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insch's avatar
insch
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Dropbox keeps quitting on my Mac Pro

After years of successful use Dropbox stopped working on my Mac Pro a few days ago. It keeps trying to launch (I see it in the menu bar) and then immediately quits. I can't manually launch it. I get the error message 'Couldn't Start Dropbox' - see grab. I don't have a Firewall running or anti-virus software. I have seen posts about fixing this in Dropbox permissions but it doesn't stay up long enought to access permissions. I need to urgently resolve this issue since I might have to travel this weekend and need to sync my MacBook Pro with my Mac Pro. Dropbox still works normally on my MacBook Pro.

Any advice grateful received.

Thank you, Phil

  • I did get it resolved, thanks. I had to follow a very specific method to re-install Dropbox. My first attempts to do that had not worked. This was the solution:

    1.Restart your computer, holding down command+R to enter Recovery Mode

    2.Open your Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)

    3.Copy and paste the following line into the Terminal. PLEASE make sure you copy and paste the command (don't type it by hand). You'll be prompted for your computer's admin password (not your Dropbox password) after entering the command. Keep in mind that the password field in the terminal will remain blank as you type your password. After you type it, just press ENTER. You'll know that these instructions complete normally once the initial line of text (called prompt) comes up again:

    spctl kext-consent add G7HH3F8CAK

    If the command returns an error or does not respond after an hour, you may want to restart your computer and try these steps again.

    4.After this you can restart the machine, and let it load as normal. Once restarted, you can re-install Dropbox again (basic reinstall this time, pasted below). When Dropbox has finished installing, while it will not prompt you again to install Smart Sync, the required components will now be present on your machine.

    You should now be able to proceed with using Smart Sync without further issue.

    Basic reinstall: 

    First, make sure you save and quit ALL programs that access files in the Dropbox folder.

    Here are the steps:

    1. Download the newest version:


    https://www.dropbox.com/downloading

    1. Stop Dropbox (If needed):

     

    • Click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen
    • Click on your profile picture or initials to the right of the search bar and select 'Quit Dropbox'

     

    1. Delete the Dropbox application from the Applications folder. You may need to provide your computer password in order to perform this action.

    2. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application

     

    • Open the Dropbox .dmg file and double click the Dropbox icon.
    • Dropbox should appear in your menu bar.
  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Welcome to the Dropbox Community insch!

    Just so that we can be sure of the exact error you're getting there, can you please click the blue hyperlink in the error message and paste the entire error log in your reply? With this error log we'll be able to know in more detail what it causing the issue here.

    Let me know what you find - thanks!

    • insch's avatar
      insch
      Helpful | Level 6

      Thank you - annoyingly I can't get that message to come up again - but Dropbox is still quitting. Is there somewhere else I can find a log of the crash?

    • insch's avatar
      insch
      Helpful | Level 6

      I found the folder on my Mac but there was no file named 'dropbox_errorldrvndtr.txt' in there.

    • insch's avatar
      insch
      Helpful | Level 6

      I got it - after a restart the error log was recreated. Here it is...


      [get_extra_trace_info failed]
      Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "dropbox/client/authentication/manager.pyc", line 718, in _try_register_host
      File "dropbox/client/authentication/manager.pyc", line 896, in _on_register_host_success
      File "dropbox/infinite/preferences.pyc", line 175, in update_local_config_from_server
      File "dropbox/infinite/preferences.pyc", line 274, in _get_server_default_root_policy_unlocked
      File "_collections_abc.pyc", line 660, in get
      File "dropbox/gui.pyc", line 121, in _trace_warn_if_called_on_main_thread
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 300, in __getitem__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 225, in __enter__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 209, in __cursor
      File "dropbox/sqlite3_helpers.pyc", line 632, in conn
      dropbox.sqlite3_exceptions.ConnectionClosedError: Already closed!

      During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

      Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1220, in boot_error
      File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 6948, in get_dropbox_path
      File "dropbox/client/configuration/manager.pyc", line 357, in get_dropbox_path
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 329, in __len__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 225, in __enter__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 209, in __cursor
      File "dropbox/sqlite3_helpers.pyc", line 632, in conn
      dropbox.sqlite3_exceptions.ConnectionClosedError: Already closed!

      Original traceback:

      Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "dropbox/client/authentication/manager.pyc", line 718, in _try_register_host
      File "dropbox/client/authentication/manager.pyc", line 896, in _on_register_host_success
      File "dropbox/infinite/preferences.pyc", line 175, in update_local_config_from_server
      File "dropbox/infinite/preferences.pyc", line 274, in _get_server_default_root_policy_unlocked
      File "_collections_abc.pyc", line 660, in get
      File "dropbox/gui.pyc", line 121, in _trace_warn_if_called_on_main_thread
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 300, in __getitem__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 225, in __enter__
      File "dropbox/client/config.pyc", line 209, in __cursor
      File "dropbox/sqlite3_helpers.pyc", line 632, in conn
      dropbox.sqlite3_exceptions.ConnectionClosedError: Already closed!

      • Здравко's avatar
        Здравко
        Legendary | Level 20

        Hi insch,

        Seems last "stable" build have some problems (especially work database initialization). You can try as a workaround install some earlier version (this one for example) to ensure consistent initialization and at next update (auto) everything would work properly. :wink: Use Offline installer to be sure that currently installed version will not be downloaded immediately and will let initialization complete (before auto update). Try at least...