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Forum Discussion
WillHermann
5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Hundreds of background processes, new windows opened
Dropbox seems to be stuck in a loop, and opening hundreds of background processes. This consumes all my CPU capacity, then eats at my memory and disk space. See attached pics. There also seem to be w...
- 5 years ago
I appear to have resolved this, by uninstalling, removing my local dropbox folder and re-installing (and allowing the subsequent download). Now I only see 4 Dropbox related processes, and system performance is normal.
It appears that the issue was actually related to firewall changes in my network. Apparently Dropbox was spawning processes that would then wind up waiting indefinitely, instead of completing and exiting. Apparently there is no check for system load, number of child processes, etc. And the question remains as to why the Dropbox servers are now showing up on my block list.
While this fix worked for me, if folks have a significant amount of data in their Dropbox, they may be more reluctant to try it.
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for your swift reply, WillHermann.
I'd be more than happy to send you a ticket so that we can have a better look into this.
Before I do though, could you confirm if you've checked this article out, which provides some suggestions on how to tackle high CPU/RAM usage?
Let me know what you find!
WillHermann
5 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Fun new twist: those hundreds of processes are starting up without starting the Dropbox app
- Lusil5 years agoDropbox Staff
Thanks for checking those out for me, WillHermann.
At first, I can confirm: 100% human. :upside_down:
Moving on to your main concern though, from your initial screenshots, I'm afraid I don't see any processes that relate to the desktop app.
Also, since the desktop app isn't running when you experience high CPU, the cause could be related to an external factor, such as a third party app (for example, I can see that you're running a few that show up at the very top of the list under Power usage).
For this reason, I'd recommend looking into other third party apps that could be causing this.
If you're still having trouble with this or you reach a dead-end, please contact our Support team for a more in-depth look. Thanks!
- Minas S.5 years agoExplorer | Level 4
I have the exact same problem. It all started after the update of 26.01.2020.
Instead of having us trying random things (I refer to the article that you pointed above) and telling us to restart, just admit that dropbox **bleep**ed up completly with the latest update and have cost us quite a few human hours already.
I can confirm that after uninstalling dropbox I managed to regain control of my computer and finish some urgent work that i needed done, but apparently that means I have no longer the auto-sync from my hard disk.
Please solve the problem and post the solution. I am fairly sure it must be quite widespread!
Thank you in advance.
- UnableToUse5 years agoHelpful | Level 6
I have the identical problem. Hundreds of Dropbox processes, chewing up all available memory, CPU, and disk cycles.
No tray icon to shut them down, and system too un-responsive to manually stop each of the multitudes of processes.
I uninstalled Dropbox as well. I'll be waiting to hear of a fix before I re-install - or if it takes too long, I'll switch to an alternative service.
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