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Some .fchk files wont open in GaussView5.0 (Update)
A couple of weeks ago I posted a solution for a common error regarding .fchk files that will display the error below when opened with GaussView5.0. As I expected, this error has to do with the use of diffuse functions in the basis set and is related to a change of format between Gaussian versions.
CConnectionGFCHK::Parse_GFCHK() Missing or bad data: Alpha Orbital Energies Line Number 1234
Although the method described in the previous post works just fine, the following update is a better approach. Due to a change of spelling between G03 and G09 (which has been corrected for G09 but not available for GV versions prior to 5.0.9) one must change “independent” for “independant”
To make the change directly from the terminal the following command is needed:
sed -i 's/independent/independant/g' file.fchk
Alternatively you can redirect the output to a new file
sed -e 's/independent/independant/g' file.fchk > newfile.fchk
if you want to keep the old version and work with a new one.
Of course this edition can be performed manually with any text editor available (for example if you work in Windows) but solutions from the terminal always seem easier and a lot more fun to me.
Thanks to Dr. Fernando Cortés for sharing his insight into this issue.
If a .fchk file wont open in GaussView5.0
I’ve found the following error regarding the opening of .fchk files in GaussView5.0.
CConnectionGFCHK::Parse_GFCHK() Missing or bad data: Alpha Orbital Energies Line Number 1234
The error is prevented to a first approximation (i.e. it at least will allow GV to open and visualize the file but other issues may arise) by opening the file and modifying the number of basis functions to equal the number of independent functions (which is lower)
FILE HEADER FOpt RM062X 6-311++G(d,p) Number of atoms I 75 Info1-9 I N= 9 163 163 0 0 0 110 2 18 -502 Charge I 0 Multiplicity I 1 Number of electrons I 314 Number of alpha electrons I 157 Number of beta electrons I 157 Number of basis functions I 1199 Number of independent functions I 1199 Number of point charges in /Mol/ I 0 Number of translation vectors I 0 Atomic numbers I N= 75 ... ... ... ...
Once both numbers match you can open the file normally and work with it. My guess is this will continue to happen with highly polarized basis sets but I need to run some tests.
