Read the relevant status component

The official status dashboard separates API services from a Chat Service group. In our September 27 inspection, the expanded chat group contained chat, file-upload and search entries. Expand the group if those rows are hidden.

1. Match the affected feature to its component. An API-only incident does not automatically explain a failed consumer upload.
2. Read any active incident’s scope and latest update. Check its timestamp and stated time zone before comparing it with your error.
3. If there is a matching incident, keep your work and follow the updates. Once it is reported resolved, try one small request before restoring a long task.

A green dashboard can still coincide with a new, regional, account-specific or local problem. For any incident listed, compare its affected feature and timestamp with your own error; an older incident or someone else’s report may describe a different failure.

Use one small chat to narrow the problem

If no matching incident is listed and the site opens, this is a useful baseline check:

1. Save the text you have not sent. Leave the affected conversation available.
2. Open a new conversation at the official DeepSeek chat.
3. Use ordinary text mode, with Search and any optional thinking mode off, and no attachment. In our inspected web interface, the controls were labelled Search and DeepThink.
4. Send one harmless request: Reply with exactly: Connection check complete.

If it replies: basic text chat worked in that attempt. Return to the failed feature’s section below. If it fails: save the exact error, then compare another browser or the official app if you already use it. Avoid sending the same request repeatedly while one is still processing.

This request returned “Connection check complete.” in our September 27 desktop check. It confirmed a working text response in that session; it did not demonstrate recovery from an outage.

If the page will not load or you cannot sign in

Open chat.deepseek.com directly. If the page fails, check whether another ordinary website loads, then try DeepSeek in a second current browser. Keep your original tab and draft. A private window can also help compare sessions, but it may require another sign-in and can block cookies differently.

If the second browser works, investigate the first browser’s site permissions and extensions one at a time. That comparison alone does not prove a corrupt cache. On a managed work or school device, ask the administrator about access restrictions rather than disabling its protections.

Use the exact login message

• No verification code: DeepSeek’s Help Center advises checking the address or number and spam/filtering settings. If you requested several codes quickly, wait before requesting another.
• Google sign-in fails: use the sign-in method associated with your existing account. The Help Center specifically says Google login is not supported for mainland-China IP addresses; that is a limitation of this login route, not a diagnosis for every login failure.
• “Current device environment error”: DeepSeek describes this as an IP address or phone number flagged as high risk. Record the error and use official support if it persists; repeated password changes do not address that stated cause.
• Account suspended or access restricted: follow the notice and contact DeepSeek. Browser resets cannot resolve an account decision.

Use the official Help Center for the login explanations above, and include the exact error if you contact support.

Clear site data only after narrower checks

If you decide to reset the browser’s stored DeepSeek session, save your draft and confirm that you can sign back in first. Remove only DeepSeek’s site data, not every site’s cookies. Google’s Chrome cookie instructions explain site-specific removal and warn that deleting cookies can sign you out and remove preferences. This is a diagnostic option, not a verified fix for a DeepSeek outage.

If a reply stalls, says “server busy” or history is missing

“Server busy” is not a request to buy API credit. Check Chat Service status, save the message and wait if a relevant incident is active. No fixed wait time guarantees recovery. If the problem persists with no matching incident, make the single basic-chat check and record its result.

If only one long conversation fails, keep it intact. Start a new chat with a short, non-sensitive summary of the context and the next task. Include the facts the new conversation needs; do not assume it can see the old thread. This can let you continue working, but it does not restore the failed conversation.

If history disappears: check that you used the same account and original sign-in method. Do not delete chats as a troubleshooting step. DeepSeek’s Help Center suggests checking the connection and trying the web version when a long chat will not load. If history remains missing, contact DeepSeek support. These checks do not guarantee recovery.

If a file will not upload

Separate a failed attachment from an attachment that completed but produced a poor answer. Note whether the file picker opens, the upload stays in progress, an error appears, or the filename is visible before you send.

1. Check File Upload Service and try ordinary text chat once if you have not already done so.
2. Follow any size, format or allowance message shown in your account. Keep the original file. Do not use an API limit as the consumer-chat limit.
3. If permitted, try one small non-sensitive file of a supported type. If that attaches, compare the original file’s size, format and readability; it does not prove which one caused the failure.
4. If selecting a file produces no response, check whether your network restricts uploads. This is a check specifically suggested by the official Help Center; on a work network, ask the administrator.

Before retrying, check whether the first attachment has already appeared so you do not send it twice. If the file attached but facts or page references are wrong, use our PDF verification steps. Clearing browser data will not validate a generated summary.

If Search fails but ordinary chat works

Check Search Service on the status page. In a new chat, confirm that Search is selected before sending a short source-based question. If an error or limit appears, record its wording.

Turning Search off can help you identify which workflow is failing. It does not turn a plain answer into current research. For time-sensitive work, open the authoritative source yourself while Search is unavailable. If Search completes but the citations do not support the answer, that is a source-verification problem; follow our DeepSeek Search checking workflow.

If only the mobile app, another service or the API fails

Official mobile app

Save any unsent text before closing the app. Compare the official web chat using the same account and check whether an app update is available through the store linked from DeepSeek’s download page. If web chat works, record the app version and device in your support report. Do not start by clearing app storage or reinstalling; local state may be lost. We did not test a mobile recovery for this guide.

A third-party chat or developer integration

Identify the website or API host actually handling the request. A service using a DeepSeek model can have its own outage, limits or account problem. Check that provider’s status and support before changing your official DeepSeek account.

For the official DeepSeek API, the documented HTTP errors distinguish authentication (401), insufficient balance (402), rate or concurrency limits (429), and server failures or overload (500/503). Use our API troubleshooting guide for request-level checks. Those codes are not a diagnosis for a consumer chat’s “server busy” message.

When to stop troubleshooting and contact support

Contact support when an account notice needs intervention, history remains missing, or the same failure persists after a small new-chat check and one browser/app comparison. List what you tried and the result of each step. Repeating resets makes the sequence harder to explain.

For consumer chat, use Contact us on the official sign-in page or the support address [email protected], listed on DeepSeek’s website. Send account-access or missing-history requests to DeepSeek; ChinaAI cannot unlock your DeepSeek account or recover your chats.

Download the blank support record (.txt)

Copy the template below into your report. Leave untested checks marked “not tried” rather than guessing.

Service: [official web/app or third-party host]
First failure: [date, time and time zone]
Device and OS: [details]
Browser or app version: [details]
Affected feature/mode: [chat, login, upload, Search, other]
Scope: [one chat, all chats, one file, other]
Exact error: [copy the wording]
Official status checked at: [time and time zone]
Relevant component/incident: [what was shown]
Steps to reproduce: [short, non-sensitive example]
Basic new-chat result: [result / not tried]
Second browser/app result: [result / not tried]
Other checks and outcomes: [details / none]
Reference ID, if displayed: [optional]
Help needed: [what you need investigated]

Exclude passwords, verification codes, cookies, API keys and private documents. Crop screenshots to the error so they do not expose account details or unrelated conversations. Send the minimum information needed to explain the failure.