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Informix Error -534: Could not insert new row into table, table is locked.

Cause and resolution

Could not insert new row into table, table is locked.

Database servers at Version 4.0 and later do not return this error. In earlier versions, its meaning is the same as error -271 with ISAM error code -113. Roll back the current transaction, and run it again when the table has been unlocked.

-534 Cannot open EXPLAIN output file.

The statement SET EXPLAIN ON has been executed, and the database server is trying to open the file sqexplain.out in the current working directory. An operating-system error of some kind prevents it. See the ISAM error code for more information. Look for operating-system error messages that might give more detail. Likely problems include a lack of write permissions in the current directory and a full disk. This error message appears beginning with Version 4.1.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-534's current meaning (Version 4.1 onward) is an OS-level failure opening the query-plan output file after SET EXPLAIN ON — the server tries to open sqexplain.out in the current working directory and an operating-system error prevents it. (An older, unrelated meaning — a table-locked condition equivalent to -271/ISAM -113 — applied only before Version 4.0 and doesn't occur on any currently supported release.)

  1. No write permission in the current working directory, per the official guidance — the explicitly named likely cause.
  2. A full disk in the filesystem holding the current working directory, per the official guidance — the other explicitly named likely cause.
  3. The current working directory itself not existing or not being accessible to the server process's effective user, for a similar underlying reason.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Check the accompanying ISAM error code, per the official guidance, for more specific detail about the underlying OS failure.
  2. Check operating-system error messages around the time of the failure, per the official guidance, for additional detail (a permissions or disk-full message from the OS itself).
  3. Confirm write permission in the current working directory for the user the connection is running as, and correct it if missing.
  4. Free disk space in the filesystem holding the current working directory if it's full.
  5. Retry SET EXPLAIN ON (or the statement that triggered it) once the underlying OS issue is resolved.
Examples
Checking write permission
$ ls -ld .
drwxr-xr-x  ... someuser someuser  ...  .

If the connection runs as a different user than the directory's owner/group, and no other permission bits grant write access, that's the fix target.

Checking disk space
$ df -h .
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check the accompanying ISAM error code and any OS-level error messages logged around the failure, per the official guidance, before assuming which of permissions or disk space is the cause.
  2. Confirm write permission and free space in the current working directory, since those are the two explicitly named likely problems.
Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -534 in this set yet.

An OS-level failure opening sqexplain.out in the current directory — check write permissions and free disk space first; the accompanying ISAM error narrows it further.