Forum Discussion
ODBC error for data source AWS Athena
The suggested solutions did not work and also look like they were copied from generative AI models.
At the moment the ODBC connection is quite slow and even after updating the connector to v2 it only slowed down the refresh time.
I am going to try to move the data source to a Fabric Lakehouse or Azure SQL to see if the refreshes take lesser time.
Thank you,
Hey visheshjain,
Looking at your Athena connection error, this typically happens when Power BI tries to push data type conversions to the source database. Here are some quick solutions:
Try these steps:
- Don't change data type in Power Query - Instead, let Athena handle the original text format and convert it using DAX measures when needed
- Use Transform Data approach - Go to Transform Data → Add Custom Column → use Number.FromText([YourColumn]) instead of changing the column type directly
- Check your Athena table - Make sure the source column doesn't have any non-numeric values, nulls, or special characters that would break the conversion
- Disable query folding - Add a Table.Buffer() step before the type conversion to force local processing instead of pushing it to Athena
- Alternative workaround - Keep the column as text in Power Query and create a calculated column in the data model: Value([TextColumn])
The root cause is usually Power BI trying to execute the type conversion on Athena's side, which fails due to query translation issues. Processing it locally in Power BI typically resolves this.
Try the custom column approach first - it's usually the most reliable fix for Athena connections.
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Best Regards,
Jainesh Poojara | Power BI Developer
Hello jaineshp,
Adding new columns or calculated columns will slow down and the query.
I want the query to fold to work as it will only make the refreshes faster.
Thank you,