Refresh the page, reduce request size, try another browser/network, and disable extensions. If the issue persists, check the status page and retry later.
Extensions can interfere with scripts and streaming responses.
If the service is down, wait and retry later.
ChatGPT · Errors & Bugs
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Many users report GPT-5 (and GPT-5.5) feeling less capable than GPT-4o for creative writing, coding, and following complex instructions. This is not a bug — GPT-5 was optimized for reasoning and safety over raw creative output. Workarounds: use o3-mini for coding tasks, add explicit formatting instructions, or use the system prompt to request GPT-4o-style behavior. GPT-4o is no longer available in the ChatGPT interface but remains accessible via the API.
ChatGPT memory stops working when the feature is toggled off in Settings, when you exceed the 256KB memory storage limit, or after major model updates that reset memory indexing. Fix: go to Settings → Personalization → Memory and confirm it is enabled. If enabled but not working, clear old memories to free space, then explicitly tell ChatGPT to 'remember this' in your next conversation.
ChatGPT shows a blank or white screen most often because a browser extension is blocking a required script, or because stale site data is cached. Open an incognito window first — if ChatGPT loads there, disable extensions one by one and clear site data for chat.openai.com to fix it in your normal browser.
ChatGPT image generation requires a Plus, Team, or Pro plan — free users do not have access to DALL-E image generation as of 2026. If you have Plus and image generation still fails, confirm you are using GPT-4o (not GPT-4o mini) and check that the feature has not been temporarily disabled in your region via status.openai.com.
ChatGPT 'conversation not found' usually means the chat link is broken, you are signed into the wrong account, or the conversation was deleted — not that the data is lost. Refreshing while logged into the correct account recovers most missing conversations within 30 seconds, as history syncs server-side.
A ChatGPT 403 error means access was forbidden — the most common causes are expired session tokens, browser extensions blocking requests, or VPN/proxy IP mismatches. Fix it by refreshing the page, clearing cookies for chat.openai.com, and retrying in incognito mode; if the error appears on long prompts, split them into smaller parts under 2,000 words.