Six Bombs (Stack Overflow)
Atari Atari ST
Severity: ModerateWhat Does This Error Mean?
Six bombs on the Atari ST means the program ran out of stack space — typically caused by infinite recursion or a bug in the running software. This is a software fault, not a hardware one. Restarting is the only recovery.
Affected Models
- Atari ST
- Atari STe
- Atari Mega ST
- Atari STE
- Atari TT030
- Atari Falcon
Common Causes
- Infinite recursion in a running program
- Program allocating too much data on the stack
- Bug in the application's subroutine calls
- Corrupted program file causing erratic execution
How to Fix It
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Reset the machine.
Press the reset button on the ST (or Ctrl+Alt+Delete on some models). Stack overflow is unrecoverable — the program must be terminated.
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Try running the program again.
If six bombs only appeared once, it may have been a one-off software glitch. If it repeats every time you run the same program, the program itself has a bug.
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Check if a newer version of the program exists.
Stack overflow bugs are typically fixed in updated software versions. Persistent six-bombs in the same application means a known bug.
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Try running with fewer accessories loaded.
Desk accessories (AUTO folder programs) consume memory and stack space. Boot without AUTO folder programs to give the main application more stack room.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the number of bombs mean on an Atari ST?
Each number of bombs corresponds to a 68000 CPU exception type. One bomb = Bus Error, Two = Address Error, Three = Illegal Instruction, Four = Privilege Violation, Five = Divide by Zero, Six = Stack Overflow (CHK instruction), Seven = TRAPV. More bombs = a different exception caught by the TOS.