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Bert M.'s avatar
Bert M.
New member | Level 1
11 years ago
Solved

Desktop app is stuck 'Starting' when it loads up and doesn't sync

I am a paying customer and very frustrated with Dropbox. I am ready to drop DropBox and look for other alternatives. Since Friday of last week it has been trying to sync 100Gb in files and it is ta...
desktop
Mac
sync
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    8 years ago
    Reading through this thread, everyone seems to be experiencing similar and yet slightly different issues, so I’ll go through the general troubleshooting steps to fix all of them. 
     
    Feel free to stop whenever your app begins to sync normally, not all steps are needed.
     
    Install the stable version:

    The first thing we need is to be sure you’re running the stable version of the Dropbox desktop application, and not the beta.
     
    To do so uncheck the box next to "Early releases" here. Then, do an advanced reinstall to ensure that all beta functions are removed fully. 
     
    Instead of the download link on that page, I recommend using the offline installers for this purpose:

     

    Confirm there are no symlinks

     
    Secondly, if your app is fine, but it’s still starting, then it could be stuck in a loop trying to parse your symlinks. 
     
    What are these? Long story short for those not in the know, these are files or folder that refer to another file or folder in your Dropbox account, or even outside the Dropbox folder.
     
    This can include, but is not limited to, iPhoto/Photos library on Mac, system folders such as Documents/Pictures/Music/Downloads, databases, programming code, and many more.
     
    Removing these symlinks is vital since they can cause these issues, high CPU usage, and permissions problems.
     
    Follow step 7 on this article in order to detect the symlinks in your computer and remove any from your Dropbox folder. Generally, moving the specific files or folders to another location should remove the links.
     
    Check your internet connection

    Hilariously, this is more common than you think. You have a stable WiFi/ethernet connection to the web, other sites work, and yet the app isn’t connecting.
     
    If multiple users are having this problem on the same network, there is a possibility that a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router issues that could be restricting traffic to the Dropbox domains. 
     
    We can’t really narrow things down for you, since you need to check this out yourself as there are so many programs out there.
     
    We’ve had cases more often than not about built in security software on routers for home internet users, meant to protect users and children, but in doing so preventing the Dropbox desktop application from loading.
     
    Using a remote login

    Getting a black or white screen on the Dropbox app when you’re trying to sign in is a different issue.
     
    This usually occurs when using a remote login or even a virtual machine to another device. The graphics for remote logins are usually reduced in quality, and since the Dropbox desktop application connects to the Dropbox site to sign you in, it won’t render the login page in the app while on a remote login.
     
    Best thing to do would be to access the machine directly to login from there.
     
     
    ---
     
    Overall, there are many reasons for this cause, however hopefully this post should help in resolving most of the issues!
     
     

     

     

    [This thread is now closed. If you have a similar or new question, you can ask here.]

spike1968's avatar
spike1968
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago

Hi Jane,

Would be nice if you actually posted the solution as this is a long term issue, not yet resolved and as far as I am concerned this issue exists because dropbox struggles to synce any files/folders that exceed a combined size of 500gb.

The reason Istopped paying for Dropbox 2tb service was because I was being sold a 2tb service that was not fit for purpose. Yet Google Drive doesn't have any issue.

You would/could not fix the issue or refund for taking payments under false pretences and I still do not see a fix anywhere where the user does need to make custom changes to their system.

So it would be nice if you could stop hiding behind private emails and actually post a fix.

 

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Thanks for pinging me back here spike1968; I’d happily clarify matters in a bit more detail below! 
 
Generally speaking, Walter & Jay have posted some great tips on this very thread on how you’d best go about on this matter & at this point I can merely rephrase that this isn’t attributed to a single factor. That said, I can’t comment on any third-party features &/or functionality, however you should have a consistent performance with the Dropbox desktop app if you have less than 300,000 files synced to your computer. 
 
From there, kindly note that I’m merely emailing users back in case that I feel that they’re facing an urgent issue- where immediate assistance is needed- or regular troubleshooting doesn’t have the planned effect, so it’s best to check on account specifics. Nonetheless, we endeavor to gather all the feedback you’re sending us, as it helps us understand your needs better & for that reason I’ve also included your comments on my report internally. 
 
I hope that this sheds a bit of light regarding yoru inquiries & please let me know if you have more questions about any of the above or you need further assistance in any way & I’ll do my best to check back with you. Thanks again!
  • kurosa's avatar
    kurosa
    Helpful | Level 5
    7 years ago

    Hello Jane 

    Although it's great that you're messaging us here, but it's really not good when this is actually a 2 year problem (as some mentioned)

    I encountered the issue of STARTING once again, and, again, smart sync seems to be the culprit of this problem when I ask to move major files as local. Restarted and now stuck in STARTING  

    AGAIN.

    What is actually the purpose of a Smart Sync? I'm really not sure this is the best update you could give us as I think this really stresses the Dropbox application to almost always upload/download files and pushes the pc and hdd as well to get files. And when I'm hearing the issue the difficulty of DB with more than 300k files, why are you putting this option? Here are some of my thoughts about this ridiculous add on:

    1) It saves up space yes but it confuses customers that it's actually there, there is an incident where I swore they already downloaded only to find it empty and difficult to upload as if it's downloading from dropbox first before it actually does the job that I asked for which is just moving the files out of dropbox. In order to fix this we have to slowly put it to local every folder that doesn't go beyond 100 files or else it will stuck to starting whenever it restarted. Smart Sync is OFF, ONLINE ONLY SINCE WE'RE MOVING MOREF FILES THAN WE SHOULD AND GOD KNOWS I WISH I PUT THIS TO LOCAL ON MY 5TH ATTEMPT TO DO THIS REISNTALL REDOWNLOAD EVERYTHING. WE ALSO HAVE TO CHECK THAT LOCAL IS CHECK AND NOT ONLINE ON EVERY FOLDER BECAUSE WE'RE NOT SURE WHAT SMART SYNC IS DOING TO OUR FILES

     

    2) Does Selective Sync also does this? To be honest this is the better alternative than smart sync, if you don't have the files then it's not going to show and you can manually update it using selective sync, very simple and secured if the computer was compromised. I have been using this for years now and stuck to DB because of the control I have for my files, I need these files I click it to selective sync, if I don't I remove it. Does it also save space? Yes because it's not in my HDD and it in the account file which I can check via browser easily. 

     

    I don't need refund I like to stick DB but I want a fix on this issue especially this smart sync. 

  • spike1968's avatar
    spike1968
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    "however you should have a consistent performance with the Dropbox desktop app if you have less than 300,000 files synced to your computer. "

    That is my point exactly, you sell packages of 2tb that would easily be 2million photos with a sync service that cannot handle that. Hence dropbox is not fit for the modern internet cloud storage requirements.

    That's why I moved to Google Drive and I have 1.5tb of synced files with no issue.

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