Power BI is turning 10! Tune in for a special live episode on July 24 with behind-the-scenes stories, product evolution highlights, and a sneak peek at what’s in store for the future.
Save the dateEnhance your career with this limited time 50% discount on Fabric and Power BI exams. Ends August 31st. Request your voucher.
I am receiving the message "an error occurred while loading to the model" if I want to connect to any datasoure (Excel or SQL server). Normally it would specify which query is affected, but this time - nothing! Just the yellow little triangle with the "!" and the generic error message - for every data source.
I've tried to multiple sources that I can all access in a new pbix, but not in the old one.
What could it be?
PS: I have the April 2025 PBI Desktop version
Solved! Go to Solution.
@PBI-Newbie
Here's a checklist of what might be going wrong and how to fix it:
Sometimes, transformations or schema changes in Power Query get out of sync with the data model.
Fix:
Go to Power Query Editor in the affected .pbix
Check each query for errors (especially ones with merge/join or custom steps)
Remove or isolate complex queries to test
Try deleting a problematic query (copy it to Notepad first), then reload.
An invalid relationship (like cardinality mismatch or a missing key) can block loading to the model silently.
Fix:
Open Model view
Review all relationships – delete or disable any that could be failing due to changes in column types or values
Auto-generated date tables sometimes cause corruption when columns are renamed or deleted.
Fix:
Go to File > Options > Data Load, uncheck Auto Date/Time for new files
Save, close, and reopen the file – retry load
If someone used an external tool and made a change that’s invalid (like renaming or removing a measure used in a visual), the model might break silently.
Fix:
Try opening the .pbix
on another machine (fresh install) to rule out local corruption
Check external tools history, if available
If nothing works:
Fix:
Open the broken .pbix
Remove all tables from the model
Try loading just one query – if it works, add others back incrementally
Or, copy all report pages and Power Query steps into a fresh .pbix
.
Use Performance Analyzer (under View tab) and watch what’s loading when it breaks. Sometimes even visuals trying to reference deleted fields can trip things up.
Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos !!
Thanks for the quick answer! I've already done step 1. All queries load perfectly if I don't bring in any new ones. Will check the next steps.
sounds good @PBI-Newbie
Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos !!
I've unticked the time intelligence and the automatic detection of relationship. Now it works perfectly again. Thanks for the pointers!
@PBI-Newbie
Here's a checklist of what might be going wrong and how to fix it:
Sometimes, transformations or schema changes in Power Query get out of sync with the data model.
Fix:
Go to Power Query Editor in the affected .pbix
Check each query for errors (especially ones with merge/join or custom steps)
Remove or isolate complex queries to test
Try deleting a problematic query (copy it to Notepad first), then reload.
An invalid relationship (like cardinality mismatch or a missing key) can block loading to the model silently.
Fix:
Open Model view
Review all relationships – delete or disable any that could be failing due to changes in column types or values
Auto-generated date tables sometimes cause corruption when columns are renamed or deleted.
Fix:
Go to File > Options > Data Load, uncheck Auto Date/Time for new files
Save, close, and reopen the file – retry load
If someone used an external tool and made a change that’s invalid (like renaming or removing a measure used in a visual), the model might break silently.
Fix:
Try opening the .pbix
on another machine (fresh install) to rule out local corruption
Check external tools history, if available
If nothing works:
Fix:
Open the broken .pbix
Remove all tables from the model
Try loading just one query – if it works, add others back incrementally
Or, copy all report pages and Power Query steps into a fresh .pbix
.
Use Performance Analyzer (under View tab) and watch what’s loading when it breaks. Sometimes even visuals trying to reference deleted fields can trip things up.
Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Appreciate your Kudos !!
Check out the July 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.
This is your chance to engage directly with the engineering team behind Fabric and Power BI. Share your experiences and shape the future.
User | Count |
---|---|
70 | |
68 | |
43 | |
34 | |
26 |
User | Count |
---|---|
86 | |
49 | |
45 | |
38 | |
37 |