Model 6487 Reference Manual Status and Error Messages B-7
Eliminating common SCPI errors
There are three SCPI errors that occur more often than any others:
• -113, "Undefined header"
• -410, "Query INTERRUPTED"
• -420, "Query UNTERMINATED"
The following paragraphs discuss the most common causes for these errors and methods
for avoiding them.
-113, "Undefined header"
This error indicates that the command you sent to the instrument did not contain a recog-
nizable command name. The most likely causes for this error are:
• Missing space between the command and its parameter. There must be one or more
spaces (blanks) between the command and its parameter. For example:
:SOUR1:VOLT10 Incorrect (no space between command and parameter)
:SOUR1:VOLT 10 Correct
• Improper short or long form. Check the command list in Section 14 for the correct
command name.
• Blanks (spaces) within the command name. For example:
:SYST :ERR? Incorrect (space between :SYST and :ERR?)
:SYST:ERR? Correct
-410, "Query INTERRUPTED"
This error occurs when you have sent a valid query to the instrument and then send it
another command, query, or a Group Execute Trigger (GET) before it has had a chance to
send the entire response message (including the line-feed/EOI terminator). The most
likely causes are:
• Sending a query to the instrument and then sending another command or query
before reading the response to the first query. For example, the following sequence
of commands will cause an error -410:
:SYST:ERR?
*OPC?
This sequence generates an error because you must read the response to
:SYST:ERR? before sending the *OPC? query.
• Incorrectly configured IEEE-488 driver. The driver must be configured so that
when talking on the bus it sends line-feed with EOI as the terminator and when lis-
tening on the bus it expects line-feed with EOI as the terminator. See the reference
manual for your particular IEEE-488 interface.