why do i see zero balance? i had some funds in it.
why don't i see the addresses that i previously used?
Search for the addresses in the block explorer. If there are no previous transactions, then the problem is most likely with derivation paths.
Since you did not generate xpub (in this case we call it Extended Public Key and not master private key) using electrum, you will need to modify the path to:
m/49'/0'/0'/49'/0'/0'/0
This is assuming that we are talking about Legacy address.
What are you trying to do here? The easiest solution is to sync Bitcoin Core and then create a new Electrum wallet and send bitcoin to it.