Part 29 Reports Subjects covered... Reports and messages CONTINUE Reports appear at the bottom of the screen whenever the +3 has stopped executing some BASIC. They explain why it has stopped - be it for some natural reason, or because an error has occurred. Most reports have a code number or letter (so that you can refer to the table ahead), a brief message explaining what happened, and the line number (and the statement number within the line) where BASIC stopped. (A command is shown as line '0'. Within a line, statement '1' is at the beginning, statement '2' comes after the first colon (or THEN), and so on.) Reports pertaining to disk operation (or +3DOS) do not start with a number or letter - they are shown ahead in alphabetical order. The behaviour of the CONTINUE command depends very much on the reports. Normally, CONTINUE goes to the line and statement specified in the last report, but there are exceptions with reports '0', '9' and 'D'. Here is a table showing all the reports. The right-hand column tells you in which circumstances the report can occur, and this refers you to part 31 of this chapter. For example, you can see from the table that the error 'A Invalid argument' can occur with SQR, LN, ACS, ASN and USR. If you then look up these keywords in part 31 of this chapter, you will be able to find out just which arguments are invalid. Disk errors marked by 'RIC' (in the left-hand column) will normally be displayed followed by the options: '- Retry, Ignore or Cancel?'. If the cancel option is chosen, then the report shown in the second column will be displayed. .-----------------------------------------------------------------------------. |CODE | REPORT/EXPLANATION | SITUATION | |-----+--------------------------------------------------+--------------------| | | | | | 0 | OK | Any | | | Successful completion, or jump to a line number | | | | bigger than any existing. This report does not | | | | change the line and statement jumped to by | | | | CONTINUE. | | | | | | | 1 | NEXT without FOR | NEXT | | | The control variable does not exist (it has not | | | | been set up by a FOR statement), but there is an | | | | ordinary variable with the same name. | | | | | | | 2 | Variable not found | Any | | | For a simple variable, this will happen if the | | | | variable is used before it has been assigned to | | | | by a LET, READ or INPUT statement, loaded from | | | | disk (or tape), or set up in a FOR statement. | | | | For a subscripted variable, it will happen if | | | | the variable is used before it has been | | | | dimensioned in a DIM statement, or loaded from | | | | disk (or tape). | | | | | | | 3 | Subscript wrong | Subscripted | | | A subscript is beyond the dimension of the array | variables, | | | or there are the wrong number of subscripts. If | Substrings | | | the subscript is negative or bigger than 65535, | | | | then error 'B' will result. | | | | | | | 4 | Out of memory | LET, INPUT, | | | There is not enough room in the computer for | FOR, DIM, | | | what you are trying to do. If the computer | GO SUB, | | | really seems to be stuck in this state, you may | LOAD, MERGE, | | | have to clear out the command line using DELETE | Sometimes | | | and then delete a program line or two (with the | during | | | intention of putting them back afterwards) to | expression | | | give yourself room to manoeuvre. | evaluation. | | | | | | 5 | Out of screen | INPUT, | | | An INPUT statement has tried to generate more | PRINT AT | | | than 23 lines in the lower half of the screen. | | | | Also occurs with 'PRINT AT 22,xx'. | | | | | | | 6 | Number too big | Any | | | Calculations have yielded a number greater than | arithmetic | | | approximately 10^38. | | | | | | | 7 | RETURN without GO SUB | RETURN | | | There has been one more RETURN than there were | | | | GO SUBs. | | | | | | | | [The missing error 8 is 'End of file', not used | | | | on the +3.] | | | | | | | 9 | STOP statement | STOP | | | After this, CONTINUE will not repeat the STOP, | | | | but carries on with the statement after. | | | | | | | A | Invalid argument | SQR, LN, ASN, | | | The argument for a function is unsuitable (for | ACS, USR, | | | some reason). | (with string | | | | argument) | | | | | | B | Integer out of range | RUN, RANDOMIZE, | | | When an integer is required, the floating point | POKE, DIM, GO TO, | | | argument is rounded to the nearest integer. If | GO SUB, LIST, | | | this is outside a suitable range, then this | LLIST, PAUSE, | | | error results. | PLOT, CHR$, | | | | PEEK, USR | | | For array access, see also error 3. | (with numeric | | | | argument) | | | | | | C | Nonsense in BASIC | VAL, VAL$ | | | The text of the (string) argument does not form | | | | a valid expression. Also used when the argument | | | | for a function or command is outrageously wrong. | | | | | | | D | BREAK - CONT repeats | LOAD, SAVE, | | | BREAK was pressed during some peripheral | VERIFY, MERGE, | | | operation. The behaviour of CONTINUE after this | Also used when | | | report is normal in that it repeats the | the computer asks | | | statement. Compare with report 'L'. | 'scroll?' and you | | | | press N, BREAK | | | | or the space bar | | | | | | E | Out of DATA | READ | | | You have tried to READ past the end of the DATA | | | | list. | | | | | | | F | Invalid filename | SAVE | | | SAVE with filename empty (or longer than 10 | | | | characters using tape). | | | | | | | G | No room for line | Entering a line | | | There is not enough room left in memory to | into the program | | | accommodate the new program line. | | | | | | | H | STOP in INPUT | INPUT | | | Some INPUT data started with STOP. Unlike the | | | | case with report '9', after this report, | | | | CONTINUE will behave normally, by repeating the | | | | INPUT statement. | | | | | | | I | FOR without NEXT | FOR | | | There was a FOR loop to be executed no times | | | | (e.g. 'FOR n=1 TO 0) and the corresponding NEXT | | | | statement could not be found. | | | | | | | J | Invalid I/O device | Stream operations; | | | You are attempting to input characters from (or | OPEN #, | | | output characters to) a device that doesn't | CLOSE #, | | | support it. For example, it is not possible to | INPUT #, | | | input characters from the screen stream. A | PRINT #, etc. | | | command such as 'INPUT #2,a$' will therefore | | | | result in this error. | | | | | | | K | Invalid colour | INK, PAPER, | | | The number specified is not an appropriate | BORDER, FLASH, | | | value. | BRIGHT, INVERSE, | | | | OVER, also after | | | | one of the | | | | corresponding | | | | control | | | | characters | | | | | | L | BREAK into program | Any | | | BREAK pressed. This is detected between two | | | | statements. The line and statement number in the | | | | report refer to the statement before BREAK was | | | | pressed, but CONTINUE goes to the statement | | | | after (allowing for any jumps to be made), so | | | | that it does not repeat any statements. | | | | | | | M | RAMTOP no good | CLEAR; possibly | | | The number specified for RAMTOP is either too | in RUN | | | big or too small | | | | | | | N | Statement lost | RETURN, NEXT, | | | Jump to a statement that no longer exists. | CONTINUE | | | | | | O | Invalid Stream | INPUT #, | | | Trying to input from (or output to) a stream | OPEN #, | | | that isn't open or that is out of range | PRINT # | | | (0...15), or trying to open a stream that is out | | | | of range. | | | | | | | P | FN without DEF | FN | | | User-defined function used without a | | | | corresponding DEF in the program. | | | | | | | Q | Parameter error | FN | | | Wrong number of arguments, or one of them is the | | | | wrong type (string instead of number, or vice | | | | versa). | | | | | | | R | Tape loading error | VERIFY, LOAD | | | A file on tape was found but for some reason | or MERGE | | | could not be read in, or would not verify. | | | | | | | d | Too many brackets | PLAY | | | Too many brackets around a repeated phrase in | | | | one of the arguments. | | | | | | | j | Invalid baud rate | FORMAT LINE | | | The baud rate for the RS232 was set to zero. | | | | | | | k | Invalid note name | PLAY | | | PLAY came across a note or command it didn't | | | | recognise, or a command which was in lower case. | | | | | | | l | Number too big | PLAY | | | A parameter for a command is an order of | | | | magnitude too big. | | | | | | | m | Note out of range | PLAY | | | A series of sharps of flats has taken a note | | | | beyond the range of the sound chip. | | | | | | | n | Out of range | PLAY | | | A parameter for a command is too big or too | | | | small. If the error is very large, error 'l' | | | | results. | | | | | | | o | Too many tied notes | PLAY | | | An attempt was made to tie too many notes | | | | together. | | | | | | | | Bad filename | CAT, COPY, | | | The filename used in any of the disk commands | ERASE, LOAD, | | | does not conform to the limits described in part | MERGE, MOVE, | | | 20 of this chapter. | SAVE | | | | | | | Bad parameters | Unlikely | | | One of the values passed to +3DOS by BASIC is | | | | out of range. It is unlikely that this error | | | | will ever be seen. | | | | | | | RIC | CRC data error | CAT, COPY, | | | The cyclic redundancy check (checksum byte) for | ERASE, LOAD, | | | a sector is incorrect. This is a rare error that | MERGE, MOVE, | | | is produced if the disk being read has been | SAVE | | | corrupted in some way (perhaps magnetically). | | | | | | | | Code length error | LOAD...CODE | | | Trying to load a CODE file from disk that is | | | | longer than the value given in the LOAD command. | | | | | | | | Destination cannot be wild | COPY...TO | | | Trying to give a wildcard file specification for | | | | the destination in a COPY command when the | | | | source also contains wildcard characters. In | | | | this case, the destination can only be a drive | | | | letter. | | | | | | | | Destination must be drive | COPY...TO | | | The source filename in a COPY command contains | | | | wildcard characters, but the destination is only | | | | a single file name. In this case, the | | | | destination can only be a drive letter. | | | | | | | | Directory full | COPY, SAVE | | | Trying to create the 65th file on a disk; (the | | | | normal disk directory can only have 64 entries). | | | | | | | | Disk full | COPY, SAVE | | | Saving or copying files to a disk has used the | | | | last byte of free space. The CAT command can be | | | | used to check that there is sufficient free | | | | space before attempting such an operation. When | | | | copying, any partially-copied files will be | | | | deleted. However, when saving, it is possible | | | | that part of the file may be left on the disk - | | | | this part should be erased, as any attempt to | | | | use it will fail. | | | | | | | RIC | Disk has been changed | CAT, COPY, | | | While executing a command, +3DOS has noticed | ERASE, LOAD, | | | that the disk in the drive is not the same one | MERGE, MOVE, | | | that was present at the beginning of command | SAVE | | | execution. If a machine code program has opened | | | | files on a disk (then the disk is changed) and a | | | | +3 BASIC command tries to access the disk, then | | | | this report will be produced. | | | | | | | | Disk is not bootable | LOAD "*" | | | An attempt has been made to load the 'bootstrap' | | | | program from a disk that doesn't have a boot | | | | sector. | | | | | | | RIC | Disk is write protected | COPY, ERASE, | | | An attempt has been made to write to a disk | FORMAT, MOVE, | | | whose write protect hole is open. Write | SAVE | | | protection may be disabled by sliding closed the | | | | appropriate tab, before the disk is written to. | | | | | | | | Drive B: is not present | FORMAT | | | An attempt has been made to use the FORMAT | | | | command on the external disk drive (drive B:) | | | | when it has not been connected. | | | | | | | | Drive in use | Unlikely | | | An attempt has been made to re-map a drive that | | | | has files open on it. It is very unlikely that | | | | this error will ever be seen. | | | | | | | | Drive not found | CAT, COPY, | | | A filename used in a disk command contains a | ERASE, LOAD, | | | drive letter specifying a drive that isn't | MERGE, MOVE, | | | present. For example, 'ERASE "c:fred"'. | SAVE | | | | | | RIC | Drive not ready | CAT, COPY | | | A disk command has been attempted when the drive | ERASE, FORMAT, | | | was not ready. This usually happens because | LOAD, MERGE, | | | there is no disk in the drive. It will usually | MOVE, SAVE | | | be possible to simply put a disk in the drive | | | | and type 'R'. | | | | | | | | End of file found | Unlikely | | | An attempt has been made to read a byte past the | | | | end-of-file position. It is unlikely that this | | | | report will be seen. | | | | | | | | File already exists | MOVE...TO | | | The destination filename in a MOVE command (that | | | | is being used to rename a file) already exists. | | | | | | | | File already in use | Unlikely; COPY, | | | If a machine code program has opened files | LOAD, MERGE, | | | 1...3, then a +3 BASIC command might fail with | SAVE | | | this error when it tries to open a file that was | | | | already open. It is unlikely that this error | | | | will ever be seen. | | | | | | | | File is read only | COPY, ERASE, | | | Trying to update, erase or save using the name | MOVE, SAVE | | | of a file that has its protection attribute set | | | | (using the command 'MOVE filename TO "+P"). Use | | | | the command 'MOVE filename TO "-P" to remove | | | | write protection. | | | | | | | | File not found | COPY, ERASE, | | | The filename given for one of the disk reading | LOAD, MERGE, | | | commands specifies a file that does not exist. | MERGE | | | | | | | File not open | Unlikely | | | A disk command has tried to operate on a file | | | | which has not been opened. It is very unlikely | | | | that this error will ever be seen. | | | | | | | | File too big | Unlikely | | | An attempt has been made to write a file that is | | | | greater than 8 megabytes in length. It is very | | | | unlikely that this error will ever be seen. | | | | | | | | Invalid attribute | MOVE...TO | | | The attribute character following '+' or '-' in | | | | a MOVE command is not 'P', 'S' or 'A' (or there | | | | is more than one character after the '+' or | | | | '-'). | | | | | | | | Invalid drive | FORMAT | | | A drive letter other than 'A:' or 'B:' has been | | | | specified in a FORMAT command. | | | | | | | RIC | Missing address mark | CAT, COPY, | | | A sector being read from the disk does not | ERASE, LOAD, | | | contain the usual information that is used by | MERGE, MOVE, | | | the system to identify where it is on the disk. | SAVE | | | This almost invariably means that an attempt is | | | | being made to read a disk that has not been | | | | formatted. The error may possibly occur when | | | | trying to read a disk that has become corrupted | | | | in some way, or one that employs some form of | | | | in-built protection. | | | | | | | | Missing extent | Unlikely; COPY, | | | Files are essentially made up of 16K blocks and | LOAD, MERGE | | | each of these is known as an extent. This error | | | | might occur while reading a file from disk if | | | | the disk is changed after the system has read | | | | the directory entry for a file (but before it | | | | has read a particular extent). However, it is | | | | very unlikely that this error will ever be seen. | | | | | | | RIC | No data | CAT, COPY, ERASE, | | | This is a low level disk error that occurs when | LOAD, MERGE, MOVE, | | | a sector identifier cannot be found. It is | SAVE | | | possible that the error might occur while trying | | | | to copy a disk that employs some form of | | | | in-built protection. | | | | | | | | No rename between drives | MOVE...TO | | | An attempt has been made to use the MOVE command | | | | specifying source and destination filenames that | | | | are on different drives. | | | | | | | RIC | Seek fail | CAT, COPY, ERASE, | | | This is a hardware error that means the drive is | ERASE, FORMAT, | | | unable to locate the track that has been | LOAD, MERGE, | | | requested. If this error persists, it may | MOVE, SAVE | | | indicate that the computer needs to be serviced. | | | | | | | | Uncached | Unlikely | | | This is an internal system error and it is very | | | | unlikely that it will ever be seen. | | | | | | | RIC | Unknown disk error | Unlikely; CAT, | | | An error has occurred that the system is not | COPY, ERASE, | | | familiar with. It is very unlikely that it will | FORMAT, LOAD, | | | ever be seen. | MERGE, MOVE, SAVE | | | | | | RIC | Unrecognised disk format | CAT, COPY, ERASE, | | | While trying to read/write a disk, +3DOS has | LOAD, MERGE, | | | been unable to recognise its format, i.e. it has | MOVE, SAVE | | | read the disk specification but has found | | | | information there that doesn't make sense. This | | | | error may occur when trying to access disks | | | | which employ some form of in-built protection. | | | | | | | RIC | Unsuitable media | CAT, COPY, ERASE, | | | The disk in the drive has a format that is not | FORMAT, LOAD, | | | suitable. This error might occur when, for | MERGE, MOVE, | | | example, trying to write to an 80 track disk | SAVE | | | placed in the (40 track) disk drive of the +3. | | | | | | `-----------------------------------------------------------------------------'