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

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

Bert M.
New member | Level 1
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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 taking an eternity. Now is stuck in "Starting."
I have rebooted the Mac (10.6.8). I am using Dropbox 3.0.3. I have tried going to Preferences, holding the option key and "Fixing Permission." I also read in the Internet about deleting the hidden cache folder but I have not done it yet since I don't know what to expect.

Any assistance is appreciated.

96 Replies 96

kristaps b.
New member | Level 1
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Same here, stuck on "Starting..."!. But that's only the case on my work desktop which is running win7. Tried reinstalling (and thus going from 3.10.7 to 3.10.11) to no avail.

At home on Linux Debian, everything is fine.

This is upsetting because I work from home and from the office and Dropbox is the means of sharing documents across machines. 

 

Ralf L.1
New member | Level 2
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Same problem on Linux (two PCs running Ubuntu 15.06, 64 bit). Stuck on "starting" and account is effectively useless. I did however notice that my android app is up to date without problems. So this seems to be a problem with the Linux software/daemon.

Any known issues for the Ubuntu amd64 or amd64 in general

I may try to install and older version and 32bit.

Ralf L.1
New member | Level 2
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Tried installation on my backup system (Ubuntu 14.04, 32bit) select sync worked. At least for me this seems to be an issue with the current 64bit software.

Nate H.1
New member | Level 1
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Hello, 

I have exactly the same problem on my Mac. It takes ages to start up Dropbox and during this period, it completely sucks the lifeblood out of my computer. 

The number of files does not make any difference. 

Today I have a paid account with more than 500 GB of backup files in Dropbox. 

You may probably think that this is the reason, but it definitely isn't as I already had this problem months ago when I had al together only +/- 1 GB of files. 

After +/- 2 hours of immobility, when Dropbox has finally started up, the problem disappears and I can start working normal. However, as soon as I restart DB, the exact same thing happens again.   

Please advise on how to solve the problem. 

Thanks, 

Nate

f b.
New member | Level 1
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Same problem here...

I am also paying Dropbox, but for the last two weeks I didn't get any syncing done because of the "Starting..." problem.

It seems that this was the update on Feb. 9 (to 3.14.x), because when I download the previous version it says "Downloading file list" and then upgrades to the new one, which is stuck.

Dropbox: fix this issue, please.

Sha S.
New member | Level 1
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Thanks, f b!  Finally, I resolved my "stuck on 'starting'" issue.  Indeed, an auto-updating to 3.14.5 started the problem on my iMac.  After trying everything mentioned in Dropbox FAQ and this forum, which did not help, I re-installed the previous version 3.12.6, and the program finally starts to sync my files.

Hope this helps.

Alex P.21
New member | Level 1
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Had the same issues as listed above.  Racked my brain for hours after unlinking, uninstalling, and removing every folder/file associated with the app.

Installed version 3.12.6 and linked the account, sync started immediately.

 

FYI - https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/203932093-Stable-Build-3-12-6

f b.
New member | Level 1
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Alex, yeah, same here. The only problem is that dropbox automatically updates itself and then I have the same problem again. Is there a solution to prevent the update?

Thomas M.75
New member | Level 2
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I have a theory that this issue is closely related to Adobe Creative Cloud on Windows 10. Can anyone confirm this? I have now experienced the problem on two separate machines running both Windows 10 and Creative Cloud (and DropBox, of course).

I have also found that once this issue has occured, it prevents Photoshop from starting properly, and also prevents windows from shutting down cleanly.

Ian Z.1
New member | Level 1
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I'm having the same problem:

Windows 10 64bit, tried versions:
- Dropbox 3.12.6 Offline Installer
- Dropbox 3.16.1 Offline Installer
- Dropbox 3.15.54 Offline Installer (beta)

all result in stuck on starting, I tried clearing AppData and other files.

The weirdest thing is that dropbox works in Safe mode

any suggestions?

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