Troubleshooting
Problem
When you cancel a terminal session, your application program goes into a loop as it receives a TERMERR and an abend AEXI (TERMERR condition not handled). Before upgrading to CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) V5.5 or higher, the same application receives an abend ATCV and terminates when a terminal session is cancelled. You would like to know why CICS is returning the TERMERR instead of abending with ATCV?
Cause
There was a deliberate change in behavior made at CICS TS 5.5 to satisfy a Request For Enhancement (RFE) 71455. It is meant to protect CICS from unexpected problems when processing terminal I/O commands after a terminal failure of any kind. The original RFE no longer exits. However, the text from the RFE is now in Idea CICSTS-I-1793 Set EIBERR if terminal is no longer usable, which states "This RFE is satisfied by CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V5.5".
The change detects the previous terminal error in the EXEC layer and returns immediately without trying to issue the request to the terminal. This means, instead of an abend ATCV, the application will get another TERMERR and abend AEXI.
Resolving The Problem
Change the application logic to handle the TERMERR condition and avoid issuing the SEND command (or any terminal I/O) if the TERMERR condition occurs. See Unexpected termination of a conversation in the CICS documentation for more information.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Product Synonym
CICSTS CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server
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Document Information
Modified date:
05 January 2026
UID
ibm16327415