Endlessly repeating "There was a problem connecting..." error I'm getting constantly interrupted by the same error, "There was a problem connecting to the server "admin's MacBook". The server may not exist or it is unavailable at this time.  Check the server name or IP address, check your network connection, and then try again."

The server in question is my older Macbook.  A few days ago I needed to copy iSync from the old MB to my newer MBP so I established a bluetooth file sharing link.  When I was done I turned file sharing off again and shutdown the old Macbook.  Apparently my MBP (the newer one) is still constantly trying to contact the old MB.  How can I get it to forget that that machine was ever connected?

Here's the error dialog:



So far I tried following:


  System Preferences Network

Deleted BT connections

Then Open the Sharing and Disable Sharing

  
  Restart MBP


without success.

It would appear that the problem is related to having installed iSync under Mountain Lion.  Here is a copy of the console log at the moment that the error dialog pops up:

8/7/13 11:36:43.623 AM iSync[18691]: ApplePersistence=NO
8/7/13 11:37:13.632 AM iSync[18691]: [0x10010ba70] |Server|Warning| failed to connect to the server: NSPortTimeoutException connection timeout: did not receive reply
8/7/13 11:37:13.909 AM NetAuthAgent[18695]: ApplePersistence=NO
8/7/13 11:37:15.984 AM SyncServer[18693]: [0x7fd9d340bea0] |DataManager|Warning| Client com.apple.iSyncDU.IMEI356495004217990 image file path /Volumes/Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/PlugIns/PhoneModelsSync.phoneplugin/Contents/Resources/MOTV535.tiff does not exist.
8/7/13 11:37:43.786 AM iSync[18691]: [0x10010ba70] |Server|Warning| failed to connect to the server: NSPortTimeoutException connection timeout: did not receive reply
8/7/13 11:37:49.170 AM SyncServer[18693]: [0x7fd9d340bea0] |DataManager|Warning| Client com.apple.iSyncDU.IMEI356495004217990 sync alert tool path /Volumes/Applications/iSync.app/Contents/MacOS/sync-tool does not exist.
8/7/13 11:38:13.939 AM iSync[18691]: [0x10010ba70] |Server|Warning| failed to connect to the server: NSPortTimeoutException connection timeout: did not receive reply
8/7/13 11:38:21.018 AM SyncServer[18693]: [0x7fd9d340bea0] |DataManager|Warning| Client com.apple.iSyncDU.IMEI356495004217990 formatter bundle path /Volumes/Applications/iSync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ApplePhoneConduit.syncdevice/Contents/Resources/Formatter.bundle does not exist.


Now I suspect that because I simply copied over iSync, it's still configured for the other machine, which it cannot find.

Simply deleting iSync did not do the job.  launchd must still be configured to run whatever backup daemon got installed when I ran iSync.
This error typically comes up when OSX is trying to access a file or folder on a remote server, but it cannot connect to that server.

I have two examples to give an idea of where this can come from:


You are able to have MacOS (or OSX as it was known at the time) connect to a remote folder automatically at
login. Typically these are shown in the "Login Items" tab of the
"Users &amp; Groups" pref pane


When an application attempts to open a file that's on a remote
server, OSX automatically tries to connect to that server in order
to access the file.

For example: If the music in your iTunes library is on a mounted
network drive, and you have not connected the drive yet, playing a
track will delay while it connects the drive before iTunes will
play the track.


In both cases, if the server where these files are located cannot be found, that error will come up.

Since the computers are no longer connected (in this case over Bluetooth), the server cannot be found.