Appendix VII

Error messages

VII.1 Disc handling errors

In all these cases, typing R causes the system to Retry; typing I causes the system to carry on to its next action; typing C causes the command to be abandoned. Note that I is a last ditch option, for use when all else fails - it is unwise to select the I option as things are left in an indeterminate state.

As a general rule, Retry until you are convinced that there is a serious problem in reading from or writing to the disc. Then copy all the files you can onto another disc before using DISCKIT to reformat the disc. As you will remember, reformatting a disc clears it of all the data stored on it. If DISCKIT is unable to reformat the disc, the disc is damaged and you should simply throw it away.

drive not ready - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Usually means the drive you have just accessed has no disc in it. Put a disc in the drive and type R

write protected - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Means that you have tried to write to a write-protected disc. Write enable the disc and type R, or cancel the operation by typing C

track t seek fail - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

May be caused by a drive fault, try 'Retrying' a fer times.

track t, sector s data error - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Data is corrupted; may be caused by a damaged disc. Try 'Retrying' a few times.

track t, sector s no data - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Your file has been corrupted. Type C to cancel, then copy as many files as you can onto another disc and try re-formatting the disc. If you cannot re-format the disc, the disc is damaged and you should not use it.

track t, sector s missing address mark - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Your disc is only partially formatted, not formatted at all or it has been damaged. Type C to cancel, then copy as many files as you can onto another disc and then try re-formatting the disc. If you cannot re-format the disc, the disc is damaged and you should not use it.

bad format - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Disc may be unformatted or of a totally alien format.

unknown error - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

Try 'Retrying' a few times.

media changed - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

You appear to have inserted a different disc. Release the disc, check that it was the disc you meant to insert and that you inserted it the right way up. Then Retry or Cancel as appropriate.

disc unsuitable - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

You are trying to write to the wrong type of disc - probably to a 720k disc. You can only write to 180k discs in the Spectrum's disc drive. Release the disc and insert a 180k disc; then Retry.

VII.2 Device Errors

If you try to use a device (ie. peripheral) that is either not attached or not working, the message

	device not ready - Retry, Ignore or Cancel?

The effect of typing R will be to try the operation again.

The effect of typing I will be to move on to the next part of the operation.

The effect of typing C will be both to cancel the present operation and to set up a 'Sink' so that all future output that is directed to that device will be thrown away.

VII.3 CP/M Plus error messages

Many CP/M Plus error messages are self-explanatory and don't need any further explanation here. The messages listed in this section, however, are either not quite so obvious in their meaning or you may need additional information to understand why the error occurred. The utility involved is also given where appropriate.

When you get an error you don't recognise, you should first read any explanation that is given here. Then simply do whatever is necessary to correct the problem described in the error message, check that the command you gave was correct, check that the disc is properly inserted in the drive and try again.

command?

CP/M cannot find command.COM (or command.SUB).

Auxiliary device redirection not implemented.

GET,PUT. AUXIN, AUXOUT cannot be redirected to a file.

Bad close.

SAVE. An error occurred during the attempt to close the file, probably because the file is write-protected.

Bad Logical Device Assignment;

DEVICE. Only the following logical devices are valid: CON:, CONIN:, CONOUT:, AUX:, AUXIN:, AUXOUT:, LST:.

BAD PARAMETER

PIP. You entered an illegal parameter in a PIP command.

Baud rate cannot be set for this device.

DEVICE. Only physical devices that have the SOFT-BAUD attribute can have their baud rates changed. To check the attributes of the physical device, type DEVICE physical-dev

BREAK "x" at c.

ED. For details, see the description of ED in Pt I, Chapter 5.

CANNOT CLOSE:
CANNOT CLOSE FILE.
CANNOT CLOSE DESTINATION FILE - filespec

GENCOM, HEXCOM, LIB-80, LINK-80, MAC, PIP, RMAC, SUBMIT. An output file cannot be closed. This can occur if the disc is removed before the program terminates.

Cannot have both create and access time stamps.

SET. CP/M supports either create or access time stamps, but not both.

Cannot label a drive with a file referenced.

SET. SET does not allow mixing of files and drives.

Cannot redirect from BIOS.

GET,PUT. This message is displayed as a warning only if the system has an invalid BIOS.

CAN'T DELETE TEMP FILE

PIP. A temporary $$$ file already exists which is Read-Only. Use the SET command to change the attribute to Read-Write, then erase it.

CHECKSUM ERROR.

HEXCOM, PIP. A hex record checksum error was encountered. You will probably have to recreate the hex file.

Close error.

XREF. This message is preceded by the filename.XRF. The disc might have been removed before the program terminated.

COM file found and NULL option.

GENCOM. The NULL option implies that no COM file is to be loaded, just the RSXs.

.COM file required

DIR, ERASE, RENAME, TYPE. Options require support from a COM file that CP/M Plus cannot find on disc.

COMMON ERROR:

LINK-80. An undefined common block has been selected.

CORRECT ERROR, TYPE RETURN OR CTRL-Z

PIP. A hex record checksum was encountered during the transfer of a hex file. You probably should recreate the hex file.

CP/M Error on d:Disk I/O
BDOS Function = xx File = filespec

CP/M Plus displays the preceding message if the disc is defective or improperly formatted (wrong density).

CP/M Error on d: Invalid Drive
BDOS Function = xx File = filespec

CP/M Plus displays this message when there is no disc in the drive, the drive latch is open, or the power is off.

Device Reassignment Not Supported.
Enter new assignment or hit RETURN.

DEVICE. A device assignment is invalid.

Directory already re-formatted.

INITDIR. The directory already has date/time stamping.

DIRECTORY FULL

ED. Not enough directory space for the file being written to the destination disc. Use 0Xfilespec to erase any unnecessary files.

SUBMIT. Not enough directory space on the temporary file drive to write the temporary file used for processing SUBMIT files. Use the ERASE command to erase unnecessary files or SETDEF to set the temporary file drive to a different drive.

LIB-80, LINK-80. No directory space for output/intermediate files. Use the ERASE command to remove unnecessary files.

HEXCOM. There is no directory space for the output COM file.

DISK FULL

ED. Not enough disc space for output file. If error occurs with an X command, you can repeat the command with a different drive.

DISK WRITE NO DATA BLOCK

HEXCOM, LIB-80, LINK-80, PIP, SUBMIT. The disc cannot be written to, probably because the disc is full.

Drive defined twice in search path

SETDEF. A drive can be specified only once in the search path.

Duplicate RSX in header. Replacing old by new.

GENCOM. The specified RSX is already attached to the COM file. The old one is discarded.

Duplicate input RSX.

GENCOM. Two or more RSXs of the same name are specified. GENCOM uses only one of the RSXs.

END OF FILE, ^Z,?

PIP encountered an unexpected end-of-file during HEX file transfer.

End of line expected.

DEVICE, GET, PUT, SETDEF. The command does not have any further parameters. An end-of-line was expected. Any further characters on the line were ignored.

Error at end of line:

DEVICE, GET, PUT, SETDEF. The error detected occurred at the end of the input line.

Error on line nnnnn:

SUBMIT. The SUBMIT program displays its messages in the preceding format, where nnnnn represents the line number of the SUBMIT file. Refer to the message following the line number for explanation of the error.

FILE ERROR

ED. Disc or directory is full.

FILE NAME ERROR:

LIB-80. The form of a source filename is invalid.

FIRST COMMON NOT LARGEST:

LINK-80. A subsequent COMMON declaration is larger than the first COMMON declaration for the indicated block. Check that the files being linked, or the modules in a library, are in the proper order.

First submitted file must be a COM file.

GENCOM. A COM File is expected as the first file in the command tail. The only time GENCOM does not expect to see a COM file in the first position of the command tail is when the NULL option is specified.

Illegal command tail.

DIR. The command line has an invalid format or option.

Illegal Format Value.

DIR. Only SIZE and FULL options can be used for display formats.

Illegal Global/Local Drive Spec Mixing

DIR. Both a filespec with a drive specifier and the DRIVE option appears in the command.

Illegal Option Or Modifier

DIR. An invalid option or abbreviation was used.

INDEX ERROR:

LINK-80. The index of an IRL contains invalid information.

INSUFFICIENT MEMORY:

GET, LINK-80, PUT, SUBMIT. There is not enough memory to allocate buffers, or there are too many levels of SUBMIT nesting.

Invalid ASCII character

SUBMIT. The SUBMIT file contains an invalid character. (#FF).

Invalid command.

GET, PUT. String/substring in the command line not valid command.

Invalid delimiter.

DEVICE, GET, PUT, SET. The delimiter, [ ], = or space, - was not valid at the location used.

INVALID DESTINATION:

PIP. An invalid drive or device was specified.

INVALID DIGIT - filespec

PIP. Invalid hex digit encountered while reading a hex file. You probably should recreate the hex file.

Invalid drive.

SETDEF, GENCOM, TYPE. Valid drives are A to P.

INVALID FORMAT

The format of your PIP command is illegal. See the description of the PIP command.

INVALID HEX DIGIT

HEXCOM. Invalid hex digit encountered while reading a hex file. The hex file should be corrected by recreating the hex file.

Invalid number.

DEVICE. A number was expected but not found, or the number was out of range; numbers must range from 0 to 255.

Invalid option.

DEVICE and GET. An option was expected and the string found was not a device option or was not valid in the context.

SETDEF. The option typed in the command line is not a valid option. Valid options are DISPLAY, NO DISPLAY, NO PAGE, ORDER, PAGE, TEMPORARY.

Invalid option or modifier.

DIR, GET, PUT. The option typed is not a valid option.

INVALID PARAMETER:

MAC, RMAC. Invalid assembly parameter found in the input line. The assembly parameters are displayed up to the point of the error.

Invalid physical device.

DEVICE. A physical device name was expected. The name given does not correspond to any physical device name in the system.

INVALID REL FILE:

LINK-80. The file indicated contains an invalid bit pattern. Make sure that a REL or IRL file has been specified.

Invalid RSX type.

GENCOM. Filetype must be RSX.

Invalid SCB offset.

GENCOM. Specified SCB out of range. SCB offset range is #00 - #64.

INVALID SEPARATOR

PIP. Invalid character for a separator between two input filenames.

INVALID SOURCE

PIP. An invalid drive or device was specified. Only AUX, CON valid.

Invalid type for ORDER option.

SETDEF. Type specified in the command line was not COM or SUB.

Invalid SYM file format

XREF. The filename.SYM input to XREF is invalid.

INVALID USER NUMBER

PIP. User numbers are in the range 0 to 15.

Invalid wild card in the FCB name or type field.

GENCOM. GENCOM does not allow wildcards in filespecs.

LOAD ADDRESS LESS THAN 100.

HEXCOM. The program origin is less than #100.

MAIN MODULE ERROR:

LINK-80. A second main module was encountered.

Make error

XREF. There is no more directory space on the specified drive.

MEMORY OVERFLOW:

LINK-80. There is not enough memory to complete the link operation.

Missing Delimiter or Unrecognized Option.

ERASE. The ERASE command line format is invalid.

Missing left parenthesis.

GENCOM. The SCB option must be enclosed by a left parenthesis.

Missing right parenthesis.

GENCOM. The SCB option is not enclosed by a right parenthesis.

Missing SCB value.

GENCOM. The SCB option requires a value.

More than four drives specified.

SETDEF. The drive search chain is limited to four drives.

MULTIPLE DEFINITION:

LINK-80. The specified symbol is defined in more than one module.

n?

USER. Number greater than 15 specified as user number.

No directory space
NO DIRECTORY SPACE - filespec

GENCOM, MAC, PIP, RMAC, and SAVE. There is not enough directory spce for the output file.

NO INPUT FILE PRESENT ON DISK

DUMP. The file you requested does not exist.

No memory

Not enough memory available for loading the specified program.

No modifier for this option.

GENCOM. A modifier was specified but none is required.

No more space in the header for RSXs or SCB initialization.

GENCOM. The header has room for only 15 entries, or the combination of RSXs and SCBs exceed the maximum.

No options specified.

SET. Specify an option.

No PRN file.

XREF. The file filename.PRN is not on the specified drive.

No Records Exist.

DUMP. Only a directory entry exists for the file.

NO SPACE

SAVE. No space in the directory for the file being written.

No such file to rename.

RENAME. The file to be renamed is not on the specified drive(s).

No SYM file

XREF. The file filename.SYM is not on the specified drive.

Not enough room in directory.

INITDIR. Not enough directory space for the time and date extension.

NOT FOUND

PIP. PIP cannot find the specified file.

OPEN FILE NONRECOVERABLE

PIP. The disc has the wrong format or a bad sector.

Options not grouped together.

DIR. Options can only be specified within one set of brackets.

OUTPUT FILE READ ERROR:

MAC, RMAC. An output file cannot be written properly, probably because the disc is full.

OVERLAPPING SEGMENTS:

LINK-80. LINK-80 atttempted to write a segment into memory already used by another segment.

Page and nopage option selected.
No page in effect.

SET. The preceding options are mutually exclusive.

Parameter Error

SUBMIT. Valid parameters are $0 through $9.

PROGRAM INPUT IGNORED

SUBMIT. The SUBMIT file contains a line with < but the program does not require additional input.

PUT>

PUT. This prompt occurs when a program requests input while running a PUT FILE [NO ECHO] command.

PUT ERROR: FILE ERASED

PUT. The PUT output file was erased and could not be closed.

QUIT NOT FOUND.

PIP. String argument to a Q parameter could not be found in your input file.

Random Read

SUBMIT. Error occurred reading the temporary file used by SUBMIT.

Read error

TYPE. An error occurred when reading the specified file.

RECORD TOO LONG

PIP (H option). Hex record exceeds 80 characters in file being copied.

Sort Stack Overflow

DIR. There is not enough memory available for the sort stack.

START NOT FOUND

PIP. String argument to an S parameter not found in the source file.

Symbol Table overflow

XREF. No space available for attempted symbol allocation.

Symbol Table reference overflow

XREF. No space available for attempted symbol table reference allocation.

SYNTAX ERROR:

LIB. The LIB-80 command is not properly formed.

Total file size exceeds 64K.

GENCOM. The output file exceeds the maximum allowed.

Try 'PAGE' or 'NO PAGE'

TYPE. The only valid option is PAGE or NO PAGE

UNBALANCED MACRO LIBRARY.

MAC, RMAC. A MACRO definition was started within a macro library, but the end of the file was found in the library before the balancing ENDM was encountered.

UNDEFINED START SYMBOL:

LINK-80. The symbol specified with the G switch is not defined in any of the modules being linked.

UNEXPECTED END OF HEX FILE - filespec

PIP. An end-of-file was encountered before a termination hex record.

UNRECOGNIZED ITEM:

LINK-80. An unfamiliar bit pattern was scanned and ignored.

Unrecognized input.

SHOW. The SHOW command line has an invalid format.

USER ABORTED

PIP. You stopped a PIP operation by pressing CTRL-C.

VERIFY ERROR: filespec

PIP (V option). PIP found a difference when rereading the data just written and comparing it to the data in its memory buffer.

Write error

XREF. No disc space is available, or no directory space exists on the specified drive.

?

SID. SID has encountered an error.