Your server stops seconds after starting: reading exit codes
A server that dies within seconds has already told you why. The exit code narrows it down and the five lines above it name the cause.
6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
When the process stops unexpectedly, the Console tab prints a message from the panel saying the server was detected in a crashed state, along with a number. That number is the exit code, which the program hands back to the system when it ends. It tells you roughly what kind of ending it was, and nothing more specific than that. The specific part is above it.
The codes worth knowing
| Code | What it means | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
0 | A clean, deliberate exit | You or a schedule stopped it, or the game decided to shut down on purpose |
1 | The program quit because of an error | The lines above. This is the common one. |
2 | Bad arguments or a usage error | Startup parameters |
127 | A command or file was not found | A missing file or a broken install |
137 | Killed from outside, almost always for using too much memory | RAM |
139 | A crash inside native code | The game itself, a native library, or rarely the node |
143 | Asked to stop and complied | A normal shutdown, often from a restart |
Exit code 1 is by far the most common and the least informative, which is why the next section matters more than this table.
Where the real error lives
Here is the single most useful habit for this: the exit line is not the error. The error is above it.
When a server fails, the last thing printed is usually a tidy summary, and the actual complaint came a few lines earlier. So:
- Open the Console tab.
- Scroll up from the exit line, five to twenty lines.
- Find the first line containing
ERROR,FATAL,Exception,Caused by,failedorcannot. - Read that line. That is your error.
You can also type ERROR into the search box above the log to show only matching lines, which gets you there faster on a long startup.
The first-error rule matters because one real failure causes a cascade of follow-on errors as other parts of the server trip over it. The last error on screen is usually a symptom. How to read server logs and crash reports explains log levels, stack traces and the Caused by chain in full, and it is the guide to read once rather than looking up every message individually.
If the console has scrolled past what you need, the full log is on the Files tab. For Minecraft that is logs/latest.log, and older runs are .log.gz files in the same folder.
The decision tree
Five causes account for nearly all fast exits. Work down them in this order, because that is roughly how common they are.
A config typo. You edited a file and the server cannot read it. The error names the file and often the line number. YAML files are the usual victims, because YAML does not allow tab characters:
found character '\t' that cannot start any token
If you edited something just before this started, that file is your suspect. Undo your change, start the server, and confirm it works before trying again. Keeping a copy of any file before you change it makes this a thirty second fix rather than a reconstruction.
A missing file or an unaccepted agreement. The server wants something that is not there. The classic is Minecraft's EULA, which stops the server within a second of starting until you change one line: Fix "You need to agree to the EULA". Others include a mod's required library, a missing world folder after a bad upload, or a server jar that did not finish downloading.
The wrong Java version. Minecraft tells you with a mouthful:
java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: ... has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 65.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 61.0
Those numbers are Java versions in code: 52 is Java 8, 61 is Java 17, 65 is Java 21. The message above means the server needs Java 21 and is running Java 17. Reinstalling your version from the Version page under Minecraft tools usually sorts the pairing out for you, and Choosing a Java version has the table for the cases it does not.
Out of memory. Exit code 137, or a log line about memory, or a server that crashes at exactly the moment the world loads. Fix java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space covers the fixes, and the first one is not always buying more RAM.
A failed download. Some games fetch files on start, and a half-downloaded file fails in confusing ways: a truncated jar, a corrupt archive, a mod that is zero bytes. Check file sizes on the Files tab for anything suspiciously small.
Two patterns worth recognising
It worked yesterday and nothing changed. Something did change, and it is usually one of three things: a game update arrived, a scheduled task ran, or you are out of disk space. Check the disk graph on the server page, because a full disk breaks servers in creative and misleading ways.
It fails immediately, before any game output at all. If the console shows the exit with nothing from the game above it, the game never started. That points at the startup command rather than the game: a bad startup variable, a missing jar file, or a parameter with a typo in it. Check Startup settings on the Settings tab and restore any value you have changed to its default.
Change one thing at a time
The temptation when a server will not start is to change five things and press Start. Resist it, because you then cannot tell which change helped.
- Read the first error.
- Change exactly one thing based on it.
- Press Start and read the log again.
- If the server gets further before failing, you are making progress. Read the new error and repeat.
If the errors point at your own content, such as a plugin, a config or a world, remove or rename that content and try again. If they point at the base install being broken, Reinstall server on the Settings tab rebuilds it, and you should take a backup first.
For the broader case where the server hangs on Starting rather than exiting, Why your server says Starting or is stuck offline is the companion to this guide.
Common questions
What does exit code 1 mean exactly?
Only that the program ended because of an error rather than finishing normally. It is deliberately generic, so it never identifies the cause on its own. The useful information is in the lines printed just before the exit, starting with the first one containing ERROR or Exception.
Why does exit code 137 keep happening?
Because something outside the server stopped the process for using more memory than its limit allows. That is a RAM problem rather than a crash, and the fix is either to reduce what the server has to hold or to raise the plan's memory.
My server exits with no error in the console at all. What now?
Open the full log on the Files tab rather than relying on the console, because the console keeps only recent lines and a fast failure can scroll past. If there is genuinely nothing from the game itself, the game never started and the startup command or a missing file is the place to look.
Should I reinstall my server to fix a startup crash?
Only after reading the error, and only if it points at the base install rather than your own files. A reinstall replaces the core files and will not fix a config typo, a bad plugin or a damaged world, and it is a much bigger change than those problems need.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
- startup
- exit code
- console
- crash
- troubleshooting
Still need help? Our team is online 24/7 to answer questions.