Troubleshooting

Despite every effort was made to make use13 robust and error-free, bugs are still possible, just like in any other program. If you are getting an error while executing the use13 command, consider the following:

1. Are you using the most recent version of use13?
   To check for updates consult the SSC website. If use13 was installed from a beta-location, consider the release version. If you installed a beta version from location other than SSC, the ado update command would not know that a newer version is available at SSC archive, and would not report that an update is available. Check the available version at RePEc. Check the version of the installed use13 with the following commands:
   which use13
   mata use13_about()
   
2. Are you absolutely sure that file is in Stata 13 format?
   Stata 13 files must conform to dta specification 117 provided on Stata's website. In particular Stata 13 files must start with the following content:
   <stata_dta><header><release>117</release><byteorder>
   If your file starts with a different content, use13 will not read it. You can use Stata's command -type- to check the content in the header of the file:
   type "filename.dta"
3. Are you sure the file is not corrupted during the transfer?
   Make sure the file is transferred properly: use binary mode for FTP transfers. Zip the file before the transfer (checking of the integrity of the file will be done by the unzip-er automatically).
4. Which software produced the file?
   If the file was produced by software other than Stata, perhaps it could be faulty due to bugs in that software? Early builds of Stata 13 were known to produce files not conforming to 117 specification. Stata itself was not affected by this bug, and it was fixed in subsequent updates from StataCorp. use13 contains a workaround for this known problem and should not be affected as well. Resaving these files in updated Stata 13 helps.
5. Is this file in dta 116 specification?
   Files in format specification 116 exist, but the description of it was never released by StataCorp. The converter use13 should produce an informative error message in such a case. This is by desing.
6. Has Stata's format changed again?
   Perhaps the developers of StataCorp have changed the file format again after use13 was released while I was not paying attention? Let me know.
7. Undocumented features?
   There are currently no reasons to believe that there are any features in the _dta file format that are left undocumented.

1. what was the command resulting in an error, exactly as you typed it?
2. what is the error message, exactly as Stata reported it?
3. what is the version/flavor/platform of Stata that you are using?
4. what is the history of the data file? what software created the file? (name, version, platform, date)
5. was the file transferred from one computer/system/platform to another?
6. can Stata 13 itself open the file? (if Stata 13 is available).
7. do you have only one such file (random error)? or you have a number of these files (error is systematic and likely reproducible)?
8. if you know what is in the file (how many variables, how many obervations, how long are the long variables if present) please let me know this information.
9. what is the file size in bytes?
10. can you make the file available to me? (do not send the data in the first communication)