Dropbox is stuck syncing after an update, what can I do?

Having the same issue. Dropbox should realize that this problem is on THEIR SIDE. They messed up with the latest update. Don't waste your time trying to fix it by reinstalling etc. The only thing that helped me is to use the „Fix Hardlinks“ button (Preferences, Account, press spacebar to show Support Features). Press the button and then wait until it shows message it has finished fixing and you are good to go before you restart or turn off/on your PC again.

Same problem here. Dropbox only says "syncing..." nothing else. And my drop disk usage is 100% precent but no internet traffic. So what dropbox is doing? Re-hashing all files? Because thats stupid. I have 950gb+ files, so hassing them takes more timing then re-downloading them. 

And please can you stop being like google, and test your software before releasing it?

Hello all, hoping you're all well today!

First of all, @Matt F.16 apologies for that! I will place the steps to do this via the command line on Linux devices in the "More info" box below since it's a little lengthy.

sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"

sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox

sudo chattr -R -i ~/Dropbox

sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox

Since you're having issues with conflicted copies too PatWard, I'd like to troubleshooting with you separately to avoid confusion so I'll be following up on the thread you mentioned ASAP! 

For those still having an issue, could you try the steps listed here and let me know how it goes? (gformenti, Siwinis, jeremyti)

tonyskate, I'm glad to hear that using the "Fix Hardlinks" helps out to an extent. However, if restarting your device results in stuck syncing again then I'd like to do some further troubleshooting with you, if you'd like to of course.

Can I reached out to you via the email linked with your profile to look into this with you?

Finally, thanks for your update Shawn B.14.  I'll get back to you via our email communication once I've had a look into this with the additional info you gave me here.

Thanks for your patience everyone, I'll be awaiting your updates!

Thanks Daphne.

The conflicted files issue seems to of resolved itself after I fixed permissions. Right now I've been stuck syncing since Saturday with no apparent change and can't upload so seem to be in the same situation as many others here.

And I appreciate it can't be much fun working on a help forum .. we only come here when something has gone wrong ..

Cheers.

Hi Daphne  -- completed the commands, but no change.. Still stuck on a blank "Syncing..."

[Jan 21 07:44 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py status
Syncing...
[Jan 21 07:44 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py stop
Dropbox isn't responding!
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py stop
Dropbox isn't running!
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py stop
Dropbox isn't running!
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"
[sudo] password for matt: 
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ sudo chattr -R -i ~/Dropbox
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsGetColorsLiving
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsFlashColorLiving
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsFlashColorBoys
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsColorBed
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsGetColorsBed
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/eth/geth
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/eth/blockchain/geth.ipc
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsPowerBed
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/babysit_lircd
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsFlashColorMatt
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsFlashColorBed
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/bin/setLightsPowerLiving
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/Documents/Technical/Backups/android-workspace/School
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/Documents/Technical/android-workspace/School
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/Documents/bin
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop1.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop3.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wPing3.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wPing2.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop9.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams4.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams2.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams7.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams1.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop6.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wPing5.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams6.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop10.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wPing4.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams8.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop8.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop5.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop12.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams5.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop7.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop2.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wPing1.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop11.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wWebcams3.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/Zend
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/mfp/widgets/wRemoteDesktop4.php
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/server/www/jarvis
chattr: Operation not supported while reading flags on /home/matt/Dropbox/src/jarvis/ui/images/neticons/mnt
[Jan 21 07:45 PM][matt@server:~]$ sudo chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox
[Jan 21 07:46 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py start
Starting Dropbox...dropbox: locating interpreter
dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-kYer41
dropbox: initializing
dropbox: initializing python 3.7.5
dropbox: setting program path '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/dropbox'
dropbox: setting python path '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172:/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/python-packages.zip'
dropbox: python initialized
dropbox: running dropbox
dropbox: setting args
dropbox: applying overrides
dropbox: running main script
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/apex._apex.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/home/matt/.dropbox-dist/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-88.4.172/tornado.speedups.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
Dropbox isn't running!
Done!
[Jan 21 07:46 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py status
Syncing...
[Jan 21 07:46 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py status
Syncing...
[Jan 21 07:46 PM][matt@server:~]$ dropbox.py status
Syncing...

The chattr "Operation not supported errors" are on symlinks, which makes sense. There are 10,000's other files that should be syncing.

Hi Daphne, my account tab doesnt have this option to "Fix Hardlinks". I dont know if it is because I am part of  team Dropbox. In our studio im the only one with this issue. I reinstalled 2 times already, and did those step in command prompt butstillEdited by moderator

Press and hold the space bar and two buttons will appear like magick. It doesn't always happen straight away or first time .. the magick needs coaxing.

Sure thing, @Daphne

Another (unfortunate) data point: I just noticed that while my dropbox client is stuck on "Syncing..." (with no numbers) it's actually not only eating CPU (100% on one core), but it's slowly eating ALL 32GB OF RAM! -- until the system kills the process automatically (Ubuntu server).

[10829014.321309] Killed process 13471 (dropbox) total-vm:8584288kB, anon-rss:2173688kB, file-rss:0kB, shmem-rss:0kB

That shows up in the log of /bin/dmesg after Dropbox runs for hours and then dies. All the time it only reports "Syncing..." and the 32GB of system ram slowly gets eaten by the process.

PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND                                            
3242 matt     20   0 4146516 1.350g  38556 S 102.0 35.1  74:28.25 dropbox

I only started the dropbox client again ~2 hours ago, and it's already up to 35% of the server's 32GB of RAM.

Thanks guys, but still that didnt do anything as well..

I've tried the fix hardlinks and fix permissions this weekend. I also tried it right now and it did not resolve the problem. Anymore bright ideas? Thanks.

do you have any idea about how long will it take to fix the problem, drpbox staff? very worried about this...

Thank you @PatWard for the advice to hold the space bar to see the buttons!  It took a couple of tries and then I got them.  Been syncing 32,000 + files for a week now.

Yeah no worries. I discovered it by accident .. something resting on my space bar ...

Mine seems to of indexed about 2-3000 files over the last week .. which I suppose is progress.

Question to the forum about Symlinks .. I've never knowingly created one .. does dropbox do it itself? When, for example, you migrate it to a different hard drive?

Thanks

Hi everyone! 

PatWard the Dropbox desktop app doesn't have the ability to create symlinks for your files.

However, if your Dropbox folder was renamed, the Dropbox desktop app will create a hidden folder with the old folder name ("Dropbox"). This is called a “symlink.” This hidden folder points to the new Dropbox folder from the old location path.

If your computer is set to show hidden files and folders, this symlink may look like a secondary Dropbox folder on your computer but it isn't. 

:pushpin: Notes for hidden symlink folders.

• Some programs on your computer may depend on the original Dropbox folder path name ("Dropbox") to function properly and so if your main folder has been renamed it is best to leave the hidden symlink folder untouched. 
• The symlink folder does not use extra disk space on your computer or your Dropbox account. 
• Deleting files in the symlink Dropbox folder will also delete the original file but deleting the symlink folder iself won't delete the main renamed Dropbox folder. 

You can mention  me, or other Dropboxers and we will be happy to participate in your discussion more. 

Cheers! 

Thanks Fiona, thats a bit clearer. A bit. But my patience is waring thin now.

Daphneasked me to move to email a week ago and so far there's been as good as silence. I'm just left waiting wondering whats happening.

For a problem that seems to be of your own making I'd of expected better.