In case you get an error message similar to the following one directly after initialization, it’s pretty sure an issue with your checkfile. Most probably it does not exist – and this is Gaussian’s way of telling you so. In any case, you can use the strace command to see what file is requested by Gaussian. As the output is rather lengthy, this will take some time. But in most cases it is faster then guessing, anyway. If you use strace, please make sure to follow the child processes of Gaussian, as well. On linux, the switch is -f.
FileIO operation on non-existent file. FileIO: IOper= 2 IFilNo(1)=-20502 Len= 100 IPos= 4 Q= 98906272 dumping /fiocom/, unit = 1 NFiles = 14 SizExt = 524288 WInBlk = 512 defal = T LstWrd = 596480 FType=2 FMxFil=10000 Number 0 501 502 598 989 991 992 993 Base 180224 43520 72192 76800 44544 65536 65024 43008 End 596480 44520 76297 76802 64544 72098 65033 43208 End1 596480 44544 76800 77312 65024 72192 65536 43520 Wr Pntr 180224 43520 72192 76800 44544 65536 65024 43008 Rd Pntr 180224 43520 72192 76800 44544 72098 65033 43208 Length 416256 1000 4105 2 20000 6562 9 200 Number 994 995 996 997 998 999 Base 40448 42496 41472 41984 40960 77312 End 40478 42516 41672 42058 41160 179816 End1 40960 43008 41984 42496 41472 180224 Wr Pntr 40448 42496 41472 41984 40960 77312 Rd Pntr 40478 42516 41672 42055 41160 79816 Length 30 20 200 74 200 102504 dumping /fiocom/, unit = 2 NFiles = 1 SizExt = 0 WInBlk = 131072 defal = F LstWrd = 262144 FType=2 FMxFil=10000 Number 0 Base 131072 End 262144 End1 262144 Wr Pntr 131072 Rd Pntr 131072 Length 131072 dumping /fiocom/, unit = 3 NFiles = 1 SizExt = 524288 WInBlk = 512 defal = T LstWrd = 65536 FType=2 FMxFil=10000 Number 0 Base 40448 End 65536 End1 65536 Wr Pntr 40448 Rd Pntr 40448 Length 25088 Error termination in NtrErr: NtrErr Called from FileIO.