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Dropbox vs. Ventura nightmare (191.4.4995)

Welp, week two and the "new" Dropbox update continues to reek havoc on my iMac. I've read a lot of community threads, and can already weed out that this is not a "beta" version. I've installed DB version 191.4.4995, on Ventura 13.6.1, and now I've updated to Ventura 13.6.4. After countless system restarts, the Dropbox icon in the top menu bar is constantly grayed out while the Sync History tab says "Starting." Hours go by and nothing happens. Meanwhile, I can not access any files in my Finder that are from DB folders.

Please tell me there's a fix for this. I went a long round with support last week, and they instructed me to do a Terminal command process to look for "Symlinks" (which I said I would not do because it did not make sense with what I was experiencing), and then out of nowhere, all of a sudden, DB just started working. That lasted for the afternoon but the next day on restart it was back to the beginning again.

This has kept my iMac's fan constantly spinning up and CPU usage spiking. "fileproviderd" has constantly been over 100% of CPU usage. And "rtcreportingd" has sometimes jumped way up, other times been around 17% of CPU usage.

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tomgrin74

UPDATE: Feb 12, 2024

For anyone who finds this thread and is having issues, it's been about a week now since my system has stabilized after updating to the most recent version of Dropbox Desktop app for mac, which initially caused so much trouble for me. I'll admit that I was not optimistic that the Dropbox desktop app for mac would ever be stable again in current Apple/Mac Operating Systems, but it did eventually seem to work itself out. The two keys that seemed to likely help make any difference, although I can't confirm it so it's just my best hunch, are quitting the "fileproviderd" process in the Apple Activity Monitor app, a dozen shut-downs and restarts over several days, and eventually, with enough time, it all returned back to normal—allowing me to do the two special resets. Good luck out there.

All comments

Jay

Hi @tomgrin74, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

As you've already been in contact with the support team recently, I'd recommend continuing your communication with them so that they can move onto further steps.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

tomgrin74

Thanks, but wouldn't it be helpful to others in the community to track it here? It seems like sending me back to a chat or email trade is silo'ing off your team's approach to resolving this—which to be honest, my fear is that there simply is not going to be great integration between the new DB desktop app upgrade and Apple OS's.

Walter

Hey @tomgrin74 - sorry to jump in here, but could you share your ticket's ID so that we can look it up in our system?

As for the issue you're facing, have you tried fixing your hard-links and permissions since you first noticed it?

tomgrin74

Sorry, I don't know what my chat transcript ID was from the other day. You'd have to look that up by my user account.

The "hard-links and permissions" article that you linked me to is for Windows, I'm on Mac OS Ventura. So I would need something more specific for Apple users.

Btw - Dropbox desktop app has just be running for hours and is still on "Starting" under the Sync History tab. And when I click the top menu tray icon, it shows me not logged in. But if I try to "Sign in" nothing happens. I've tried quitting the app and restarting it, same problem. See screen shot.

"Starting" - and not "Signed in" even though I try to Sign In, nothing happens Image 2-2-24 at 11.53 AM.jpeg Image 2-2-24 at 11.55 AM.jpeg

tomgrin74

"fileproviderd" is constantly using over 100% CPU usage. Image 2-2-24 at 2.45 PM.jpeg

tomgrin74

Ok, apologies, after a second, closer look, I did find the Mac instructions in that article you shared with me. Repairing Hard Links does not work, it gives an error. But repairing Permissions did work successfully. However, then I tried to repair Hard Links, and it still gives an error and says to reach out to support. Screenshot 2024-02-02 at 2.49.28 PM.jpeg Image 2-2-24 at 2.48 PM.jpeg

Walter

Could you check your email's inbox and see if you can find your email interaction with our support team @tomgrin74? If you chatted with a member of the support team you should have received an email with a ticket number as a reference.

I'm only asking as at this point we'd need to revert to email communication to further assist with account and device specific information.

tomgrin74

Hi Walter, while I appreciate direct communications, I just want to go on record here saying (for other Mac OS Ventura users) so that when they search for this issue in the Community, they don't find a dead end like I have in the past.

I checked my email but must have deleted that transcript from Chat. Should I re-open a new Chat, or how do we transfer this into an email thread without me having to explain it all over again? I appreciate your help because this is extremely frustrating and time consuming for something that only happened after I updated to the new Mac Desktop app for Dropbox.

Walter

In that case, may I reach out via email from my end to have a further look internally at this point @tomgrin74?

tomgrin74

Ok. I’ll keep a watch for your email.

tomgrin74

Hi, are you going to email me? I haven't received anything, and I still can not use the updated DB desktop app, it's still causing serious issues.

Walter

Thanks for the nudge @tomgrin74 - I've just sent you an email so please have a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

tomgrin74

Guys? Where'd you go? I'm on day two and still having major problems.

Two questions:

1) Is there a known resolution to Mac OS Ventura & the updated Dropbox desktop app?

2) Would you kindly connect me with an escalated level of support, given I'm a DB Pro user, and I'm on day two of not being able to access my files and this new app appears to be having a major effect on my machine's finder?

tomgrin74

It looks like your support closes up for the weekend and is only available from Monday to Friday. Not great for users who are struggling with severe system issues caused, at least in part, by Dropbox desktop app for mac.

So I just tried something that seems to have had a little bit of a result. After several system restarts, and many more hours of my system finder not working consistently—and the topbar menu Dropbox icon showing "Connecting components," I did a Force Quit of the "fileproviderd" process in my Mac's Activity Monitor. It seems then when I force quit this process, it automatically re-opens, and when that happened, the Dropbox icon in the top menubar started to actually show my files being synced again.

I don't trust that things are working correctly yet, and, my system finder keeps crashing which makes me believe that this updated Dropbox desktop app is in conflict with my Mac OS Ventura system. But it was at least a minor bit of progress that might help inform your support team of what I should try next? Thanks.

tomgrin74

UPDATE: I'm cautiously optimistic that I might be on or nearing the other side of this experience. It's been about a day since things were unstable. I'm no longer seeing "fileproviderd" cranking with high % of CPU usage. I'm not experiencing (Apple Mac OS Ventura) system Finder crashes or instability. An example of what was happening was I would not be able to move a simple JPG from my desktop to downloads folder without the finder bonking out. Or, if I opened up Apple Photos and tried to do a simple image export, it would freeze, likely due to the finder being so unstable. I'll update more in another day. Could it have been that it just took two weeks of on and off unstable issues while it indexed my files for the updated DB desktop app? The turning point (so far) seems to have been when I simply Force Quit "fileproviderd" process in Activity Monitor. The system automatically re-starts that process right after you Force Quit it, and eventually, I was able to do the Top-Menu Icon > Preferences > Account > (hold OPTION to see hidden buttons) 1. "Fix Hardlinks" and "Fix Permissions". Then after some time, and several reboots, it finally let me do those "Fix" processes without crashing, and eventually things started to calm down. I'm updating to hopefully help someone else out if you're in a bind like I was.

Walter

Thanks for all the updates @tomgrin74

I'm glad to hear things have improved now and keep in mind that I also replied to you on your ticket so if you'd like any further assistance with device specific information you can respond there.

Cheers!

tomgrin74

Thanks. But your email thread started bouncing over the weekend, so I'm not sure what that was about, but I had several replies that bounced back to me. So far, another day of steady and stable machine operations again. So that's good. And the "fileproviderd" process has not been staying spiked at high CPU usage % like it was before.

Does any of what I shared help tip you off to what I might have been experiencing before, and why any of that happened? Thanks!

Megan

Hey @tomgrin74, thanks for updating us and giving us a heads up!

I was able to check Walter's email, and saw that it was still open, in case you want to reply or report anything back to him.

Now as to why this might have happened, and what could have caused it: I have to admit it was a whirlwind of a case that could have been caused by a few different factors, that we tried to pinpoint based on the info you gave us.

We don't have specifics as of yet, but glad everything is behaving at the moment.

tomgrin74

UPDATE: Feb 12, 2024

ecampb13

Hi Megan,

I am trying to support someone who is having a similar issue while running Sonoma 14.2.1 and I keep seeing some Terminal commands being referenced. Can you please send me these commands so I can try them on the user's computer to see if it fixes the issue? Let me know if you need any other information from me. Thanks!

Hannah

Hey @ecampb13, thanks for joining the discussion.

Are you referring to the Terminal commands which help determine if there are any symlinks in the account?

If so, they are the below:

1) Open the Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal). You can also search for "Terminal" using the magnifying glass at the top of your screen

2) Copy and paste the following line into the Terminal:

find ~/Dropbox -type l -exec ls -lah {} \;

ecampb13

Hi Hannah,

Thank you! We've confirmed that the user does not have any files or folders that have are symlinked. They're running the latest version of Dropbox app for Mac. Is there anything else to try that will stop fileproviderd from maxing out the CPU?

Hannah

Thanks for the update, @ecampb13!

Can you please hover over the Dropbox icon in their menu bar and send us a screenshot of both the app version and the sync status?

Pilxs

Hi! I am having the very same issue! Any help?

Jay

Hi @Pilxs, what version of Mac OS and the Dropbox desktop application are you currently running on your device?

Pilxs

they are both the latest.

Yesterday I tried to follow the strategies presented by the other user, and it seems to be ok so far

Jay

Thanks for the update, keep us posted on any changes.