DataFormat.error when refreshing in Power BI Service

Hi ThuJa23 ,

In the course of our investigation, we found a similar thread. OP solved this problem in several ways.

• Set Privacy Level to Organizational. Make sure you have the same privacy level security in both Power BI Service and Power BI Desktop.
• Made sure all reports are refreshed at different times
• Created another on-premise gateway to split the load
• Created database tables rather than views to reduce processing between PowerBI and MSSQL
• Ensured both desktop and gateway has the latest version installed at all times

For more information, you may refer to:

'Unable to connect to data source undefined' 

PowerBI intermittent Refresh Failure - Unable to connect to the data source undefined 

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

Hello,

I have the exact same problem. 3 Access Databases are connected over the Gateway administered through our IT. After the first attempt the Gateway server couldn’t open the Access database, Access Database Engine was missing. It was installed and tested. Now I get the same error as the OP.

DataFormat.Error for every Database. Tried the solutions from Anonymous, nothing worked. Searched for table format errors in PowerBi Desktop but there seems to be everything fine. The Access Databases are imported as File.

Hi, 

The problem is still there, even I uninstalled and reinstalled with the newest updates of PBI and Data Gateway

 Anonymous do you have any other advices?

Thanks so much

Thu

Hi ThuJa23 ,

Based on the above information, if you are a Power BI Pro licensee, you can create a support ticket for free and a dedicated Microsoft engineer will come to solve the problem for you.
It would be great if you continue to share in this issue to help others with similar problems after you know the root cause or solution.

The link of Power BI Support: Support | Microsoft Power BI

For how to create a support ticket, please refer to How to create a support ticket in Power BI - Microsoft Power BI Community

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

Hello ThuJa23 

I finally solved my problem, hope it also helps you. My access file is saved on a server. I can access it as a network drive. In the explorer you see the network drive with the folder name and in brackets the server address. I assumed that the server address is the one in the brackets, but it was false. Right klick on the network drive, settings, and under the “DFS” tab is the right address.
Changed the address in the gateway and in PowerBi Desktop and now it refreshes over the online service.
Hope it helps you.

Hello Trelobar 

Could you elaborate, please? Where are you changing the address? On the server? In PBI?

juleshorton you change it in the Report settings one the File tab on the upper left side.

Once you added the datasource, you change the source path for the access document to the right address (full servername with path)

My problem was that then I added the file, stored on our server, to Power BI. It saves the local path saved on my computer (M:datasource/file.accdb)
The onlineservices can't find the file because the full serverpath is false. I changed it to the serverpath and now the onlineservices are able to find the file. (\\servername\filestorage\datasource\file.accdb)