dropbox downloads but will not run on 12.04

What is the output of:

lsb_release -a; uname -a; dpkg -l | grep dropbox; ps -ef | grep -i dropbox

Thanks

command not found
thanks

just re downloading again, as pc off since last download?
then try your instruction again!

now says
No LSB modules are available

Copy the command as one and run it. It's why I give the exact command.

copied and pasted
lsb_release -a; uname -a; dpkg -l | grep dropbox; ps -ef | grep -i dropbox

result
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise
Linux davidwhales 3.2.0-74-generic #109-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 9 16:47:54 UTC 2014 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux
1000 3211 3057 0 12:29 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i dropbox

Then run:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install nautilus-dropbox

now says

Downloading Dropbox... 100%

appears in application menu, but requires super user authentication, normal password has no result.
attempting to remove programme to attempt reinsatall, but fails to complete uninstall, fully blued out but just sits there, reboot, and again same result!
do i reinstall system again to correct problem?

You need to download dropbox from their website, the one in the repos is a disaster
sudo apt-get purge nautilus-dropbox
And press CTRL+c before downloading reaches 100%

then go to the website and download the version that works

thanks jeremy, result back to square 1, see copy of terminal below:-

Connecting to dl.dropboxusercontent.com (dl.dropboxusercontent.com)|54.243.65.38|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 56571054 (54M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: `STDOUT'

100%[======================================>] 56,571,054 480K/s in 2m 26s

2014-12-21 08:34:16 (378 KB/s) - written to stdout [56571054/56571054]

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dropbox/callbacks.py", line 92, in run_handlers
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 794, in trace
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 691, in trace
ValueError: cannot convert float NaN to integer
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dropbox/callbacks.py", line 92, in run_handlers
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 794, in trace
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 691, in trace
ValueError: cannot convert float NaN to integer
Aborted (core dumped)

Have you tried downloading the deb file by clicking on the 32bit or 64bit next to Ubuntu on the page rather than using terminal?
If you have gdebi installed, you can install by double clicking on the downloaded file and it must have been how I installed it as my terminal history shows no results of ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

I have, but opens up in App Store, normal install uninstall button via App Store, still Not access able, requiring super saver password if started from menu!

If it was downloaded to Downloads folder, try the following in terminal
cd Downloads
sudo dpkg -i dropbox_1.6.2_i386.deb

information box
dropbox start required
start dropbox to finish installation button
or
close button

next step?

Search programs for dropbox and run using graphical interface

tried launching from applications menu & applications finder, nothing happens!
sorry, don't know what graphical interface is?

When you launched it from applications menu, you should have had a pop up window appear requesting login info for drop box
Graphical interface is gnome/unity/cinnamon where terminal is command line interface

Did you have any nautilus/file manager windows open when trying from applications menu?

no login popped up, the terminal and browser (Firefox), were only things open.

I am out of new ideas, but did it add a dropbox folder inside your home folder?

The error message "Value error: cannot convert float NaN to integer" was also showing up for certain other programs some years ago, and was caused by a combination of certain weaknesses (one of the prerequisites was prerequisites "mmx" but not "sse2" capability of the CPU).

Just to check whether your problem might be induced by the same root cause, please execute the following commands (based on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pycurl/+bug/1063350/comments/15 and comment 24)

cd ~
grep flags /proc/cpuinfo
wget https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pycurl/+bug/1063350/+attachment/3621935/+files/curl.py
python curl.py
rm curl.py

What is the output?

probably made a mess of it, but result:-

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ cd ~
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ grep flags /proc/cpuinfo
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ wget
wget: missing URL
Usage: wget [OPTION]... [URL]...

Try `wget --help' for more options.
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ python curl.py
python: can't open file 'curl.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ rm curl.pywget
rm: cannot remove `curl.pywget': No such file or directory
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ wgetpython curl.py
wgetpython: command not found
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ rm curl.py
rm: cannot remove `curl.py': No such file or directory
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ cd ~
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ grep flags /proc/cpuinfo
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ wget https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pycurl/+bug/1063350/+attachment/3621935/+files/curl.py
--2014-12-22 11:47:56-- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pycurl/+bug/1063350/+attachment/3621935/+files/curl.py
Resolving bugs.launchpad.net (bugs.launchpad.net)... 91.189.89.224, 91.189.89.225
Connecting to bugs.launchpad.net (bugs.launchpad.net)|91.189.89.224|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://launchpadlibrarian.net/136200751/curl.py [following]
--2014-12-22 11:47:56-- https://launchpadlibrarian.net/136200751/curl.py
Resolving launchpadlibrarian.net (launchpadlibrarian.net)... 91.189.89.228, 91.189.89.229
Connecting to launchpadlibrarian.net (launchpadlibrarian.net)|91.189.89.228|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 241 [text/x-python]
Saving to: `curl.py'

100%[======================================>] 241 --.-K/s in 0s

2014-12-22 11:47:57 (1.36 MB/s) - `curl.py' saved [241/241]

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ python curl.py
Object: <lp.services.webapp.servers.WebServiceClientRequest instance URL=https://launchpad.net>, name: ''
before: 0.5 0.5
after: nan 0.5
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ rm curl.py

It really seems to be another occurrence of bug #1063350

What is the output of the following terminal command

grep -5 curl.close ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

very little:-

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ grep -5 curl.close ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ grep -5 curl.close ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ grep -5 curl.close ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$

Maybe good news and bad news.

Your output of the test script
before: 0.5 0.5
after: nan 0.5
and the CPU flags strongly point towards bug #1063350

Good news, is that there is a workaround existing. Putting a simple line "dummy = 1.0/2" into the python code would be enough to reset the registers, that the program can successfully continue.

Bad news is that I do not know where to put that in your case. In the original bug the right position in the python source was just after curl.close(), but it seems that is no such instruction in the dropbox python source. So the floating point problem must be caused by some other instruction. No clue which one.

If you start ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd what is the full output?

Did you try renaming the Dropbox filders in $HOME then launch the application? Don't rename $HOME/Dropbox

If you start ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd what is the full output?
as below:-
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dropbox/callbacks.py", line 92, in run_handlers
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 794, in trace
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 691, in trace
ValueError: cannot convert float NaN to integer
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "dropbox/callbacks.py", line 92, in run_handlers
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 794, in trace
  File "dropbox/client/high_trace.py", line 691, in trace
ValueError: cannot convert float NaN to integer
Aborted (core dumped)
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$

 try renaming the Dropbox filders in $HOME then launch the application? Don't rename $HOME/Dropbox:-
result:-
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ $HOME
bash: /home/davidwhales: Is a directory
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ HOME
HOME: command not found
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$

What is the output of the terminal commands

sudo updatedb
locate callbacks.py
locate high_trace.py

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ sudo updatedb
[sudo] password for davidwhales:
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ sudo updatedb
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ locate callbacks.py
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ locate high_trace.py
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$

That is unexpected. From your error traceback I expected these files to exist.

What is the output of

locate callback
locate high_trace
locate run_handlers

davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ locate callback
/usr/include/rpcsvc/nis_callback.h
/usr/include/rpcsvc/nis_callback.x
/usr/share/doc/libnet-ssleay-perl/examples/callback.pl
/usr/share/doc/ppp/examples/scripts/callback
/usr/share/doc/ppp/examples/scripts/chat-callback
/usr/share/doc/python-libxml2/examples/input_callback.py
/usr/share/doc/python-pycurl/html/callbacks.html
/usr/share/doc/python3-pycurl/html/callbacks.html
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-32/include/xen/interface/callback.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-32-generic/include/config/hibernate/callbacks.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-43/include/xen/interface/callback.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-43-generic/include/config/hibernate/callbacks.h
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ locate high_trace
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$ locate run_handlers
davidwhales@davidwhales:~$

Sorry to say, but I am running out of ideas.
I am quite sure that I have identified bug #1063350 as the root cause of your problem, but I do not know how to solve it.

thanks for trying manfred, appreciated!
probably have to resort to windows8.1 for dropbox, shame as xubuntu has been good for ages.

I have the same error since a 1-2 weeks. I am running ARCH linux on a very old hardware. That is Athlon XP 32bit.
proc/cpuinfo reports the following flags on my cpu:

flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow vmmcall

Manfred suggested a cause with "no SSE2 support" on the CPU. That, I believe is my problem here. "v2.10" works flawlessly, so there is a workaround for me. However, it is a bit disappointing that this old beast can no more run latest dropbox client.

By the way, I am well aware that this is the Ubuntu forum and I am using Arch. But I just wanted to present my case which in turn may lead to a fix for one or both distros.

Ubuntu 12.04 works on non PAE CPUs. You need to use the mini ISO to install it.