diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
index f8b1b1ab5..73dab0b6c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
     }
     
     if (Compaction.TEXT == compaction) {
-      checkCharset(msg,255,"Consider specifying Compaction.AUTO instead of Compaction.TEXT");
+      checkCharset(msg,127,"Consider specifying Compaction.AUTO instead of Compaction.TEXT");
     }
 
     if (encoding == null && !autoECI) {
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
     for (int i = 0; i < input.length(); i++) {
       if (input.charAt(i) > max) {
         throw new WriterException("Non-encodable character detected: " + input.charAt(i) + " (Unicode: " +
-                (int) input.charAt(i) + "). " + errorMessage);
+                (int) input.charAt(i) + ") at position #" + i + " - " + errorMessage);
       }
     } 
   }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417EncoderTestCase.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417EncoderTestCase.java
index e4ded829c..01ef7b5d7 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417EncoderTestCase.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417EncoderTestCase.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import com.google.zxing.EncodeHintType;
 import com.google.zxing.MultiFormatWriter;
 import com.google.zxing.WriterException;
 
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.junit.Assert;
@@ -38,21 +39,27 @@ public final class PDF417EncoderTestCase extends Assert {
   @Test
   public void testEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars() throws Exception {
     // Just check if this does not throw an exception
-    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-        "1%§s ?aG$", Compaction.AUTO, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
-    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-        "日本語", Compaction.AUTO, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
-    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-        "₸ 5555", Compaction.AUTO, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
-    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-        "€ 123,45", Compaction.BYTE, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
-    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-        "123,45", Compaction.TEXT, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("1%§s ?aG$", Compaction.AUTO);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("日本語", Compaction.AUTO);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("₸ 5555", Compaction.AUTO);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("€ 123,45", Compaction.AUTO);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("€ 123,45", Compaction.BYTE);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("123,45", Compaction.TEXT);
+
+    // Greek alphabet
+    Charset cp437 = Charset.forName("IBM437");
+    assertNotNull(cp437);
+    byte[] cp437Array = {(byte) 224,(byte) 225,(byte) 226,(byte) 227,(byte) 228}; //αßΓπΣ
+    String greek = new String(cp437Array, cp437);
+    assertEquals("αßΓπΣ", greek);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars(greek, Compaction.AUTO);
+    checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars(greek, Compaction.BYTE);
+    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(greek, Compaction.AUTO, cp437, true);
+    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(greek, Compaction.AUTO, cp437, false);
     
     try {
       // detect when a TEXT Compaction is applied to a non text input
-      PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(
-              "€ 123,45", Compaction.TEXT, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
+      checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars("€ 123,45", Compaction.TEXT);
     } catch (WriterException e) {
       assertNotNull(e.getMessage());
       assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("8364"));
@@ -60,6 +67,17 @@ public final class PDF417EncoderTestCase extends Assert {
       assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Compaction.AUTO"));
     }
     
+    try {
+      // detect when a TEXT Compaction is applied to a non text input
+      String input = "Hello! " + (char) 128;
+      checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars(input, Compaction.TEXT);
+    } catch (WriterException e) {
+      assertNotNull(e.getMessage());
+      assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("128"));
+      assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Compaction.TEXT"));
+      assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Compaction.AUTO"));
+    }
+
     try {
       // detect when a TEXT Compaction is applied to a non text input
       // https://github.com/zxing/zxing/issues/1761
@@ -79,6 +97,10 @@ public final class PDF417EncoderTestCase extends Assert {
       assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Compaction.AUTO"));
     }
   }
+  
+  public void checkEncodeAutoWithSpecialChars(String input, Compaction compaction) throws Exception {
+    PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(input, compaction, StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
+  }
 
   @Test
   public void testCheckCharset() throws Exception {