Index: dbfile.scm
==================================================================
--- dbfile.scm
+++ dbfile.scm
@@ -1305,34 +1305,45 @@
 (define (dbfile:simple-file-lock fname #!key (expire-time 300))
   (let ((fmod-time (handle-exceptions
 		       ext
 		     (current-seconds)
 		     (file-modification-time fname))))
+
+    ;; if the file exists, if it has expired, delete it and call this function recursively.
     (if (file-exists? fname)
 	(if (> (- (current-seconds) fmod-time) expire-time)
 	    (begin
+              (dbfile:print-err "simple-file-lock: removing expired file: " fname)
 	      (handle-exceptions exn #f (delete-file* fname))	
 	      (dbfile:simple-file-lock fname expire-time: expire-time))
-	    #f)
-	(let ((key-string (conc (get-host-name) "-" (current-process-id)))
+	    #f
+        )
+
+        ;; If it doesn't exist, write the host name and process id to the file
+	(let ((key-string (conc (get-host-name) "-" (current-process-id) ": " (argv)))
 	      (oup        (open-output-file fname)))
 	  (with-output-to-port
 	      oup
 	    (lambda ()
 	      (print key-string)))
 	  (close-output-port oup)
-	  #;(with-output-to-file fname ;; bizarre. with-output-to-file does not seem to be cleaning up after itself.
-	    (lambda ()
-	  (print key-string)))
+
+
+          ;; sleep 3 seconds and make sure it still exists and contains the same host/process id.
+          ;; if not, return #f
 	  (thread-sleep! 0.25)
 	  (if (file-exists? fname)
 	      (handle-exceptions exn
                 #f 
                 (with-input-from-file fname
 	  	  (lambda ()
 		    (equal? key-string (read-line)))))
-	      #f)
+              (begin
+                 (dbfile:print-err "dbfile:simple-file-lock created " fname " but it was gone 3 seconds later")
+	         #f
+              )
+          )
        )
     )
   )
 )
 
@@ -1352,21 +1363,26 @@
       exn
       #f ;; I don't really care why this failed (at least for now)
     (delete-file* fname)))
 
 (define (dbfile:with-simple-file-lock fname proc #!key (expire-time 300))
-  (let ((gotlock (dbfile:simple-file-lock-and-wait fname expire-time: expire-time)))
+  (let ((start-time (current-seconds))
+        (gotlock (dbfile:simple-file-lock-and-wait fname expire-time: expire-time))
+        (end-time (current-seconds))
+        )
     (if gotlock
 	(let ((res (proc)))
 	  (dbfile:simple-file-release-lock fname)
 	  res)
         (begin
           (dbfile:print-err "dbfile:with-simple-file-lock: " fname " is locked by " )
           (with-input-from-file fname
              (lambda ()
                 (dbfile:print-err (read-line))))
-	  (assert #f (conc "ERROR: simple file lock could not get a lock for " fname " in " expire-time " seconds"))
+          (dbfile:print-err "wait time = " (- end-time start-time))
+	  (dbfile:print-err "ERROR: simple file lock could not get a lock for " fname " in " expire-time " seconds")
+          #f
         )
     )
   )
 )
 

Index: tcp-transportmod.scm
==================================================================
--- tcp-transportmod.scm
+++ tcp-transportmod.scm
@@ -604,14 +604,14 @@
   (let* ((dbfname  (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id))
 	 (load     (get-normalized-cpu-load))
 	 (nrun     (number-of-processes-running (conc "mtest.*server.*"testsuite".*"dbfname))))
     (cond
      ((> load 2.0)
-      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Normalized load "load" is over the limit of 2.0. Not starting a server.")
+      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Normalized load "load" on " (get-host-name) " is over the limit of 2.0. Not starting a server.")
       (thread-sleep! 1))
      ((> nrun 100)
-      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* nrun" servers running on this host, not starting another.")
+      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* nrun" servers running on " (get-host-name) ", not starting another.")
       (thread-sleep! 1))
      (else
       (if (not (file-exists? (conc areapath"/logs")))
 	      (create-directory (conc areapath"/logs") #t))
 	  (let* ((logfile   (conc areapath "/logs/server-"dbfname"-"(current-process-id)".log")) ;; -" curr-pid "-" target-host ".log"))