Software Failure — Press left mouse button
Commodore Amiga
Severity: CriticalWhat Does This Error Mean?
This is a recoverable variant of the Amiga Guru Meditation. Unlike the full Guru crash, this message means AmigaOS may be able to kill the crashed task and continue. Press the left mouse button to attempt recovery — if the system remains stable, you can save your work.
Affected Models
- Commodore Amiga 500
- Commodore Amiga 500+
- Commodore Amiga 600
- Commodore Amiga 1200
- Commodore Amiga 2000
- Commodore Amiga 3000
- Commodore Amiga 4000
- WinUAE emulator
Common Causes
- Application crashed but did not take the whole system down
- Program accessed invalid memory in a way the OS can isolate
- Library or device driver conflict causing a task-level failure
- Out of memory condition causing a single task to fail
- Corrupt data file causing the application to crash while the OS remains intact
How to Fix It
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Press the left mouse button to attempt recovery.
AmigaOS will try to kill the crashed task and return to the Workbench. If successful, you will see the Workbench screen again and can continue working.
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After recovery, save all open work immediately.
A recovered system may be unstable — the crashed task may have corrupted shared memory. Save everything and consider rebooting cleanly when convenient.
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If the left mouse button does not recover, press Ctrl + Left Amiga + Right Amiga to reset.
This is the Amiga's three-key reset. All unsaved work will be lost, but the system will restart cleanly.
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If the same program crashes repeatedly, check for updates or incompatibilities.
Software written for AmigaOS 1.3 may crash on 2.x or 3.x due to OS changes. Check Aminet or the software publisher for an updated version.
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Check available memory — type AVAIL in a Shell window.
If Chip RAM or Fast RAM is very low, programs may crash due to failed memory allocations. Close other programs or install more RAM to prevent memory-related failures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Software Failure and Guru Meditation?
Both are Amiga crash screens, but Software Failure is recoverable — pressing the left mouse button may return you to the Workbench. A full Guru Meditation (with the numeric code displayed) usually means the system is unrecoverable and requires a reset.
Why does the Amiga sometimes recover and sometimes not?
AmigaOS is a multitasking OS with memory protection only on later models. If the crashed task only corrupted its own memory, the OS can kill it and continue. If it corrupted system memory or another task's data, recovery fails and a full Guru or freeze occurs.