[gmx-users] Unexplained crashes with Gromacs-4.0

David van der Spoel spoel at xray.bmc.uu.se
Tue Oct 14 13:40:34 CEST 2008


Justin A. Lemkul wrote:
> 
> 
> Berk Hess wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I don't really know what could be the problem here.
>>
>> 0..180 is (confusingly) not including the end, so 180 is out of range.
>>
>> The only thing I can think of (except for unknown bugs of coarse),
>> is that I corrected the coupling time of the Parrinello-Rahman barostat
>> when going from 4.0 RC4 to the official 4.0 release.
>> I guess all your old simulations were with older Gromacs releases.
>> So to get the same coupling as before, so would need to multiply tau_t 
>> by 16.6.
>> I don't know if this would help.
> 
> I did see this same error under RC2, but noticed that you fixed this bug 
> shortly after I saw it, and that's what I assumed it was.  But now I 
> have seen it under the official 4.0 release.
> 
>>
>> You did not get pressure coupling warnings before the crash?
>>
> 
> There are no messages printed before this error pops up.  What's really 
> confusing is that if I simply try the same .tpr file again, it runs 
> without a problem.  I know that's not terribly scientific, but it seemed 
> odd to me that my systems running for 40+ ns suddenly had a problem.
> 
> Is there any diagnostic information I can provide?  This problem seems 
> like it would be elusive, since even I can't fully reproduce it.

That sounds like hardware problems, unless you use dynamic load 
balancing which depends on timings and hence may make runs irreproducible.

> 
> -Justin
> 
>> Berk
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:55:20 -0400
>>  > From: jalemkul at vt.edu
>>  > To: gmx-users at gromacs.org
>>  > Subject: [gmx-users] Unexplained crashes with Gromacs-4.0
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > Hi,
>>  >
>>  > I've gotten the following error with two of my simulation systems. 
>> Usually this
>>  > weird "variable ci" error means the system is unstable, and I've 
>> seen it before
>>  > when I've done a poor job of equilibrating. But now I'm seeing it a 
>> long time
>>  > into my simulations (after 48 ns in one case, 60 ns in the other). 
>> If I simply
>>  > re-submit the job, it runs fine. The error shown is as follows:
>>  >
>>  > -------------------------------------------------------
>>  > Program mdrun_4.0_mpi, VERSION 4.0
>>  > Source code file: nsgrid.c, line: 357
>>  >
>>  > Range checking error:
>>  > Explanation: During neighborsearching, we assign each particle to a 
>> grid
>>  > based on its coordinates. If your system contains collisions or 
>> parameter
>>  > errors that give particles very high velocities you might end up 
>> with some
>>  > coordinates being +-Infinity or NaN (not-a-number). Obviously, we 
>> cannot
>>  > put these on a grid, so this is usually where we detect those errors.
>>  > Make sure your system is properly energy-minimized and that the 
>> potential
>>  > energy seems reasonable before trying again.
>>  >
>>  > Variable ci has value 180. It should have been within [ 0 .. 180 ]
>>  >
>>  > -------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > It seems to me that this "ci" variable is still within the range of 
>> 0->180, if
>>  > those values are inclusive.
>>  >
>>  > My .mdp file is as follows:
>>  >
>>  > title = NPT simulation for a membrane protein
>>  > ; Run parameters
>>  > integrator = md
>>  > dt = 0.002
>>  > nsteps = 5000000 ; 10000 ps (10 ns)
>>  > tinit = 40000
>>  > nstcomm = 1
>>  > ; Output parameters
>>  > nstxout = 50000 ; every 100 ps
>>  > nstvout = 50000
>>  > nstfout = 50000
>>  > nstlog = 5000 ; every 10 ps
>>  > nstenergy = 5000
>>  > nstxtcout = 5000
>>  > ; Bond parameters
>>  > constraint_algorithm = lincs
>>  > constraints = all-bonds
>>  > continuation = yes
>>  > ; Cut-off's and neighborsearching
>>  > nstlist = 5
>>  > ns_type = grid
>>  > rlist = 1.2
>>  > rcoulomb = 1.2
>>  > rvdw = 1.2
>>  > ; PME electrostatics parameters
>>  > coulombtype = PME
>>  > fourierspacing = 0.18
>>  > ;fourier_nx = 0
>>  > ;fourier_ny = 0
>>  > ;fourier_nz = 0
>>  > pme_order = 4
>>  > ewald_rtol = 1e-5
>>  > optimize_fft = yes
>>  > ; Berendsen temperature coupling is on in three groups
>>  > Tcoupl = Nose-Hoover
>>  > tc_grps = Protein POPC SOL_NA+_CL-
>>  > tau_t = 0.1 0.1 0.1
>>  > ref_t = 310 310 310
>>  > ; Pressure coupling is not on
>>  > Pcoupl = Parrinello-Rahman
>>  > pcoupltype = semiisotropic
>>  > tau_p = 2.0
>>  > compressibility = 4.5e-5 4.5e-5
>>  > ref_p = 1.0 1.0
>>  > ; Generate velocities is off
>>  > gen_vel = no
>>  > gen_temp = 310
>>  > gen_seed = 7041776
>>  > ; Periodic boundary conditions are on in all directions
>>  > pbc = xyz
>>  > ; Long-range dispersion correction
>>  > DispCorr = EnerPres
>>  >
>>  > Any ideas what's going on?
>>  >
>>  > Thanks,
>>  > Justin
>>  >
>>  > --
>>  > ========================================
>>  >
>>  > Justin A. Lemkul
>>  > Graduate Research Assistant
>>  > Department of Biochemistry
>>  > Virginia Tech
>>  > Blacksburg, VA
>>  > jalemkul[at]vt.edu | (540) 231-9080
>>  > http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin
>>  >
>>  > ========================================
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-- 
David van der Spoel, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Molec. Biophys. group, Dept. of Cell & Molec. Biol., Uppsala University.
Box 596, 75124 Uppsala, Sweden. Phone:	+46184714205. Fax: +4618511755.
spoel at xray.bmc.uu.se	spoel at gromacs.org   http://folding.bmc.uu.se



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