diff --git a/grp/simple.gd b/grp/simple.gd
index c6b1c556a7..0dc0bd1008 100644
--- a/grp/simple.gd
+++ b/grp/simple.gd
@@ -76,8 +76,9 @@ DeclareGlobalFunction("EpimorphismFromClassical");
 ##
 ##  <Description>
 ##  This function returns an iterator that will run over all nonabelian simple groups, starting
-##  at order <A>start</A> if specified, up to order <M>10^{27}</M> (or -- if specified
-##  -- order <A>end</A>). If the option <A>NOPSL2</A> is given, groups of type
+##  at order <A>start</A> if specified, and stopping at order <A>end</A> if specified.
+##  Only orders up to <M>10^{27}</M> are available. Attempting to iterate beyond that
+##  results in an error. If the option <A>NOPSL2</A> is given, groups of type
 ##  <M>PSL_2(q)</M> are omitted.
 ##  <Example><![CDATA[
 ##  gap> it:=SimpleGroupsIterator(20000);
diff --git a/grp/simple.gi b/grp/simple.gi
index babad7ffd6..d1f9fab036 100644
--- a/grp/simple.gi
+++ b/grp/simple.gi
@@ -787,6 +787,19 @@ InstallGlobalFunction(SimpleGroupsIterator,function(arg)
   fi;
   nopsl2:=ValueOption("NOPSL2")=true or ValueOption("nopsl2")=true;
 
+  # The non-L2 orders come in two lists, the second loaded on demand.
+  # We do so early, so that a `start' beyond the data is rejected at
+  # once rather than after searching for it.
+  pos:=PositionProperty(SIMPLEGPSNONL2,x->x[1]>=start);
+  if pos=fail then
+    LOADSIMPLE2();
+    pos:=PositionProperty(SIMPLEGPSNONL2,x->x[1]>=start);
+    if pos=fail then
+      Error("simple groups of order > ",SIMPLE_GROUPS_ITERATOR_RANGE,
+        " are not available");
+    fi;
+  fi;
+
   # find relevant L2 order
   a:=RootInt(start,3)-1;
   stack:=fail;
@@ -796,8 +809,6 @@ InstallGlobalFunction(SimpleGroupsIterator,function(arg)
     stack:=a[3];
     a:=a[2];
   until SizeL2Q(b)>=start;
-  if start>=10^18 then LOADSIMPLE2(); fi;
-  pos:=First([1..Length(SIMPLEGPSNONL2)],x->SIMPLEGPSNONL2[x][1]>=start);
   return IteratorByFunctions(rec(
     IsDoneIterator:=IsDoneIterator_SimGp,
     NextIterator:=NextIterator_SimGp,
diff --git a/tst/testbugfix/2026-08-15-SimpleGroupsIterator.tst b/tst/testbugfix/2026-08-15-SimpleGroupsIterator.tst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37d5cf4362
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tst/testbugfix/2026-08-15-SimpleGroupsIterator.tst
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# The orders of the non-PSL(2,q) simple groups come in two lists, the second
+# loaded on demand. `SimpleGroupsIterator' asked for it when `start' reached
+# 10^18, but the first list ends at 911215823217986880; in between nothing was
+# loaded, `pos' stayed `fail', and building the iterator broke on indexing the
+# list with it.
+gap> it := SimpleGroupsIterator(10^18-1, 10^18-1);;
+gap> IsDoneIterator(it);
+true
+gap> it := SimpleGroupsIterator(10^18-1, 11*10^17 : NOPSL2);;
+gap> l := [];; for g in it do Add(l, g); od;
+gap> List(l, Size);
+[ 1053927211015007280 ]
+
+# An order beyond the data is rejected when the iterator is built, before the
+# search for the PSL(2,q) order to start from.
+gap> SimpleGroupsIterator(10^28, 10^28);
+Error, simple groups of order > 1000000000000000000000000000 are not available