Power BI Gateway Error: DM_GWPipeline_Gateway_DataSourceAccessError Occurring Sporadically

If your data is on Azure SQL server then you should not need a gateway.

We are seeing the same issue in our environment.

The refresh fails sporadically with DM_GWPipeline_Gateway_DataSourceAccessError. There is no clear pattern. Sometimes the error happens in one semantic model, other times in a different one. Our gateway is currently on version 3000.298.8.

If we run the refresh again, it usually succeeds. Sometimes we can go several days without any error at all. Because of that, this does not look like a permanent dataset or query issue, but rather an intermittent gateway, network, or service-side problem.

We would also like to know whether anyone has identified the real root cause, since the issue is random and difficult to reproduce consistently.

Hi everyone,

I’m facing an intermittent refresh issue in Power BI Service with the following error:

Data source error:
{"error":{"code":"DM_GWPipeline_Gateway_DataSourceAccessError","pbi.error":{"code":"DM_GWPipeline_Gateway_DataSourceAccessError","parameters":{},"details":[],"exceptionCulprit":1}}}

Some important details:

• Gateway version: 3000.202.16

• Data source types: SQL Server and Web

• This started happening around March 2026, approximately.

• Some semantic models use Excel files stored in OneDrive, connected in Power BI through a Web data source with OneDrive login.

• However, the same error has also occurred in other semantic models that use only SQL Server.

• SQL Server authentication: Basic authentication with username and password

• The error is intermittent. Sometimes the refresh works normally for several days without any issue.

• When the error happens, it always occurs right at the beginning of the refresh process.

• It never happens after the refresh has been running for a long time.

• After the error happens, if I manually click refresh again, the refresh always succeeds on the next attempt.

• It happens with multiple semantic models, not only one.

• I have already published the same semantic model to another workspace, and the same issue also occurred there.

• I have also tested with another gateway on the same version, and the same behavior happened.

• In both gateways, the pattern is the same: it works for days, then sometimes fails right at the beginning, and the next manual refresh succeeds.

• The gateway machine remains online and available.

• The data sources and credentials seem to be configured correctly, since successful refreshes happen using the same configuration.

Because the error happens only sometimes, always at the beginning of the refresh, and succeeds immediately on retry, I’m wondering if this could be related to a temporary gateway communication issue, network/authentication handshake, token/credential validation, or some transient issue in the Power BI Service/Gateway pipeline.

Has anyone experienced this behavior before?

What logs or specific information should I check to identify the root cause?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!