Unexpected messages and codes

If the “wrong data” is in the form of a message or code that you do not understand, look in the appropriate manual for an explanation of what it means.

Messages that are prefixed by DFH originate from CICS®. You can look up messages in CICS messages. For codes that appear in the space at the bottom of the screen where status information is displayed, look in the appropriate guide for the terminal.

The following are examples of common errors that can cause messages or codes to be displayed:
  • SCRNSIZE(ALTERNATE) has been specified in a PROFILE, and too many rows have been specified for ALTSCREEN and ALTPAGE in the TYPETERM definition for the terminal.
  • An application has sent a spurious hex value corresponding to a control character in a data stream. For example, X'11' is understood as “set buffer address” by a 3270 terminal, and the values that follow are interpreted as the new buffer address. This eventually causes an error code to be displayed.

    If you suspect this may be the cause of the problem, check your application code carefully to make sure it cannot send any unintended control characters.

  • EXTENDEDDS(YES) has been specified for a device that does not support this feature. In such a case, a message is sent to the screen, and a message might also be written to the CSMT log.

    The default value for EXTENDEDDS is NO, but check to make sure that YES has not been specified if you know your terminal is not an extended data stream device.