What to Do When a Refresh Fails in Power BI Service

Experiencing refresh failures in the Power BI Service can be frustrating, but there are specific steps you can take to ensure the support team can help you efficiently. Here’s what to do when you receive refresh failure emails for both dataflows and semantic models.

Introduction

Refresh failures in the Power BI Service can disrupt your data insights and reporting workflows. When you receive a refresh failure email, we recommend ignoring the first failure notification. Sometimes, the issue resolves itself, and you won’t need to take further action. However, if you receive a second failure email, gathering detailed error information is crucial before contacting support. Simply forwarding the failure email is insufficient, as it doesn’t provide the necessary details to understand why the refresh failed.

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the steps to gather detailed error information for both Dataflows and Semantic Models. We’ll explain what to do when you receive a second failure notification and how to retrieve the error messages needed to help you. By following these steps, you can ensure you have all the information needed to diagnose and resolve the refresh issues.

Handling Refresh Failures for Dataflows

When you get a refresh failure email for a Dataflow, follow these steps:

  1. Ignore the First Failure Email
    Sometimes refresh errors resolve themselves. Only take action if you receive a second failure notification.
  2. Retrieve Detailed Error Information
    Go to your Power BI Service workspace.
    Find the dataflow that failed to refresh.
    Option 1: You can do so by clicking on the dataflow name in the email.

    Option 2: Search for the dataflow in the Power BI Service
    Click on the three dots (more options) next to the Dataflow.
    Select “Refresh history” from the dropdown menu.
  3. Download the Error Log
    In the refresh history, find the failed refresh entry.
    Click on the download button to download the Excel file with the error details. This file contains crucial information about why the refresh failed.
  4. Report the Failure with Details
    When contacting support, include the Excel file. This helps diagnose and address the issue more effectively.

Handling Refresh Failures for Semantic Models

For semantic models, the process of gathering error details is slightly different:

  1. Ignore the First Failure Email
    Just like with Dataflows, sometimes the issue resolves itself. Wait for a second failure notification before taking action.
  2. Retrieve Detailed Error Information
    Go to your Power BI Service workspace.
    Find the Semantic Model (dataset) that failed to refresh.
    Click on the three dots (more options) next to the Semantic Model.
    Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
  3. View Refresh History
    Click on “Refresh history” below the error message to see past refresh attempts.
  4. Get the Error Message
    Look for the failed refresh attempt in the history.
    Click on Show to see the error message details.

  5. Report the Failure with Details
    When you report the failure to support, include the error message from the refresh history. This provides valuable information to diagnose and fix the problem.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can help the support team assist more efficiently when you experience refresh failures. Remember, simply forwarding the failure email is not enough. You need to provide a detailed error message to help understand and resolve the issue.

We hope this guide helps you gather the necessary information for the support team. If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to reach out!

One way to avoid dealing with refresh failures altogether is to let BI Samurai manage your Power BI Service. By outsourcing to BI Samurai, you can focus on your core business and leave the technical details to us. We have the expertise and experience to ensure your data is always up-to-date and accurate without any hassle or headache.

Happy data refreshing!