Can't reach your computer: what to try, in order

"Computer" means several different things in Grok Bot, and each fails differently. Identify which one you have before you press anything.

1. The Bot's cloud computer is unreachable

Symptoms: Can't reach your computer, Starting desktop, Reconnecting, a blank Computer tab, or SEND AFTER RECONNECT on mobile. Go in this order, least destructive first:

1. Retry, or reopen the conversation.
2. Restart the app.
3. Recover computer, when offered.
4. Update Bot's Computer in Settings, then Computer.
5. Reset only if all of that fails. It restores the last snapshot and can lose recent or unsynced work.

Check the official forum first: many October 2026 reports were platform-side (storage and host issues) and staff fixed them without users doing anything. Full detail in Can't reach your computer. If the Update button keeps coming back, see The Update button bounces back. If a restart returned older files, see Computer files rolled back.

Voice chat or the Bots section of the Grok app sometimes still reaches the Bot while the desktop cannot. That helps for urgent tasks, but needs the right plan: Grok Bot in the Grok app and Tesla.

2. Your own Mac or PC is treated as "Never"

On some newer accounts the app never finishes linking your computer, so it counts as "Never" whatever Settings says. See Local tools stay on Never for the grok.com privacy-settings fix.

Even when it works, file tools on a connected computer are limited to your user folder. See Read and CopyToBox outside the user folder.

3. A Team Bot cannot use a teammate's computer

By design, a Team Bot can only use its owner's local computer. The "offline" message is misleading. See Team Bot cannot use a teammate's computer.

4. The computer is up but the network is not

If SSH, database, IMAP/SMTP, FTP or plain HTTP time out while HTTPS works, outbound traffic is limited to port 443 on that computer. Use HTTPS APIs and clone over HTTPS, and do not reset to fix it. See Computer network blocked.

5. Every Shell call hangs for 840 seconds

Even echo ok stalls and ends with "Command failed to spawn". Staff traced October 2026 cases to a line near the end of /home/box/.profile or /home/box/.bashrc that starts a background program (nohup, setsid, flock or a trailing &). Fix the file with CopyFromBox and CopyToBox, not Shell. See Shell hangs for 840 seconds.

What to include when you ask for help

App version, OS, exact error, Bot name, time with time zone, and the conversation ID. No passwords or codes.