer's TruncateTail(newTail) hides every item
+	// numbered below newTail, including block 0. After such truncation,
+	// geth refuses to start with:
+	//
+	//   Fatal: Failed to register the Ethereum service:
+	//   failed to retrieve genesis from ancient out of bounds
+	//
+	// because the startup code reads genesis via rawdb.ReadBlock(hash, 0)
+	// and the ancient lookup returns nothing once tail > 0. The kv-store
+	// path is the natural fallback for rawdb readers, so we copy genesis
+	// (canonical hash, header, body, total difficulty) back into the kv
+	// tables. Receipts are omitted because the genesis block has no
+	// transactions.
+	//
+	// This read must happen before TruncateTail: afterwards, the ancient
+	// lookup for block 0 will fail and we would be writing zeroes.
+	genesisHash := rawdb.ReadCanonicalHash(p.db, 0)
+	if genesisHash == (common.Hash{}) {
+		return errors.New("failed to read genesis canonical hash; refusing to truncate")
+	}
+	genesisHeader := rawdb.ReadHeader(p.db, genesisHash, 0)
+	if genesisHeader == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to read genesis header for %s; refusing to truncate", genesisHash.Hex())
+	}
+	genesisBody := rawdb.ReadBody(p.db, genesisHash, 0)
+	if genesisBody == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to read genesis body for %s; refusing to truncate", genesisHash.Hex())
+	}
+	genesisTd := rawdb.ReadTd(p.db, genesisHash, 0)
+	if genesisTd == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to read genesis total difficulty for %s; refusing to truncate", genesisHash.Hex())
+	}
+
 	// Perform the in-place tail truncation on the ancient store. This is a
 	// local operation that drops data files on disk once the truncated range
 	// spans an entire file (2 GiB per file by default), and hides partial
@@ -156,6 +190,16 @@ func (p *BlockPruner) Prune() error {
 	}
 	log.Info("Ancient tail truncated", "newTail", newTail, "blocksDeleted", newTail-oldTail)
 
+	// Write genesis back to the kv store. This is idempotent; repeated
+	// invocations with the same genesis data simply overwrite the same
+	// keys. Placement matters: it must happen after TruncateTail so that
+	// genesis survives as the only block below newTail.
+	rawdb.WriteCanonicalHash(p.db, genesisHash, 0)
+	rawdb.WriteHeader(p.db, genesisHeader)
+	rawdb.WriteBody(p.db, genesisHash, 0, genesisBody)
+	rawdb.WriteTd(p.db, genesisHash, 0, genesisTd)
+	log.Info("Genesis block preserved in kv store", "hash", genesisHash.Hex())
+
 	// Make sure the transaction index tail is not pointing below the new
 	// ancient tail. Otherwise, when the node starts with --txlookuplimit,
 	// the background indexer would try to walk pruned block bodies and
diff --git a/params/version.go b/params/version.go
index ccfeecd1876d..3966f0315a17 100644
--- a/params/version.go
+++ b/params/version.go
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ import (
 const (
 	VersionMajor = 1          // Major version component of the current release
 	VersionMinor = 4          // Minor version component of the current release
-	VersionPatch = 8          // Patch version component of the current release
-	VersionMeta  = "stable" // Version metadata to append to the version string
+	VersionPatch = 9          // Patch version component of the current release
+	VersionMeta  = "unstable" // Version metadata to append to the version string
 )
 
 // Version holds the textual version string.