DXF read error Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded

[Anonymous]

Need some help! I get the error "DXF read error Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded" once in awhile.

I have a file Id like not to lose. Any idea how to recover it?

Any ideas as to why this happens?

[Anonymous]

Need help! On the occasion I have been getting the error "Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded, Press ENTER to continue"  Not sure why this is happening.  Any ideas on a fix?

[pendean]

"on occasion" and "once in awhile" are too random for a guaranteed fix: the errors only indicate you have a bad DXF files.

What is the source of the DXF files? What is the content of the DXF files?

[Anonymous]

"once in awhile" is the best way to describe it....I cant really say what I do different that would cause the "error".  I do hundreds of these type of drawings and I get one every now and then that does this to me where I can not open it.  

The file is just a simple drawing (car part, nothing 3D or crazy).  I have the file I can send if that'll help.

[fatal.error]

Have you created the DXF with AutoCAD? Have you tried the RECOVER command?

Do you know the exact line-number where it fails? If so, you could open the DXF with an editor such as Notepad, Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code and inspect the informed line.

DXF file structure starts like these:

    0
  SECTION
    2
  HEADER

and ends like these:

  ENDSEC
    0
  ENDOF

If EOF line (End Of File) is missing, the data never completed writing to the file.

Common causes are: 

• The DXF file was created by an external application but it doesn't have a proper format matching the DXF specification.
• The file was created as an export from a corrupted (e.g. non-Autodesk) DWG file.
• The file was damaged during transmission or during copying.
• It is not a DXF file, but e.g. a renamed DWG file.
• The DXF file was edited in Word.
• The DXF file is not stored in the ASCII or UTF-8 (w/o BOM) format.

To get further assistance, you should zip and upload the corrupted file.

Further reading:

AutoCAD DXF Reference

Writing a DXF file