Dropbox stuck on sync or index

[idanfo]

hi all,
my dropbox in my all computers just stop syncing or stuck on indexing a few days ago.

i notice that if i use old version (114.4.426) of the app everything is back to normal but the app keep updateing by her self.

this is a bug that have to be fix ASAP.

[Walter]

Hey there @bwr20, thanks for joining the discussion here and sorry to hear about your syncing issue. 

Can you please let us know what troubleshooting steps you've  attempted so far?

Have you tried fixing your hardlinks and permissions as outlined here perhaps?

[Leen K.]

Hi BWR20,

I am no superuser, sorry for that, however it seems there is a program updating the file's meta-data every time DB updates the file. Try to find the corresponding program and stop the program to see if this saves the issue. I have a strong feeling this situation occurs when DB  "thinks" a file is updated, even though it is nothing more than a time stamp. 

Hope it helps, good luck!

Leen

[scottlaw75]

Mine has been like this for a few days, I don't have this problem on my personal PC or my phone just my work PC.  Both PCs are running Windows 10.  I rebooted the laptop, stopped Dropbox and restarted it, paused sync & restarted it, made sure selective sync was not on although it just says Loading forever so that seems broken anyway, etc.  This issue just sprung up a few days ago from what I can tell.  Some files I expected to see on my personal PC did not show up so i guess that is what is stuck in sync limbo land?

A secondary issue I have never been able to resolve is that DROPBOX, when running causes an issue with my windows explorer.  IT makes creating, renaming file folders painfully slow.  Once i end Dropbox the issue goes away so it is definitely a 3rd party app (in this case dropbox) with Windows 10 issue.  It has probably been like this for 2 years that I can recall.  That one I can at least work around unlike the endless sync issue tough.  😞

[Hannah]

Hey @scottlaw75, thanks for your post!

Can you please reinstall the Dropbox application on your computer (without uninstalling) and let me know if that helped?

Thanks!

[scottlaw75]

Hannah,  thanks for the suggestion.  I did that just now and it still shows the endless 4 files indexing sadly.  Here is the verison it claims it updated to.

EDIT:  I decided to try and full uninstall and reinstall, all worked except i cannot use the online installer says it cannot connect to internet.  Yes, my work computer uses a VPN but it has been for a year and using DropBox just fine until recently.  SO I downloaded the installer and it installed out but now it says this while trying to open dropbox?

Everything else I am using has internet connection except for dropbox for some reason.  I do not have admin rights to shut down things either for my windows 10 unfortunately.

Launching the app shows this endless loop of "connecting"

I shut down the work-mandated VPN and relaunched Dropbox and the same two errors persist above so it's not the VPN anyway.

[Leen K.]

Hi ScottLaw75, 

I had a similar problem at one of my client's locations. I switched to my data plan on my cell and all worked well again. Could there possibly be some other firewall of virus software blocking the internet access? If possible, try another network, preferably your cellphone's and see of there is another program messing with the connections. Also, if you are on a network, possibly the 4 eternally updating files are network files are linked to network operations and stationed in the dropbox folder. Try disconnection from the network drives and see if this solves the problem. The thing is, it appears there are several conditions affecting the operations of DB, where trial and error eventually solves the issue. Good luck!

Leen

[Hannah]

Thanks for the update @scottlaw75!

Like @Leen K. mentioned, is it possible that you have other security programs, an antivirus or a firewall perhaps, that could be blocking the Dropbox application from connecting?

Try temporarily disabling them, quit the Dropbox app and re-launch it, to see if that helps. 

Let me know how it goes!

[scottlaw75]

I appreciate the feedback from you both.  I can certainly try the hotspot connection to my phone but I am on my home internet so I believe it has to do with work IT settings that i have no admin privilege to shut off unfortunately. The thing is, it worked all these years until recently.  I figured maybe it had something to do with recent Windows 10 updates possibly?  Who knows, might just delete app from computer and use website from now on even though that is far less convenient  I tried some other "fixes" I found on the internet such as resetting certain things in the CMD line but always run into admin rights issues (even if i run CMD as "administrator" it still seems to have limits).   😞

[zen_shots]

I have this exact same problem. Did this ever get resolved for you?

Hayley

[Walter]

Hey there @zen_shots, sorry to hear about this.

Could you please send us a screenshot of the app's exact status as shown in your system tray/menu bar?

Also, have you tried any troubleshooting steps so far?