Windows 7 Event Viewer Error "Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894)"

I'm having the exact same problem on Windows 10 (anniversary update). It's definitely a bug, reproducible every single time on various systems and it started appearing out of nowhere after a specific Dropbox version update.

The error seems to be gone...

After several restarts no more error - at least on my machine!

I tried to repair/reinstall by running the following file manually as an administrator:

Folder 1.3.57.1 - DropboxUpdateHelper (Windows Installer) as admin

Once I got an error message that "psmachine.dll"  cannot be found (Click OK, Ignore, etc.) - e voila!

I'll keep an eye on it...

Greetings from Vienna

Hi pbuco,

I tried your suggestion but unfortunately it did not work for me. I got no error message ' error message that "psmachine.dll"  cannot be found'.  I tried both the 'Repair' and the 'Install' option for the 'DropboxUpdateHelper' but no luck.

Too good to be true and shame on me!

After repair/reinstall I found DbxSvc set to "manual" in Services - don't ask why... Switched back to "automatic" the error was back. :sob:

Waiting for an update and good night from Vienna

I am having the same issue

- System

  - Provider

   [ Name]  DbxSvc 
  - EventID 320

   [ Qualifiers]  49154 
   Level 2 
   Task 3 
  - TimeCreated

   [ SystemTime]  2016-11-11T21:16:33.000000000Z
 
   EventRecordID 27779 
 

- EventData

   (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified. 

Hi all,

Benjamin (Dropbox Technical Support) has emailed me with a suggestion that the problem may be with my user account.  He recommends that I set up an additional account with Administrator rights and install another copy of Dropbox on it to see if that also has the problem.  I cannot believe that the issue is anything to to with my user account - this belief is reinforced by the growing number of fellow Dropbox users reporting identical problems in this thread.  Surely we don't all have corrupted user accounts.  As my system resources would become a bit stretched, I am not keen to create another user account if it is not really necessary.

I have asked him again to look at this thread with particular reference to the post by pbuco and orion44 about the apparent mismatch between the update folder path in the registry entry and the folder path in 'C:\Program Files'.

Hi orion44,

The first of your two new errors in your latest post appears to be the originally reported error (EventID 320).  The second (EventID 270) has not appeared on my system as yet.  Is this second error on your system persistent in the sense it appears at each start of your system or did it appear just once?  If it appears repeatedly, does Windows recover the situation as it does with the original error and allow you to use Dropbox normally?

The new errors were triggered when I opened Dropbox, not sure which specific behavior did it.  Only the original error is appearing at every boot.

Hi orion44,

That sounds like like a temporary glitch during startup when a background service takes longer than usual open because of other system activity - for example I find that sometimes, by chance, my Firewall runs an update during startup (its updates only happen at irregular intervals and not necessarily at startup) and this seems to limit the resources available for the regular startup items causing a possible timeout for something that cannot load within its normal time span.

Regular monitoring of the Event Viewer can make one neurotic as errors and warnings show up - ignoring the Event Viewer leaves us none the wiser as usually Windows sorts the problems.  Without my neurosis I probably would be blissfully unaware of this Dropbox bug :sleeping:

Hi there, in our case we were recycling the 3 laptops, hard drive format, reinstallation of Windows, followed by installation of Dropbox. On one laptop we tried installing Dropbox before any other software to avoid potential conflicts, this did not help. This all took place last week (week commencing 7th Nov 2016).

The Event Log always shows 3 messages from DbxSvc service - "Service Started", "Failed to connect to the driver: (-2147024894) The system cannot find the file specified. " and "Pipe server thread started." DbxSvc.exe shows as running in Task Manager. Dropbox.exe does not show as running. I go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Client and double click on Dropbox.exe, it runs for a short time in Task Manager and then disappears. There are no messages in Event Log relating to Dropbox.exe.

I have manually run the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dropbox\Update\1.3.57.1\DropboxUpdateHelper.msi" as an Administrator - no change to anything.

I analysed the registry and found the same problems as mentioned above, I fixed the path to be 1.3.57.1 and restarted the DbxSvc service, re-ran Dropbox.exe, Dropbox still disappears after a couple of seconds.

I looked in C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Dropbox\logs\1-crash-reports\Dropbox-win-14.4.19\ and I can see a dump file for every time I run Dropbox.exe. If somebody tells me where to send them, I can do that.

I have tried logging out the user, logging back in after making the above changes, same happens. I will go and try installing Dropbox on another Admin account now, although I´m already logged in with an admin account.

Dear all,

feeding up my personal WEV neurosis, I recently updated to version 14.4.19.

ID 320 still appears!

Installation log

Greetings

OK, bizarrely, I logged out and logged back in again with a local Administrator account (not a Microsoft Account) and installed Dropbox again from there, and this time it worked! I logged out and logged back into the original Administrator account with which I´d had problems, and Dropbox is working there too! No idea why, but there it is. Will try on the other 2 laptops now...

Hi Roberto,

Now you  have Dropbox working (at least on one of your laptops),  do you still get an error in the Event Viewer on startup followed by Windows recovering the situation and allowing the Dropbox service to run?   If you get no error, it looks like you've solved the situation and perhaps pbuco and I will get over our Event Viewer neurosis :relieved: and others who have posted on this thread will get some relief too.

What a shame nobody from Dropbox has, as yet, come forward with any suggestions.

Hi roberto,

and thx for the information! I updated out of the Win 10 Dropbox App using a Microsoft Account...

Gonna try your proceding.

Keeping you in the loop

Unfortunately installing Dropbox in a new administrator user account did not eradicate the Event Viewer error on startup although, as previously, the Dropbox program works correctly afterwards.  Perhaps roberto's problem with Dropbox was additional to the Event Viewer error - perhaps roberto could clarify if his fix has cleared the Event Viewer problem for him as well.

Same here too - didn't work.

Gonna have a visit at S. Freud's Museum next we... :wink: 

Must be handy for you pbuco living in Vienna.  Here in the UK we just bash our heads against the wall for a little light relief (can't get the treatment through the National health Service though). :grimacing:   Oh well, let's see what develops.

Any ETA to Production for the fix?

Hi Orion,

Dropbox have been rather quiet about the problem and, as far as I know, have not recognised that it exists.  Emails I get from Dropbox Support have been spasmodic and suggestions given have related to possible problems with my system rather than the Dropbox program itself.  Clearly, when this forum thread suggests the problem is fairly widespread, there must be a program bug.  It is disappointing that, as yet, no Dropbox technical staff have contributed to this thread and appear not to have read any of the posts despite the fact that you submitted a bug report.  Did you get any feedback afterwards?

So there appears to be no estimated time of arrival for a fix because the problem has not been officially recognised.

Hi Roberto,

That's good news regarding Dropbox running on your laptops - let's hope that Dropbox technical staff can sort this Event Viewer problem soon.  At least we can all use the program despite the irritating error message.

I have not heard from Theo or Benjamin of Dropbox technical support for sometime now - perhaps they are as puzzled by this as we are but it would be good to have a little feedback from time to time.  I'm also very surprised and disappointed that no Dropbox personnel have contributed to this thread.  There have been many views so perhaps some of those are from Dropbox staff who don't want to get directly involved at this stage.

The problem may well be quite widespread so it would be useful if viewers of the thread who are experiencing the Event Viewer error and have not posted, could post a "me too" comment or similar just to confirm the error is not just limited to a few individuals - and please, if any Dropbox staff are viewing, could they let us know if Dropbox are fully aware of the situation and working to find a solution even if none is yet available.  There seems to be a lack of communiction between Dropbox and forum members which hopefully is unintentional but still a little worrying.