We are getting OpenAI Internal Server errors with no useful details

Question

We are getting OpenAI Internal Server errors with no useful details

Alex Rosen 10

Our application shows 13 errors like the below within 110 minutes (9:20 AM EST to 11:10 AM EST). Is this a transient issue or something more significant?

Not all requests are failing. The failures do not seem to be only with a single prompt. The prompts and deployment did not change within 8 hours before the errors began.

openai.InternalServerError: Error code: 500 - {'error': {'message': 'The server had an error processing your request. Sorry about that! You can retry your request, or contact us through an Azure support request at: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2213926 if you keep seeing this error. (Please include the request ID b2*** in your email.)', 'type': 'server_error', 'param': None, 'code': None}}

I can share more request IDs if that will help.

It has now been 25 minutes since the last error. That is the longest period of no errors since this began. Please investigate to confirm this issue was transient.

Upanshu Chaudhary 0 Reputation points

2026-01-07T00:49:26.6766667+00:00

We experienced the same errors earlier this morning. While we appreciate the explanation, it does not clearly identify the root cause of the issue.

Azure Service Health does not report any downtime or incident for Azure OpenAI during this period.

Since the issue resolved without any code or configuration changes in few hours, we would like guidance on how to determine the precise cause should this recur.

"error": {`` `` "message": "The server had an error processing your request. Sorry about that! You can retry your request, or contact us through an Azure support request at: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2213926 if you keep seeing this error. (Please include the request ID 766173a6-d9b6-4e8c-87b8-466f6ec16356 in your email.)",`` `` "type": "server_error",`` `` "param": null,`` `` "code": null`` `` }
Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-09T19:02:21.6733333+00:00

Hi Alex Rosen,

Please let me know if there are any remaining questions or additional details, I can help with, I’ll be glad to provide further clarification or guidance.

Thankyou!

3 answers

Your answer

Upanshu Chaudhary 0 Reputation points

2026-01-07T00:49:26.6766667+00:00

We experienced the same errors earlier this morning. While we appreciate the explanation, it does not clearly identify the root cause of the issue.

Azure Service Health does not report any downtime or incident for Azure OpenAI during this period.

Since the issue resolved without any code or configuration changes in few hours, we would like guidance on how to determine the precise cause should this recur.

"error": {`` `` "message": "The server had an error processing your request. Sorry about that! You can retry your request, or contact us through an Azure support request at: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2213926 if you keep seeing this error. (Please include the request ID 766173a6-d9b6-4e8c-87b8-466f6ec16356 in your email.)",`` `` "type": "server_error",`` `` "param": null,`` `` "code": null`` `` }
Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-09T19:02:21.6733333+00:00

Hi Alex Rosen,

Please let me know if there are any remaining questions or additional details, I can help with, I’ll be glad to provide further clarification or guidance.

Thankyou!

Answer 1

Alex Rosen 10

Azure should investigate immediately to determine how widespread the problem is. The status page does not show any issues for Azure OpenAI Service in East US 2, but it appears that there is one.

This intermittent error continues. It's now been happening for over 100 minutes.

0 comments

Answer 2

Alex Rosen 10

I increased retries from the client's default (3) to 5 and added timeouts. The Azure OpenAI Service availability returned to 100 right around the time this was pushed to production. It is unclear why we have not had these issues until today and whether the increased retries and timeouts should be necessary. They may stop the Azure OpenAI Service from having Internal Server Errors, but it seems that they also increase the latency. Screenshot 2026-01-06 144627

AzureOpenAI(
        azure_endpoint=azure_endpoint,
        api_key=azure_key,
        api_version="2025-04-01-preview",
        max_retries=5,
        timeout=httpx.Timeout(
            600.0,      # Total timeout: 10 minutes
            connect=10.0,  # Connection timeout: 10 seconds
            read=300.0,    # Read timeout: 5 minutes
            write=30.0     # Write timeout: 30 seconds
        )
    )

Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-06T23:18:52.73+00:00
Hi Alex Rosen,

Thanks for the update. What you’re seeing is consistent with a transient 5xx backend condition that cleared. Increasing retries/timeouts can mask the issue but will add latency. The goal is to retry smarter, not longer:

1) Use bounded, exponential backoff with jitter (only for 5xx/timeout)

Retry on HTTP 500–599, 429, and network timeouts; do not retry on 4xx config errors.

Cap total retry time (e.g., ≤ 30–60s) and max retries (e.g., 3–4).

Add jitter to avoid thundering herd.

AzureOpenAI( azure_endpoint=azure_endpoint, api_key=azure_key, api_version="2025-04-01-preview", max_retries=4, # bounded timeout=httpx.Timeout( 30.0, # total budget (keeps latency predictable) connect=10.0, read=20.0, write=10.0 ) ) # Backoff policy idea: base 0.5s → 1s → 2s → 4s + jitter(±20%)

2) Reduce payload/complexity to lower error risk

Trim prompt/context, limit tool calls per request, and avoid very large inputs/outputs; big payloads increase the chance of transient 500s.

3) Capture diagnostics so Support can correlate

Log Request ID, timestamp, region, and model name for each failure. If issues reappear, share these in the ticket in private chat.

4) Health checks & circuit breaker

Check service health and your region; if repeated 5xx occur, open the circuit (temporarily stop retries) and serve a graceful fallback, then re-test after a short window.

5) Keep timeouts reasonable

Ten‑minute totals aren’t usually necessary and inflate latency; the bounded config above maintains responsiveness while still resilient to brief blips.

I hope this helps you get back on track! If you're still facing issues, could you share more details?

Thankyou!
Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-07T17:43:59.3+00:00

Hi Alex Rosen,

Just checking back to see if you’re still facing the same issue. If the problem persists, please share a few more details and we’ll be happy to help you further.

Thankyou!
Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-08T18:41:12.0966667+00:00

Hi Alex Rosen,

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.

Thankyou!

Answer 3

Anshika Varshney 9,740 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Alex Rosen,

Thanks for reporting this. The OpenAI “Internal Server Error” (500) usually indicates a temporary platform-side issue or an interruption while the model is processing the request. It is not caused by your configuration.

Here’s what you can try:

1. Retry the request after a short time These errors often resolve automatically when the backend stabilizes.

2. Reduce the request size If your request includes very large prompts, long conversations, or large attached documents, try sending a smaller input. Large payloads can sometimes cause transient 500 errors.

3. Check for known service incidents If the issue continues, verify whether there is an active outage or degradation in your region.

This behavior typically indicates a temporary internal service condition, and based on similar reports, it should stabilize soon.

Let me know if you still see errors after retrying. I’ll be happy to help further.

Thankyou!

Anshika Varshney 9,740 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-01-12T19:08:25.63+00:00

Hi Alex Rosen,

Please let me know if the issue persists after these checks. If you have any remaining questions or need additional details, I’ll be glad to provide further clarification or guidance.

Please 'Upvote'(Thumbs-up) and 'Accept' as answer if the reply was helpful. This will be benefitting other community members who face the same issue.

Thankyou!
Himanshu Changwal 10 Reputation points

2026-04-14T21:55:21.13+00:00

We are facing similar issue. Here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5859586/azure-openai-gpt-realtime-intermittent-responsefai?page=1&orderby=helpful&translated=false#answers

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We are getting OpenAI Internal Server errors with no useful details

3 answers

Your answer