Help! Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to conenct to socket/com/ubuntu/upstart

[rosstcorbett]

Hi there,

Dropbox seemed to have stopped working. So I went onto the terminal to restart it.

When I tried to restart it I got this message:

Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to conenct to socket/com/ubuntu/upstart

I am very new to working with Linux etc so would be very grateful for your help.

Kind regards,

Ross

[Lusil]

Hey @rosstcorbett, thanks for checking in with us!

I had a look around the web to see if I could find any similar reports about this, and I found some discussions where users suggest some ways on how to tackle it. 

Have a look around and let me know of any updates. Cheers!

[rosstcorbett]

Hi,

Thanks for the links.

To be honest I'm still lost - the links are a little difficult to understand.

Ross

[Здравко · Accepted solution]

---

@rosstcorbett wrote:

...

Dropbox seemed to have stopped working. So I went onto the terminal to restart it.

When I tried to restart it I got ...

---

Hi @rosstcorbett,

First, how exactly you try "restart" your Dropbox application? Dropbox work don't have be related in any way to used "root" service. Where you exactly receive the error message? Can you post the exact commands and results?

Next, is there some reason you use "upstart"???! It was deprecated almost 5 years ago (even still available for use)! Present day "systemd" is in use typically. What kind of Ubuntu version are you use - isn't it too old?!

I would advice you switch permanently to "systemd" or, even better, reinstall latest Ubuntu version (or least upgrade):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

😏

Good luck.

[rosstcorbett]

Thank you! 

All good now 🙂

Ross

[rosstcorbett]

Hi Guys,

I hope everybody is having a great week!

I am having the same error message as above once again - using Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-171-generic x86_64)

The reason we are using Ubuntu is because it was setup that way by somebdy who has now left and I have no real experience. 

I have tried using the fix above which worked last time however this does not work this time. 

Can anbody please advise on what I can do to fix this? I will paste the code below:

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# dropbox status

Up to date

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# stop dropbox

stop: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# dropbox status

Up to date

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# start dropbox

start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# sudo apt-get update

Hit:1 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease [109 kB]

Get:3 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease [109 kB]

Get:4 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease [107 kB]       

Get:5 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages [1,199 kB]

Ign:6 https://download.serverpilot.io/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Ign:7 https://download.heatshield.io/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Hit:8 https://download.serverpilot.io/ubuntu xenial Release

Hit:9 https://download.heatshield.io/ubuntu xenial Release    

Fetched 1,524 kB in 1s (1,390 kB/s)                            

Reading package lists... Done

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... Done

Calculating upgrade... Done

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# stop dropbox

stop: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# start dropbox

start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# sudo apt-get update

Hit:1 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease

Hit:2 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease                        

Hit:3 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease

Hit:4 http://nova.clouds.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease

Ign:5 https://download.heatshield.io/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Ign:6 https://download.serverpilot.io/ubuntu xenial InRelease

Hit:7 https://download.heatshield.io/ubuntu xenial Release

Hit:8 https://download.serverpilot.io/ubuntu xenial Release

Reading package lists... Done

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree       

Reading state information... Done

Calculating upgrade... Done

0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# dropbox status

Up to date

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# start dropbox

start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot#

Many thanks!

Ross

[Здравко]

Hi @rosstcorbett,

😁🙂 The first thing on command line have to be the command! 🤔 What is the command name for the Dropbox application? Next to the command all needed options or parameters, If any, should follow. Are there such things in your commands above and are they ordered correctly? 😉

Hope this helps.

[rosstcorbett]

Hi @Здравко 

Thank you for the reply 🙂

Our websites automation has stopped working, this is usually because dropbox stops working and I go into Terminal to restart it.

Usually works, but as you can see this is how I do it and where the error is now coming up.

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# dropbox status

Up to date

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot# start dropbox

start: Unable to connect to Upstart: Failed to connect to socket /com/ubuntu/upstart: Connection refused

root@server-1:/srv/users/serverpilot#

I hope I'm making sense, as previously mentioned I know very little and about using Linux.

Many thanks.

Ross

[Здравко]

It's not something related to Linux!  It's the same for every one OS (including Windows and Mac). Let focus on Linux.You are trying 2 subcommand (options) - status and start.The first "dropbox status" seems to work (isn't it 😉) and shows that dropbox daemon is working and everything is up to date. What about the second - "start dropbox"? Seems here is something wrong! 🤔 Isn't better "dropbox start"? 😉

In addition it's never good idea an application (including Dropbox) to run in escalated privileges! Could be dangerous for the system. Better use a dedicated regular user context.

[rosstcorbett]

@Здравко 

OK, now I feel silly 🙂

'Dropbox start' works just fine.

Thank you 😉

Ross