PDI stuck in " Refreshing Instance" for 3 weeks - HTTP 500

[vmchpr987]

My Personal Developer Instance dev365044(Zurich Release) has been stuck in Refreshing Instance status for more than 3 weeks . Opening the instance URL return HTTP status 500. I have tried refreshing the instance multiple times , but the issue persists. Could someone please reset or restore my PDI?

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

I've been using my PDI without any issues since this morning, but I've noticed several community posts reporting that PDIs are currently offline or unavailable.

A few things to keep in mind:

• PDIs do not come with official support, so there is no escalation path available.
• If possible, it may be best to wait a little longer and monitor the situation.
• You can release your current instance and request a new one, but this will result in the loss of any data stored in the existing PDI. To avoid losing important work in the future, make sure to regularly back up your update sets and other relevant data.

There have been multiple reports in the community today regarding PDI failures, provisioning issues, and general unavailability. If you decide to release your instance and request a new PDI, please be aware that provisioning times have increased significantly in recent days up to 2-3 weeks and more and applicable on all versions. Many community members have reported delays and difficulties obtaining new PDIs.

Unfortunately, no one can provide an exact timeline for when the issue will be resolved or when new PDIs will become available. For now, patience is the best approach—keep monitoring your request status, and hopefully your PDI will be provisioned soon.

[Tanushree Maiti · Accepted solution]

Hi @vmchpr987 

Since your ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance (PDI) has been stuck in a refreshing state for more than 24 hours (and in your case, three weeks) with a HTTP 500 error,  it seems that the underlying infrastructure hosting your instance has failed or crashed.

If your  your Servicenow Developer PDI  has been stuck in a "launching," "waking up" ,"500 error" or not getting online state for more than 24-48 hours, then  I will  advice you  to release the instance and request a new one .   

In your case, you have already waited for 3 Weeks !

As you know there is no support available for PDI.

Follow these steps on the ServiceNow Developer Portal to start fresh:

1. Log In: Sign into your account on the ServiceNow Developer Site.
2. Access Account Console: Click on your profile icon in the top right corner and navigate to Manage Instance.
3. Open Instance Actions: Click on the Actions dropdown menu below your instance status.
4. Release the Instance: Select Release instance. Confirm the deletion when prompted.
5. Request a New PDI: Click Request an Instance, select your preferred release version (like Zurich or newer), and wait for the new environment to build

[yashkamde]

Hello @vmchpr987 ,

I understand your concern, my PDI was offline for around 4–5 days at a stretch, and at times even when it came back it was running quite slow. From what I’ve seen, if the instance is showing as available, the best approach is to keep checking and trying every day. Usually it does come back online eventually, though the wait can be frustrating.

Note: I have recently seen an increased number of community posts regarding PDI waitlists. This suggests the issue may be related to ServiceNow's infrastructure capacity or instance availability on their side. In such cases, users must wait until additional resources become available and an instance is assigned.

If my response helped mark as helpful  and accept the solution.