CSCI 1301/1302 Troubleshooting Guide

This guide is designed to help you interpret some of the more common (or more unusual) error messages that you may run into as you compile and link your programs. It will not necessarily tell you how to fix the errors, but serves more as a blueprint to help you interpret the messages you receive and locate the actual problems.

Basic Guidelines

The error message you see merely indicates a symptom of the actual problem. The compiler does not necessarily point out the actual error. You have to interpret the compiler's diagnostic, locate the actual error, and fix it.
Error messages generally appear after the actual error has occurred. Thus, when trying to detect the actual cause of an error message, you generally need to look backwards from the indicated line.
A single error frequently (dare we say usually) produces multiple error messages. Thus, it's always good practice to find and fix the errors that generate the first few messages in a long list of error messages, then try again. You will often find that fixing just a couple of errors clears up many more messages.
On the other hand, one error will frequently "mask" other errors in a program. Thus, fixing one error may cause a number of other errors to suddenly appear and generate error messages. This does not necessarily mean that you are on the wrong track, merely that the newer messages are caused by initially hidden errors.

Generator Error Message Tip

Editor The normal color highlighting on your source code (green for comments, blue for keywords, etc.)has changed to something else. You may have used File->Save As to directly save your skeleton program from the lab manual as you were viewing it in the web browser. You should absolutely avoid doing this, as the file will be saved read-only, with a .htm file extension. This will make it impossible for the compiler to properly recognize the file when you get ready to compile it. It is also possible that some evil person has been messing around with the program settings. Do not curse them, simply select View->Properties and select C/C++ language instead of whatever they selected.

Compiler Any syntax error indicating a missing ";" Look backwards from the line indicated and you will usually (though not always) quickly see the actual problem. If the error occurs in a for statement, make sure that the three sections of the for statement control are separated by semicolons and not commas.

Compiler Identifiers defined in libraries are showing up as undefined, but you have included the library. You probably forgot to include the statement "using namespace std;" after the included libraries.

Compiler Error message indicates that you are missing a semicolon before the 'PCH' point. This error message will generally appear right before the using namespace std; statement. The problem is probably a missing semicolon at the end of a user-defined header file. Check all your header files and make sure they are correct -- remember, they can't be compiled separately so this is the only way you have of checking them.

Linker Error indicates that external symbol "WinMain16" is missing You inadvertently created a Windows application instead of a Windows Console Application. Close this project and create a new, empty, one, making sure that this new one is a Windows Console Application. Once this new project is created, add the files you were working on to the new project.

Debug or Run-time Debug or run-time error with the message:
Debug Error! Program DAMAGE: after Normal block (#NNN) at 0xNNNNNNNN
This is a bug in the Standard C++ library basic_string class implementation. It is NOT REALLY YOUR FAULT. It is caused by assigning a shorter string value to an existing string variable that originally contained a longer string value. This causes corruption of the heap.
You can work around this error by calling the string::erase member function before assigning the new value to the string:

yourstring.erase( ); yourstring = "new string value";

Linker LNK2001 errors There are a number of possible causes for this type of error. The most common is that you have created a project with a driver file, but not added any non-standard included files (header and/or implementation files) to the project. To fix this error, click on Project->Add to Project->Files and add the missing files to the project

Linker LNK4076 error The .ilk file in your project's debug folder is corrupted. It doesn't matter how it happened, it just did. Go into the Debug folder for your project, delete the .ilk file, and rebuild the project.

Generator	Error Message	Tip
Editor	The normal color highlighting on your source code (green for comments, blue for keywords, etc.)has changed to something else.	You may have used File->Save As to directly save your skeleton program from the lab manual as you were viewing it in the web browser. You should absolutely avoid doing this, as the file will be saved read-only, with a .htm file extension. This will make it impossible for the compiler to properly recognize the file when you get ready to compile it. It is also possible that some evil person has been messing around with the program settings. Do not curse them, simply select View->Properties and select C/C++ language instead of whatever they selected.
Compiler	Any syntax error indicating a missing ";"	Look backwards from the line indicated and you will usually (though not always) quickly see the actual problem. If the error occurs in a for statement, make sure that the three sections of the for statement control are separated by semicolons and not commas.
Compiler	Identifiers defined in libraries are showing up as undefined, but you have included the library.	You probably forgot to include the statement "using namespace std;" after the included libraries.
Compiler	Error message indicates that you are missing a semicolon before the 'PCH' point. This error message will generally appear right before the using namespace std; statement.	The problem is probably a missing semicolon at the end of a user-defined header file. Check all your header files and make sure they are correct -- remember, they can't be compiled separately so this is the only way you have of checking them.
Linker	Error indicates that external symbol "WinMain16" is missing	You inadvertently created a Windows application instead of a Windows Console Application. Close this project and create a new, empty, one, making sure that this new one is a Windows Console Application. Once this new project is created, add the files you were working on to the new project.
Debug or Run-time	Debug or run-time error with the message: Debug Error! Program DAMAGE: after Normal block (#NNN) at 0xNNNNNNNN	This is a bug in the Standard C++ library basic_string class implementation. It is NOT REALLY YOUR FAULT. It is caused by assigning a shorter string value to an existing string variable that originally contained a longer string value. This causes corruption of the heap. You can work around this error by calling the string::erase member function before assigning the new value to the string: yourstring.erase( ); yourstring = "new string value";
Linker	LNK2001 errors	There are a number of possible causes for this type of error. The most common is that you have created a project with a driver file, but not added any non-standard included files (header and/or implementation files) to the project. To fix this error, click on Project->Add to Project->Files and add the missing files to the project
Linker	LNK4076 error	The .ilk file in your project's debug folder is corrupted. It doesn't matter how it happened, it just did. Go into the Debug folder for your project, delete the .ilk file, and rebuild the project.

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