diff --git a/vm/errors.cpp b/vm/errors.cpp
index ced1518156..bf19f879ef 100755
--- a/vm/errors.cpp
+++ b/vm/errors.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ void out_of_memory()
 	abort();
 }
 
-void factor_vm::general_error(vm_error_type error, cell arg1, cell arg2)
+void factor_vm::general_error(vm_error_type error, cell arg1_, cell arg2_)
 {
 	faulting_p = true;
 
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ void factor_vm::general_error(vm_error_type error, cell arg1, cell arg2)
 	bignum_roots.clear();
 	code_roots.clear();
 
+	data_root<object> arg1(arg1_,this);
+	data_root<object> arg2(arg2_,this);
+
 	/* If we had an underflow or overflow, data or retain stack
 	pointers might be out of bounds, so fix them before allocating
 	anything */
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ void factor_vm::general_error(vm_error_type error, cell arg1, cell arg2)
 
 		/* Now its safe to allocate and GC */
 		cell error_object = allot_array_4(special_objects[OBJ_ERROR],
-			tag_fixnum(error),arg1,arg2);
+			tag_fixnum(error),arg1.value(),arg2.value());
 
 		ctx->push(error_object);
 
@@ -84,8 +87,8 @@ void factor_vm::general_error(vm_error_type error, cell arg1, cell arg2)
 	{
 		std::cout << "You have triggered a bug in Factor. Please report.\n";
 		std::cout << "error: " << error << std::endl;
-		std::cout << "arg 1: "; print_obj(arg1); std::cout << std::endl;
-		std::cout << "arg 2: "; print_obj(arg2); std::cout << std::endl;
+		std::cout << "arg 1: "; print_obj(arg1.value()); std::cout << std::endl;
+		std::cout << "arg 2: "; print_obj(arg2.value()); std::cout << std::endl;
 		factorbug();
 		abort();
 	}