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Re: Dropbox is stuck syncing after an update, what can I do?

Dropbox is stuck syncing after an update, what can I do?

Shawn B.14
Helpful | Level 6

I have the "Dropbox Plus" subscription and I run the client on 4 computers.

 

Yesterday (Monday, 13-Jan-2020) I signed onto my desktop (which is always on) and has a full local sync of my dropbox that a number of new files added Saturday had big red Xs on them -- JPEGs I had scanned Saturday and which were in sync to my laptop on Sunday morning.

I checked my other workstation (also always on) and Dropbox wasn't even running.  I launched it, and it pretty immediately ran a "one time update".   Once this completed, it appeared to go into a full-on sync mode, indexing thousands of files and downloading thousands more (my total dropbox footprint is ~17k files, 600 GB of data).  This has been running for 24 hours without making any apparent progress, despite the drive being materially in sync with my first workstation (using BeyondCompare to check).  Plus not enough system activity to indicate any actual indexing or download was taking place.

I paused workstation 2, uninstalled dropbox on workstation 1 and reinstalled it.  Just prior to this, workstation 1 was "stuck" uploading 2 files and downloading 7 files, which it had been on since last night.

Workstation 1 now shows "indexing" for around 8k files and "downloading" for 9k files.  Trouble is, Resource Monitor doesn't show disk activity or network activity for that kind of activity.

What's going on?  I was perfectly in sync as of Saturday morning and over the last 24 hours it's gotten bad.

Oddly, my laptop ("laptop 1") is apparently fine, showing more or less normal sync status as far as I can tell (and is on build 88.4.172).

165 Replies 165

PatWard
Helpful | Level 7

@Server_Align  @AlignAdmin 

Just wanted to send you thanks. You're sollution worked great. All back up and running.

@Daphne@Fiona 

Thanks for being a polite presense and trying to help. I appreciate this isn't always a happy place given why we come here.

 

Pat

S34W0LF
Helpful | Level 6

An update from my side: Progress has been made with @Server_Align  @AlignAdmin  solution, but the problem is not solved yet, from just seeing "Syncing..." with no other info, I am now in a state that I am seemingly syncing, but very slowly (if at all, I can not tell, the number of pending files to be "downloaded" and "indexed" remain very high as you can see on the screenshot attached). 

Any ideas on how to go back to normal syncing speeds? (or unstuck, not sure if I am syncing at all)

2020-02-01_11-56-01.jpg

Matt F.16
Collaborator | Level 9

@S34WOLF - I was in the same boat as you and documented the solution (for me) on page 12 of this thread: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Files-folders/Dropbox-is-stuck-syncing-after-an-update-what-can-I-do...

S34W0LF
Helpful | Level 6

Thank you @Matt F.16 . I am on windows, I have found and deleted symlinks (just two), and also fixed permissions both with the "Fix Permission" button and the command line commands Dropbox support has sent me but haven't solved the issue.

Further investigation/experimentation led me to this:

It seems that the dropbox.exe process is "blocked" by another thread. I right clicked on the Dropbox.exe process and chose "Analyse wait chain":

2020-02-01_13-35-02.jpg

This gave me the following interesting message. Dropbox is waiting for some other process on Thread 9236 to finish and release *network* I/O:

2020-02-01_13-43-04.jpg

I downloaded "Process Explorer" from Microsoft (here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer) to see what this Thread is (right click on Dropbox.exe process in Process Explorer, choose Proporties, then "Threads" tab:

2020-02-01_13-48-08.jpg

So ucrtbase.dll seems to be involved. Doubleclicking on the Thread gives this stack of "core" Windows10 dlls and exe files:2020-02-01_13-50-55.jpgThis is the furthest I can go with my technical understanding, and I am reporting it so that others may dig further and reach a solution.

(Note: to see the threads on my PC I had to install "Debugging Tools for Windows" from the Windows 10 SDK (here:https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/windows-10-sdk . On the installer choose only to install:"Debugging Tools for Windows" to save disc space and time:

2020-02-01_13-53-01.jpg

Ronald H.
Helpful | Level 6

Hello @Server_Align

I am about to try out your solution, but am hesitant and perhaps being overly cautious. I wanted to get some clarifications before I proceed.

I have done steps 1 & 2.  I have even backed up everything in my Dropbox (Personal) to an external drive.

For steps 3: when I re-link the PC, I selectively sync nothing (meaning all files will be downloaded and local to my PC).

But doesn't this mean that for step 4, many files will (at least start to) be downloaded and present on the local machine?

Then for step 5, I am confused by the "Once upto date (with no files present), change your settings to what they used to be, like save space settings etc, and apply"

Do you mean to interrupt the downloading that will start in step 4 with step 5 by starting a selective sync?  I don't understand how the sync will be "near instant" if files are downloading.

I understand the rest of the steps. 

Some background: I have two PCs that I want to keep in sync in two different locations. I use Boxifier on both PCs to sync "in place" although only using the full Boxifier "in place" file system links on one of my PCs. This is the one that DB is not working correctly.

One of my PCs DB works just fine even with the update. Interestingly, it is the PC I am NOT using Boxifier to modify the "in place" file directory. 

Again, I am perhaps being overly cautious. I really have no problem re-downloading all the files present in my Dropbox (Personal) account.

Thank you!

Ronald

S34W0LF
Helpful | Level 6

SOLVED!: As I was browsing the threads that were related to dropbox.exe, I saw that boxifier had some threads, which was weird as I had it closed. So I unistalled boxifier, restarted the PC, and it synced fully! I am not sure whether it was just boxifier or a combination of all the other issues that I tackled (symlinks, permissions etc), the thing is I am fully operational now, and all new changes get synced as before.

Thanks to all people that helped!

 

Ronald H.
Helpful | Level 6

Hi S34WOLF: 

I am also a Boxifier user too because I wanted to sync files in their current folder locations and not move them to the designated Dropbox folder.  These are usually in the "Boxifier" folder under the Dropbox folder, and these contain the links to to external folders outside the Dropbox folder structure. 

Can you tell us all a little more what happened to the "Boxifer" folder after you uninstalled Boxifier, and what you will do now? 

FYI, I contacted Boxifier support who told me (in part): "Dropbox has introduced a new sync engine ("Nucleus") that at the moment is not advertised and it is only available to some users. The team discovered an incompatibility between Boxifier and this new sync engine and is working to solve this problem. We have released a beta last week which includes support for the new sync engine of Dropbox. Could you please give it a try and let me know if it makes any difference for you?"

The Boxifier Beta did not make any difference, so I am wondering which side to try to tackle this problem: Dropbox or Boxifier.

Thank you!

Ronald

 

S34W0LF
Helpful | Level 6

Hello @Ronald H. 

My use of Boxifier was circumstantial, I wanted the data of an application I was using to be saved in Dropbox - but I am not using it anymore, so I can quit using Boxifier, no need to replace it at the moment.

The Boxifier folder is still in Dropbox and all the files that had been synced by Boxifier are still there (there are no links, rather copies of the files that are outside Dropbox).

Did uninstalling Boxifier solve the Dropbox issues for you?

Ronald H.
Helpful | Level 6

Dear @S34W0LF 

Thank you for the quick reply! 

It is strange that I tried using Dropbox with Boxifier not running but still had the endless synching issue.

I will try the Boxifier uninstall and let this Forum know what happened!

Regards,

Ronald

MaxLebled
Helpful | Level 6

@Ronald H. wrote:

 

FYI, I contacted Boxifier support who told me (in part): "Dropbox has introduced a new sync engine ("Nucleus") that at the moment is not advertised and it is only available to some users.


Ahh, so that explains the nucleus filename I saw through ResMon. Well, I think that clearly establishes that there's something not quite ready with their new sync engine yet...

Need more support?