Power BI Report Broken? What to Check First

Start with the symptom: the report has old data, its figures disagree, it will not open, or the person who maintained it has left. Each needs different evidence. Repeatedly publishing a new version before identifying the cause can make the history harder to follow.

Download the Power BI repair brief (TXT). Fill in what you know and use it with your administrator, developer or our Power BI repair service. Keep credentials and customer records out of the brief.

Preserve the current report and record the impact

Record the report and workspace names, the last working time, the exact error and any recent changes. Note who uses the report and the decision or deadline affected. Use redacted screenshots where useful.

Preserve the available PBIX or PBIP source files, version history and refresh errors before editing. A report file is not a backup of every connected system. Ask the owner which source data, gateway settings and deployment versions can be recovered separately.

If people are making decisions with suspect figures, tell them which report, period and measures need checking. Keep the previous validated output available with its date and limits clearly labelled.

If refresh has failed or the data is old

Open the semantic model's refresh history and record the last successful refresh, the failure time and the error details. Check for a provider incident with your tenant administrator before changing the model.

The next investigation depends on the error:

• Credentials: ask the connection owner to check authentication and permissions. Share secrets through the approved credential process.
• Gateway: ask the administrator to check that it is online and that the source connection matches the server and database expected by the model.
• Source change: identify renamed columns, changed types or moved files. Preserve the source schema and transformation steps before editing.

Microsoft documents these checks in its refresh troubleshooting guide and gateway troubleshooting guide. For setup details, use our refresh and gateway guide.

After a repair, check both the refresh result and the expected records in the report. A completed refresh alone does not establish that the figures are correct.

If the totals disagree

Choose one measure and one period to investigate. Record the expected result and where it comes from. Compare the same date range, currency, business definition and filters on both sides. Check whether the comparison uses the same treatment of refunds, tax and posting dates.

Then inspect relationships, duplicate keys and the calculation. A measure can return a different result at the total level because it is evaluated in a different filter context. Adding the displayed rows may be the wrong test for a ratio, distinct count or balance. Microsoft's DAX overview explains row and filter context.

Write down the intended rule before changing the formula. Use a small, redacted test case with expected results to check individual rows, totals and relevant edge cases. Our data modelling guide covers the model behind these calculations.

If AI generated the DAX or model

Keep the generated formula and its intended business rule. Ask what it should return for a single transaction, a filtered group and the total, including blanks, zero values or duplicate records where relevant.

A formula that runs without an error still needs comparison with an independently calculated result. Test changes on a copy and review relationships as well as measures. Use the same sign-off evidence you would require from a human-written calculation.

For wider preparation, see checking Power BI Copilot accuracy. The repair brief works for calculations produced by other AI tools too.

If the owner has left or access is broken

Ask your workspace or tenant administrator to identify the report owner, semantic model owner, source connections, gateway administrators and deployment files. Establish authorised access before replacing credentials or changing ownership. Record which accounts and scheduled jobs depend on the existing setup.

If users can see records they should not see, contact your administrator or security team promptly. They can restrict the affected access and preserve audit evidence. Use private support channels for details and agree access tests before restoring distribution.

Agree what the repair must prove

Your repair brief should name the report, the symptom, the business impact, the last working date and a way to check the result. For example:

• A refresh completes and the expected new records appear.
• An agreed sales measure matches the source for the same period and filters.
• A test user can see their permitted region's records and cannot see another region's records.
• An incoming owner can maintain the report using the documented files and connections.

Request a Power BI repair review with a redacted description. Include the report, when the problem started and who is affected.