Why ChatGPT Is Not Working: A Layer-by-Layer Check

Most “ChatGPT is broken” afternoons are one broken layer, not a mystery. Walk from the outside in so you do not clear your account for a problem that is the vendor’s status page.

Check in this order

If a new chat on another network works, stop debugging the model. If nothing loads and status is green, the vendor’s help docs for your app version are the next stop — not a thread of tips from last year.

• Status: the vendor’s status page, and whether a second network sees the same error
• Network: another device, or a phone off Wi-Fi, to separate your connection from theirs
• Browser: a private window, extensions off, especially blockers and script tools
• Account: you are signed into the right workspace and the plan you think you have
• Conversation: a new chat, in case one thread is stuck or over the context limit
• Request: a shorter, ordinary prompt. Refusals and outages feel similar and are not

When it replies, but badly

A loaded page that gives vague or refused answers is a prompting and policy problem, not an outage. Start a fresh chat, state the task and the format, and remove anything that asks the model to ignore its rules. If a file upload fails, try a smaller file before you assume the whole product is down.