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Forum Discussion

pellet's avatar
pellet
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago
Solved

Drop box is stuck at "Starting..." but files are being synced

The box icon on system tray stays at gray and says "Starting...". But, when files are changed on another computer, they are being synced. Should I be concerned? Is there a fix?

 

Thanks.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago

    Hi again to all, 

    This should be resolved now. Please restart your Dropbox desktop or mobile app and try again.

    Let us know if you are still receiving an errors or you're experiencing anything out of the ordinary & we can look further into it.

    Thanks to everyone for your reports & happy Dropboxing ahead! 

  • jsc's avatar
    jsc
    New member | Level 2

    Having issues here too. Just took in delivery of a New MacBook Pro and installed Dropbox only to find it wont go past 'starting'. I checked my old machine and the same thing is happening. Thought I had messed something up myself but looking like it's a wider issue.

    Running High Sierra 10.13.6 on both machines and the dropbox install on both is 54.4.90

    • rhbecker's avatar
      rhbecker
      Explorer | Level 4

      In case it helps, I noticed this behavior starting around 6pm PST yesterday (8/13). It may have started earlier, but that's when I noticed.

       

      Win 10

      55.4.171

      • cvlk's avatar
        cvlk
        Helpful | Level 6
        started for me about the same time. macOS 10.13.6 with dropbox 54.4.90.

        note: i have also noticed that new files coming in don't seem to be syncing correctly. (i am using smart sync ONLY to see online-only files.) i get notifications saying the sync failed (due to trouble connecting). then it tries again. continuous notifications, every few minutes.
  • Steve2295's avatar
    Steve2295
    New member | Level 2

    Dropbox Icon Stuck on "Starting" with a red square over it - with the number 1 inside.

     

    Frozen, will not do anything else.....

     

    Online in our Account Settings -  The Tab "Plan" settings for some reason is stuck on 258GB Used out of 0GB  - even though we have Dropbox Professional (2TB) and our payments are up to date.

     

     

     

    Tried uninstalling/unlinking/reinstalling, etc....... doesnt work.

     

    Any help appreciated.....

     

    :-)

    • Filipi's avatar
      Filipi
      Explorer | Level 4

      Same here, started today. The problem persists even if you reinstall and resync everything. Started happening today both on my windows and mac.

      • cvlk's avatar
        cvlk
        Helpful | Level 6

        wow, what an incredible problem!  affecting all these people at the same time ... starting yesterday ( 08/13/2018 ).

         

        hopefully dropbox has now taken note and is quickly coming up with a solution!!

         

        thanks to everyone!  let's get this thing solved!  :)

         

        chris

  • mkcreative's avatar
    mkcreative
    New member | Level 2

    Same issue with Mac OS X (latest build).

     

    Deleted Dropbox preferences and rebooted. No change.

    Checked network proxies. No change.

    Deleted application caches. No change.

    Rebooted Mac. No change.

     

     

    Dropbox icon is still greyed-out and "Dropbox is starting" message continously displayed.

    • Hoder J.'s avatar
      Hoder J.
      Helpful | Level 6
      Yup same problem here. Windows 10 running Dropbox 56.3.83

      The problem started to occur yesterday, where a restart of the client fixed it, but today it's stuck at either indexing or starting...

      Something is defiantly broken @ dropbox.
    • joseblandon's avatar
      joseblandon
      New member | Level 2

      Exactly the same problem with MacOS 10.13.6

      - I did the same routine. No change.
      - Clean uninstall. Rebooted Mac. Turn-off firewall & virus protection. Install app. No change.

       

      Dropbox icon greyed-out. "Dropbox is starting" message continously displayed.

  • RandyGarmon's avatar
    RandyGarmon
    New member | Level 2

    The Mac app stopped syncing today and is constantly 'Strating'.  My account says that I'm using 0 bytes yet I can go to the home page and see files listed.  What is happening?

  • nubkub's avatar
    nubkub
    New member | Level 2

    I have ne macbook pro 2018. Files sunced yesterday when I set up the computer. Today dropbox is stuck at starting. I have uninstalled and installed numerous times and nothing works. Even erased brand new disk and did clean install and still the same problem persists. Frustrated and don't know how to fix this and need dropbox to work with my team.

  • Gogoarkman's avatar
    Gogoarkman
    New member | Level 2

    Hi Dropbox,

     

    My Dropbox has been starting and syncing since yesterday. It has not been able to finish loading. Please refer image below.

     

    This is the first time showing this issue. Appreciate if you could advise what is the method to resolve this.

     

    • Lusil's avatar
      Lusil
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      Hey Gogoarkman
       
      Initially, please note that I’ve gone ahead and removed some info from your screenshot for security and privacy purposes. 
       
      Moving on to your concern though, I’d kindly recommend moving this discussion to email due to account-specific info that may be required. For this reason, I’ve gone ahead and sent you an email to the email address associated with your Forum profile. Please check your inbox for my latest message. 
       
      Cheers! :grin:
  • pellet's avatar
    pellet
    Helpful | Level 5

    pellet wrote:

    The box icon on system tray stays at gray and says "Starting...". But, when files are changed on another computer, they are being synced. Should I be concerned? Is there a fix?

     

    Thanks.


    It looks like a confirmed, widespread issue. Let’s give Dropbox some time to get it fixed. Hopefully soon....

    • 4llan's avatar
      4llan
      Helpful | Level 5

      The issue is really on my work account:

      [From Android]

      • brandonkal's avatar
        brandonkal
        New member | Level 2

        I am also having this problem on MacOS. Files sync but Dropbox is stuck forever starting.  It looks like this issue is widespread. Please add this to you list of known issues, Dropbox.

  • wpfbedford's avatar
    wpfbedford
    New member | Level 2

    So since yesterday both my desktop and laptop (both win 10 64 bit) App  say "Dropbox is starting...." but it never starts. I tested that it is syncing without a problem just the icon stays greyed out and the App never starts. Running 54.4.90

     

    I conatced tech support via email but so far they have not gotten back to me with a fix.

     

    Any ideas how to fix this?

     

    Thanks 

     

    • Lusil's avatar
      Lusil
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      Hey there wpfbedfordInitially please note that I went ahead and removed some info from your screenshot, for privacy and security purposes. 
       
      As for your concern, due to account-specific info required to troubleshoot for this, I’d kindly recommend continuing via email. I was able to locate your open request from my side and have passed your comments along to the member of my team that's working on this with you. 
       
      Once they have more info on this matter, they’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Rest assured, they’ll do their best to assist you. 
       
      In the mean time, if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to get back to us. Thanks! :grin:
      • wpfbedford's avatar
        wpfbedford
        New member | Level 2

        OK than you and thanks for removing info from the screen shot.

  • rossd's avatar
    rossd
    New member | Level 2

    Windows 10 Surface Book

    Suddenly, after no change that I'm aware of, the Dropbox icon in the system tray is gray, when I scroll over it says 'Starting' and when right click it says 'Dropbox is starting', continues for many hours with no change.

     

    However on dropbox.com it is showing that my files have synced.

     

    I have uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox.

     

    I have scoured the community and other sources and can see nothing else on this.

     

    Help please?

     

     

     

  • jsc's avatar
    jsc
    New member | Level 2

    Update for me - Restarted my machine this morning and Dropbox is now stating 'indexing' instead of starting. With that said, it doesnt actually seem to be doing anything. No new files have been synced 

     

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