Abend codes and information

ISPF controller and processor task abends are controlled by STAE and STAI exit routines and by ISPF execution modes set using the ISPSTART TEST parameters.

Under normal conditions (that is, when processor and controller dumps have not been requested by specifying the ISPSTART TEST command):

When a processor task abends:
- No dump is taken.
- The controller reattaches the processor main drive (ISPPMD).
- The primary option menu is redisplayed for that logical screen.
When the controller task abends:
- ISPF terminates with *** ISPF MAIN TASK ABEND *** message.
- Control returns to TSO.
- Pressing Enter causes a dump to be taken if a dump data set has been allocated.

The controller and processor tasks issue the ABEND system service and allow dumps under certain situations. The ISPF modules that issue ABENDs and their associated codes and reasons are listed below:

Abend code 0C1 in various common ISPF subroutines

In several ISPF modules, an invalid operation code of (X'00') is executed to force an abend at the point that an unexpected condition occurs. Contact IBM® support if this condition occurs within an ISPF module.

Abend code 0C4 in ISPDVCGT, ISPDVCPT, or ISPDVCFD

These abends are often caused by mismatched VDEFINE and VDELETE services in a user's program. The VDEFINE service gives ISPF addressability to user storage. This storage is used by variable services any time the variable that has been established by the VDEFINE service is referenced. If this storage is released back to the system, an 0C4 abend may occur depending on whether the storage is still accessible. Here are two common scenarios that often show these abends:

A program establishes a variable in a called subroutine using the VDEFINE service and subsequently uses an ISPF service that references this variable in another routine. If the called subroutine was dynamically loaded and therefore released its storage, an 0C4 abend could occur when the subroutine references a VDEFINEd variable.
A program establishes a variable in a called subroutine using the VDEFINE service and then calls another program without using the SELECT service. Then the called program VDEFINEs a variable with the same name, but does not VDELETE it on exit. If the calling program references that variable after the called program returns control to it, an 0C4 abend can occur. Since a VDELETE has not been done, ISPF services still reference the variable VDEFINEd by the called program.

If the program intent is to use the same variable in the main and called routines, the variable should be VDEFINEd only in the main routine. If the program intent to isolate a variable to be used only in the routine in which it is VDEFINEd, then the program should also VDELETE the variable before it ends. To diagnose whether the user application has this problem, a function trace on VDEFINE, VDELETE, and the SELECT services (Option 7.7.1) is very helpful.

Abend codes 111 or 222

To produce these abends, the user must be in test mode and request processor dumps by entering one of the following commands on the ISPF command line. With exception of the user completion code, both commands function in the same manner.

ABEND: Terminates ISPF with user completion code 111.
CRASH: Terminates ISPF with user completion code 222.

Abend code 908

ZISPFRC value was not valid

Abend code 920

ISPSTART command syntax was not valid

Abend code 950

An ISPF session running on behalf of a z/OS® client had to be abnormally terminated. One of the following write-to-operator (WTO) messages will accompany the user abend:

ISPWB000

Client requested ISPF session initialization

Userid: aaaaaaa ASIDX: bbbb
Message Queue: cccccccccc CCSID: ddddd

This message does not indicate a problem but is issued when a request is received to start an ISPF session on behalf of a client. This informational message shows the user ID that the address space will run under, the ID of the TSO address space, the ID of the z/OS UNIX message queue used to exchange messages between TSO/ISPF and the client, and the CCSID used when converting message between EBCDIC and Unicode.

ISPWB001

Request received from client to force termination. The ISPF session is abnormally terminated. Userid: aaaaaaa ASIDX: bbbb

This operator message is issued when ISPF receives a request from a client to force the termination of the ISPF session for a user. The message shows the TSO ID of the user and the ID of the TSO address space.

ISPWB002

Call to BPX1QSN to send a message to the queue failed. Return code: 'aaaa'X Reason code: 'bbbb'X

The ISPF session is abnormally terminated.

This operator message is issued when a call to z/OS UNIX service BPX1QSN to send panel JSON to the client via a z/OS UNIX message queue fails. The message shows the return and reason code from BPX1QSN.

ISPWB003

Call to BPX1QRC to read a message from the queue failed. Return code: 'aaaa'X Reason code: 'bbbb'X

The ISPF session is abnormally terminated.

This operator message is issued when a call to z/OS UNIX service BPX1QRC to receive response JSON from the client via a z/OS UNIX message queue fails. The message shows the return and reason code from BPX1QRC.

ISPWB004

Call to BPX1QRC returned a message of length zero. Return code: 'aaaa'X Reason code: 'bbbb'X

The ISPF session is abnormally terminated.

This operator message is issued when a call to z/OS UNIX service BPX1QRC to receive response JSON from the client returns a message with a length of zero. The message shows the return and reason code from BPX1QRC.

Abend code 985

An attempt was made to start a GUI in batch mode, but no workstation connection was made.

Abend code 987

An attempt was made to start GUI with GUISCRW or GUISCRD and the GUI initialization failed.

Abend code 988

Invalid TSO environment. See z/OS ISPF Planning and Customizing for the proper TSO version.

Abend code 989

The ISPF C/S component window was closed while still running ISPF in GUI mode

Abend code 990

An error occurred running in batch mode. If ZISPFRC has not been set previously, and ISPF encounters a severe error that terminates the product, then 990 is set.

Abend code 995

Configuration table is not compatible with current ISPF release. Configuration table must be release 4.8 or later.

Abend code 996 (or X'3E5')

ISPF was not able to load the terminal translate table during initialization. Check that the load module defined in the configuration table is available in the ISPLLIB or MVS™ load library search concatenation. The value is stored in the user's profile data set, so a reset may be required to load the correct value.

Abend code 997 (or X'3E5')

A TPUT returned a return code other than 0 or 8. A message is displayed and an attempt is made to redisplay the full screen. If the redisplay fails twice, this abend is issued.

Abend code 998 (or X'3E6')

An ISPF severe error that occurs while not in CONTROL ERRORS RETURN mode and before ISPF is fully initialized. ISPF is considered to be fully initialized when the Enter key on the primary option menu has been processed without a severe error occurring.

Abend code 999 (or X'3E7')

This abend is issued for the following reasons:

No function pool is established for a command processor.
For example, a command processor that uses ISPF services is invoked using option 6 or SELECT CMD, but the command processor does not have a function pool. The user needs to have an entry for the command processor in the ISPTCM with the X'40' flag set on. The X'40' flag indicates that the command requires a function pool. See z/OS ISPF Planning and Customizing for more information on customizing the ISPTCM.
An error occurs while another error is already being processed.
ISPF issues the abend code 999 in this case to protect against an infinite loop.
An error occurred during ISPF initialization.
For example:
- An I/O error occurred due to ISPF library allocations such as ISPSLIB, ISPPLIB, ISPMLIB, and so forth, containing inconsistent or incorrect DCB attributes.
- An ISPF library allocation does not contain the required ISPF libraries in its concatenation. For example, the ISPMLIB contains user product libraries but not ISPF libraries.