Thank you so much for replying. The data set I used for this particular output has 600 entries. The original had 1657 lines so I've already reduced it considerably. Here is a copy of the entire output with lme4 package information:
> substrate=read.csv(file.choose(),header=T) > attach(substrate) > library(lme4) Loading required package: Matrix Loading required package: lattice Attaching package: 'Matrix' The following object(s) are masked from package:stats : contr.helmert, contr.poly, contr.SAS, contr.sum, contr.treatment, xtabs The following object(s) are masked from package:base : rcond > model1=lmer(totalcfus~habitat*temp*moisture*light+location+(1|habitat/colony/location),family=poisson,control=list(msVerbose=1)) 0: 553377.59: 1.00573 0.620530 0.169516 26.3904 -13.1266 -33.2286 -21.1955 -21.1064 -0.590761 -0.217403 -0.0342272 -0.960593 -0.0962517 0.441626 1.20575 0.718621 0.680580 0.171006 0.403729 0.278822 0.275395 0.00707767 0.0225599 0.0854869 0.0533373 0.0243451 0.00114120 0.000403226 -0.00566960 -0.0143715 -0.00931896 -0.00879323 -0.000753236 -0.00335745 -0.00178054 -0.000788027 -0.000288944 -0.000909455 -0.000839295 -0.000309293 -1.35885e-05 9.76120e-06 3.57035e-05 2.78985e-05 1.01880e-05 CHOLMOD warning: %h Error in mer_finalize(ans) : Cholmod error `not positive definite' at file:../Cholesky/t_cholmod_rowfac.c, line 432 I was actually curious if there was another version of lme4 I could use. I use a mac laptop that is about 6 years old and runs on the Tiger OS 10.4.11. I found another version of lme4 that would not work on my operating system. I had a feeling singularities might be my problem, but had run out of ideas for eliminating them without losing the majority of my data set. I also have not determined how to correctly enter year into the model, and I feel that may be important. I have nests I sampled multiple years that may also be causing problems. I greatly appreciate any advice you can give me. Cheers, Marielle On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 11:24 AM, Douglas Bates <ba...@stat.wisc.edu> wrote: > On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 1:03 PM, postava-davig.m > <postava-davi...@husky.neu.edu> wrote: > > > > Hello, > > > I have been attempting to run a poisson glmm using lme4 for some time now > > and have had a lot of trouble. I would say 9 times out of 10 I receive > the > > following warning: > > > CHOLMOD warning: %h > > Error in mer_finalize(ans) : > > Cholmod error `not positive definite' at > > file:../Cholesky/t_cholmod_rowfac.c, line 432 > > That is an (admittedly obscure) indication that the Cholesky > factorization of a matrix derived from the random-effects model matrix > cannot be performed. > > > My data are counts of microbe colony forming units (CFUs) collected from > > termite cuticles and the surrounding environment over a 3 year period. I > am > > attempting to analyze the effect of several factors on these counts > (termite > > nest volume, temperature, humidity, light, incubation temperature, > habitat, > > year, sample location, etc.) to determine which account for the variance > in > > microbial communities. These data are observations, so there are many > > missing values....which may be part of the problem. I've tried many > > different combinations of variables, and also have tried reducing my data > > set to remove as many NA's and confounding variables as possible, but I > > still can't get any models to work consistently. One most recent attempt > > had the following output: > > > > model1=lmer(totalcfus~habitat*temp*moisture*light+location+(1|habitat/colony/location),family=poisson,control=list(msVerbose=1)) > > 0: 553377.59: 1.00573 0.620530 0.169516 26.3904 -13.1266 -33.2286 > > -21.1955 -21.1064 -0.590761 -0.217403 -0.0342272 -0.960593 -0.0962517 > > 0.441626 1.20575 0.718621 0.680580 0.171006 0.403729 0.278822 0.275395 > > 0.00707767 0.0225599 0.0854869 0.0533373 0.0243451 0.00114120 0.000403226 > > -0.00566960 -0.0143715 -0.00931896 -0.00879323 -0.000753236 -0.00335745 > > -0.00178054 -0.000788027 -0.000288944 -0.000909455 -0.000839295 > -0.000309293 > > -1.35885e-05 9.76120e-06 3.57035e-05 2.78985e-05 1.01880e-05 > > CHOLMOD warning: %h > > Error in mer_finalize(ans) : > > Cholmod error `not positive definite' at > > file:../Cholesky/t_cholmod_rowfac.c, line 432 > > Thank you for including the output from verbose = TRUE. It would also > help if you included the output from sessionInfo() so we can see which > version of R you are using and which version of the lme4 package you > are using. > > How many observations are used in this fit? As you can see, the > number of parameters being fit is very large and encountering > singularities is not unexpected. > > May I suggest that we move this discussion to the > r-sig-mixed-mod...@r-project.org mailing list, which I have cc:d on > this reply? That list is specifically intended for discussions of > this type. > > I have to admit that I'm at a loss, and have been unable to determine any > > pattern to when this error message comes up. I'm hoping that someone can > > help me eek out what the issue is with my data so that I can eventually > work > > out a usable model. > > > > Thanks so much, and happy holidays. > > -- > > View this message in context: > http://n4.nabble.com/Multiple-CHOLMOD-errors-when-attempting-poisson-glmm-tp978573p978573.html > > Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > > ______________________________________________ > > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > > PLEASE do read the posting guide > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.