Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument.

[dersh]

I've searched this topic in the PICAXE forums...while the subject has been discussed before, I didn't find a solution to my problem.

When I run the PICAXE Programming Editor, everything works fine, except every now and then I get the [Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument error] when attempting to download to the chip. Restarting the editor fixes the problem...for awhile anyway. It does not seem to be code dependent.

I've found that if I'm working on a file, in the editor, then open another (2 or 3 open at once), the error is more likely to appear when I attempt to download to the chip, but that is not always the case. It's very intermittent and has been tough to nail down.

Right now my “fix” is to restart the editor, then continue to work but… that is getting a bit annoying.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for an help you can give,

dersh.

PS...This is on a recently built computer, AMD X2 with Windows XP Pro SP2 (32bit)... it's a clean install with all of the Windows updates. Everything (hardware/software) seems to work on it.

…do you suppose the folks at Microsoft actually use Windows?

 

[BeanieBots]

I have no idea of the cause but would guess that the inconsistancies you are seeing suggest that it is a registry issue.
There could be many reasons for that most of which are patented by Mr. Gates.
In your position, my first action would be to completely un-install and re-install the editor simply because that would take less time than trying to find and fix the problem.

 

[hax]

I still get this message every once in a while as well.

It virtually never occurrs with smaller code, but with larger code, it occurrs more often.

I (and some other people on this forum) isolated one problem that caused this error, and that is, where there are "invisible" characters that the programming editor does not like, it throws up this message. It is tricky to find these characters, but searching in the forums section will explain that part of it.

But there is another cause for the error which is harder to pinpoint, as you say. I wish it would be something for technical to patch up, but it looks like there are only a small amount of people with this problem, with some very vague un-reproduceable symptoms. A programmers worst nightmare.

I must say that I have re-installed my whole PC a month ago, and the problem is still there... so I doubt re-installing the editor will help.

 

[Technical]

Does this occur with the enhanced compiler (View>Options>Editor) aswell as the original compiler?