Massive download at startup is consuming huge download bandwidth

[JpFortran]

Hi there,
Every morning, when I log in my linux box,  I see dropbox consuming huge download bandwidth and remain doing so during several minutes, til the point I have to kill it process to be able to load any other web app/page  (as example, I just had to kill dropbox process to be able to load this page I'm writting on).
Of course I have to turn dropbox process on back later to enable it to work, and then it begins again (not always inmediatly) downloading massive of dont-know-what  -say this coz I have no big files to tranfer at all, almost all of my up/down files are text ones.

Want to remark this behaviour is not constantly all of the time, but yes every single time I turn pc on, and randomnly about 3 o 4 times during my workday, being the 'log-in one' the worst coz it's the longer in time -more than 5 minutes- and have to kill it process to be able to begin working, and the others 3 or 4 takes less time -about 1 or 2 minutes.
My dropbox bandwidth settings are: upload and donwload speed: no limit (I've tryied to limit donwload to 50Kb/s but even so, this unjustifiably download is consuming up to 300kb/s)

Lan sync: off (I had it on, but turn off coz I share files with no one).

Dropbox version v185.4.6054

Linux kernel: 5.15.0-88-generic

Linux distro: Linux Mint 21.1

I'll appreciate any help or hint on this issue.

[Hannah]

Hey @JpFortran, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

What's actually the sync status of the Dropbox app as shown on your Dropbox icon?

Is it actually syncing new files to your computer? Have you checked the sync history to see what kind of files they are?

Keep me posted.

[JpFortran]

hi @Hannah, thank 4 answering.

the dbox icon status is 'idle' (white - without spinning arrows) during this massive downloads, and no new file showing on the sync history list - just the last 30 files modified, but no one new.
Aside this mysterious downloads, dbox works just fine, up/downloading files as they're created and showing the spinning arrows on it icon during the process -which is fast coz my files are text ones or lightweight images.
It looks like 'background download' being in process, like server data or kinda stuff, but takes so much bandwidth during several minutes! 
Maybe we have to look at 'side processes' of dropbox and its transfers (let's say) more than regular up/download file process -of course this is just a hunch ~ don't know how dbox works.

Hope U can help me with this issue, coz it's quite annoying.
Regards,
Jp.

[JpFortran]

this is how it looks:

no 'viewable' activity seen (idle icon / no new files added) 

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @JpFortran, as we currently support Ubuntu and Fedora installations of Linux, the amount of support we can provide is limited for Mint. 

Most likely there is something occurring with the app during the startup. Could you try delaying the startup, or preventing it entirely, and then starting it up later to see if this helps?

[JpFortran]

Hi @Jay, 

I've tryied your recipe out (turn auto-start off, and manually start process after few minutes), and voilá.. no big tranfers happening (!). I've tryied it just once, but gonna delay dbox process to find out if this could be a permanent solution. (let's hope so!).
Maybe all of this mess is related to the office's firewall, which I have to manually accept (thru a disclaimer page which appears when I open a web browser) every single morning I turn pc on. During such process -between login and accepted disclaimer- spinning arrows of dbox icon are shown, and remains til inet is reached (always thought this was quite normal) and right then is when massive download begins.

Now I think this 'try-to-connect-without-luck' maybe confuses dbox process and leads it out of control. 
Today is friday, so gonna play around on this issue only on monday. Let's wait til then to confirm if, to delay dbox start, is an effective solution.
Very thanks to all of you there; I'll be in touch. 
(if I can be helpful in some way just let me know)
best regards,
Jp.

[Walter]

Hey @JpFortran -  sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that I'm happy to see that this seems to be sorted now.

You can let us know here if anything else comes up! 

In the meantime, have a lovely weekend! 

[JpFortran]

sorry about my absence, I was ill.
just finished a script to run on startup which will check for connection, and just then fire dropbox start.

Tell me if want/need me to close or accept solution to this request now, or prefer to wait til this workaround is functionally working - just for the record 😉  

[JpFortran]

hi there, this is the fix that seems to be working (maybe helpful for next similar case): 

#!/bin/bash
# poner en c/loop paraq lea salida (Ctrl+c twice). Sleep mandatory!!
trap - INT

UNREACHEABLE=1;
while [ $UNREACHEABLE -ne "0" ]; 
   do ping -q -c 1 google.com &> /dev/null; UNREACHEABLE=$?; sleep 1;
done
# inet reached. run'n quit:
dropbox start

(have to be set as a run-on-login program)
Now I set the issue as closed.
Very thanks to all of you pals for being there.
If can help in any way just drop me some words.
Best regards,
Jp.