OK - i've checked with gfix -v -f (nothing came up at all so not quite
sure whether that is supposed to happen but i'm assuming that is a
good sign) - Gbak is not set to run at all and we don't use the copy
function either - I don't believe we have installed any UDF's so not
that either.

The DB dies every couple of days and is then picked up by the guardian
- You suggested perhaps DB locking or something similar being the
cause... Will have to look down that route...