Thanks for your reply. My file search is set to "deep". I don't know what relative refs vs absolute refs means. I also have no experience with a text editor. However when things are working properly the M4 texture is 10 levels deep when I look up the texture file in the material room. Other textures are only 6 to 8 levels deep. Could it be that the DAZ file system has too many levels and it's harder to find the textures?  As I mentioned before, it doesn't happen all the time, just randomly.
Lance