The present invention relates to the communication field and discloses a method, an apparatus, and a system for processing device faults, which are used to recover the device fault in a timely manner and improve user's service experience. The processing method includes: receiving a connection deletion request message sent by a network device in the case of a fault, where the connection deletion request message includes a global packet data network connection identifier FQ-CSID; locally deleting a packet data network PDN connection related to the FQ-CSID, or retaining a PDN connection related to the FQ-CSID and receiving downlink data corresponding to the PDN connection; and performing a network-triggered service recovery procedure. The solutions provided in the present invention are applicable to device fault recovery scenarios.