https://www.theregister.com/2008/01/28/error_messages/ # # Sign in / up The Register(r) -- Biting the hand that feeds IT # # # Topics Security Security All SecurityCyber-crimePatchesResearchCSO (X) Off-Prem Off-Prem All Off-PremEdge + IoTChannelPaaS + IaaSSaaS (X) On-Prem On-Prem All On-PremSystemsStorageNetworksHPCPersonal TechCxOPublic Sector (X) Software Software All SoftwareAI + MLApplicationsDatabasesDevOpsOSesVirtualization (X) Offbeat Offbeat All OffbeatDebatesColumnistsScienceGeek's GuideBOFHLegalBootnotesSite NewsAbout Us (X) Special Features Special Features All Special Features Cloud Infrastructure Week Cybersecurity Month Blackhat and DEF CON Sysadmin Month The Reg in Space Emerging Clean Energy Tech Week Spotlight on RSA Energy Efficient Datacenters Vendor Voice Vendor Voice Vendor Voice All Vendor Voice Amazon Web Services (AWS) Business Transformation Amazon Web Services (AWS) New Horizon in Cloud Computing DDN Google Cloud Data Transformation Hewlett Packard Enterprise: AI & ML solutions Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Edge-to-Cloud Platform Intel vPro VMware (X) Resources Resources Whitepapers Webinars & Events Newsletters [channel] Channel 64 comment bubble on white This article is more than 1 year old The 'blem wit' error messages 64 comment bubble on white Things get terse icon Mark Whitehorn Mon 28 Jan 2008 // 19:42 UTC # When I was young I built up a collection of system error messages. Ok, look, it's not as sad as collecting stamps! It is? Really? Oh well, never mind. Anyway, my recent piece about Borland putting rude words in Quattro Pro got me thinking it was time to revisit that collection. Some of them date back to the days of the mainframe, such as: "Fatal error in crawl out - system halted" [channel] This I collected from a Prime. [channel] [channel] Most of them were verified in one way or another; however I once collected the delightful but unverified "Shut her down, Clancy, she's a-pumping mud." Whatever its original provenance, within six months, it had moved into reality - a friend saw it on the list and actually added it to a real hole in the wall system. As far as I know it's still in there. A case of art imitating life, or the other way around...or science, or whatever. In those days, though, most error message were a little less creative. The reason? Memory was expensive. So some of them were terse. I mean rlly trs - to th pnt of bng compltly uslss. Take, for example, the execrable: [channel] "Cannot find DLL" Yes, yes, but in order to fix the problem I need to know which DLL you can't find. There are hundreds of the wretched things; at least give me a clue. What letter does it start with? That would narrow it down. And Microsoft wonders why people end up shouting at Windows. But this was nothing. My personal favorite is still one from the early 90s. And it was about as trs as they get: [channel] "blem wit" Those simple characters proved that the god of error messages not only has a sense of humor but also an understanding of recursion. There was a bug in some versions of the Novell redirector shell (NET5.COM) that was a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program that ran under DOS. The Novell TSR had, of course, a set of error messages that it could use. One was: "There is a problem with the Memory Control Block for the shell" Unfortunately, the very problem that triggered the error message had the unfortunate side effect of screwing up the ability of DOS to write to the screen. So only a part of the error message was actually written to the screen. What was that error message? "There is a problem with the Memory Control Block for the shell" So, whenever "blem wit" appeared, you had two reasons to be sure that there was, indeed, a problem with writing to the screen. "Blem wit" was such an odd string to suddenly appear on a screen, and so widespread at the time, that it was often reported as a virus. But it wasn't, it was just a trs TSR.(r) Get our Tech Resources # Share More about # Share 64 comment bubble on white COMMENTS TIP US OFF Send us news --------------------------------------------------------------------- Other stories you might like Tokyo wags finger at Google for blocking Yahoo Japan! from using ad tech Seven years of stonewalling and no consequences for advertising giant Off-Prem22 Apr 2024 | 1 FBI and friends get two more years of warrantless FISA Section 702 snooping US Senate kills reform amendment, Biden swiftly signs bill into law Public Sector22 Apr 2024 | 1 Ex-CEO of 'unicorn' app startup HeadSpin heads to jail after BS'ing investors Lachwani faked it but didn't make it Applications22 Apr 2024 | 1 Reducing the cloud security overhead Why creating a layered defensive strategy that includes security by design can help address cloud challenges Sponsored Feature [channel] Huawei wants to take homegrown HarmonyOS phone platform worldwide Chinese tech juggernaut eyes global expansion despite US tech restrictions OSes22 Apr 2024 | 5 Tesla slashes vehicle and self-driving-ish software prices as shares plummet Because nothing reassures investors like discounting some inventory Personal Tech22 Apr 2024 | 21 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman invests in solar power firm Exowatt to fuel AI datacenters $20m to keep the industry from having to rely on fossil fuels On-Prem22 Apr 2024 | 1 Tiny11 Builder trims Windows 11 fat with PowerShell script The Reg accepts no responsibility for borked installations OSes22 Apr 2024 | 4 Europol now latest cops to beg Big Tech to ditch E2EE Don't bore us, get to the chorus: You need less privacy so we can protect the children Security22 Apr 2024 | 13 Fedora 40 is just around the corner with more spins and flavors than ever KDE edition has the most conspicuous changes, and could become future flagship OSes22 Apr 2024 | 4 Germany arrests trio accused of trying to smuggle naval military tech to China Prosecutors believe one frikkin' laser did make its way to Beijing Public Sector22 Apr 2024 | Lawsuit accuses Grindr of illegally sharing users' HIV status LGBTQ+ dating app's maker previously denied selling sensitive user data Applications22 Apr 2024 | 5 The Register icon Biting the hand that feeds IT About Us* * Contact us * Advertise with us * Who we are Our Websites* * The Next Platform * DevClass * Blocks and Files Your Privacy* * Cookies Policy * Privacy Policy * Ts & Cs * Do not sell my personal information Situation Publishing Copyright. 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