# Swarming - TypeError: Parameters columnCount and inputWidth must be \> 0

**URL:** <https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481>\
**Category:** NuPIC\
**Tags:** swarming\
**Created:** [August 19, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481 "2019-08-19T23:18:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mh01223](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@mh01223](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/mh01223)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481/1 "2019-08-19T23:18:12Z")

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So I’ve been modifying the Hot Gym swarm.py file and swarm\_description.py to take my own data with success. It has been working fine with 2 float columns and 1 datetime column as inputs. When I changed the input to 5 floats and 1 datetime column it works initially, but a few seconds later an error appears:

TypeError: Parameters columnCount and inputWidth must be \> 0

This wasn’t an issue before so I’m a bit stumped. Any ideas?

Thanks 🙂

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**Author:** ![rhyolight](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.numenta.org/rhyolight/32/3922_2.png) [@rhyolight](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/rhyolight)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481/2 "2019-08-20T17:10:01Z")

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You are dabbling in very legacy code. My guess is that swarming changed `columnCount` or `inputWidth` to an invalid value.

> [@mh01223](#):
>
> When I changed the input to 5 floats and 1 datetime column it works initially

Does the swarming data file have 5 float fields and 1 datetime column?

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**Author:** ![mh01223](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@mh01223](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/mh01223)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481/3 "2019-08-22T07:59:36Z")

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Yes that is correct

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**Author:** ![mh01223](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@mh01223](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/mh01223)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 8:55am UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481/4 "2019-08-22T08:55:30Z")

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It’s interesting that the swarm would do this; surely it has constraints for this sort of thing? Maybe it’s worth looking into the permutations file seeing as I have let it be and focused on the description file so far.

Just ran a few tests and it seems to be ok, when a particular column is removed not sure why.

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**Author:** ![rhyolight](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.numenta.org/rhyolight/32/3922_2.png) [@rhyolight](https://discourse.numenta.org/u/rhyolight)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://discourse.numenta.org/t/swarming-typeerror-parameters-columncount-and-inputwidth-must-be-0/6481/5 "2019-08-22T20:30:23Z")

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> [@mh01223](#):
>
> Just ran a few tests and it seems to be ok, when a particular column is removed not sure why.

Maybe there is some bad data in this column? Nulls or wrong types?