PL-300 Deploy and maintain assets Practice Question
A user reports that a Power BI report is not refreshing data from a SQL Server database. The dataset uses Import mode. The gateway cluster shows all gateways are online. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates see 'gateway cluster shows all gateways are online' and assume the issue must be elsewhere, but gateway online status does not validate the stored data source credentials, which are a separate authentication layer that can expire or become invalid independently.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The data source credentials are incorrect or expired.
In Import mode, Power BI caches data and refreshes it on a schedule using stored credentials. If those credentials expire or become invalid, the refresh fails even though the gateway cluster shows as online. The gateway being online only indicates network connectivity, not that the stored credentials are still valid for the SQL Server database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The report is using a scheduled refresh with a conflicting time.
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled refresh conflicts do not cause a refresh to fail outright. Power BI's service serializes overlapping refreshes by queuing them; a refresh that would run during an already running refresh is simply deferred until the prior one finishes. At most, you might see a 'refresh skipped because a refresh is already in progress' warning, but the scheduled time itself never invalidates data source credentials. Refresh failures from conflicts would also produce a specific error message, not a silent data staleness issue.
- ✗
The gateway version is incompatible with the SQL Server version.
Why it's wrong here
The on-premises data gateway is a bridge between Power BI and the data source, and its version compatibility is generally defined against the Power BI service, not against the SQL Server version. Even if a gateway were too old, the symptom would typically be a driver or protocol error during the attempt to connect, not a generic refresh failure. Most modern gateway versions support a wide range of SQL Server versions, so a version mismatch is an uncommon root cause compared to authentication issues.
- ✗
The dataset uses DirectQuery mode which requires a live connection.
Why it's wrong here
This dataset was created with Import mode, which means the report is not using DirectQuery. In DirectQuery, there is no scheduled refresh job because queries are issued live against the source each time the report is opened, and that would instead produce a 'cannot connect to data source' error during report render. Since this report is Import mode, a refresh failure is about the stored data source credentials or gateway connectivity, not a live-connection requirement.
- ✓
The data source credentials are incorrect or expired.
Why this is correct
Incorrect or expired data source credentials are the most frequent cause of a Power BI scheduled refresh failure. When you configure a dataset for refresh, Power BI stores the authentication values—Windows credentials, database passwords, or OAuth tokens—and if those are changed or time out, the service cannot authenticate to the source and the refresh operation fails with an error. Updating the credentials in the dataset settings under 'Edit credentials' resolves the issue, and you should verify that the account still has the same permissions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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