diff --git a/code/IO.f90 b/code/IO.f90
index 7d059bd50..8fb325149 100644
--- a/code/IO.f90
+++ b/code/IO.f90
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ subroutine IO_open_inputFile(myUnit,model)
 
  integer(pInt)                  :: myStat
  character(len=1024)            :: path
- character(len=4), parameter    :: InputFileExtension2 = '.pes'
+ character(len=4)               :: InputFileExtension2 = '.pes'
  
 #ifdef Abaqus
  path = trim(getSolverWorkingDirectoryName())//trim(model)//InputFileExtension2          ! attempt .pes, if it exists: it should be used
diff --git a/code/homogenization_RGC.f90 b/code/homogenization_RGC.f90
index 1e0c32c73..dbce8d2fd 100644
--- a/code/homogenization_RGC.f90
+++ b/code/homogenization_RGC.f90
@@ -384,6 +384,11 @@ function homogenization_RGC_updateState(&
 !
  real(pReal), dimension(:,:), allocatable :: tract,jmatrix,jnverse,smatrix,pmatrix,rmatrix
  real(pReal), dimension(:), allocatable   :: resid,relax,p_relax,p_resid,drelax
+ 
+ if (dt==0.0_pReal) then                             ! no need to do anything if time increment is zero (thgis is usually the first call in FEM)
+   homogenization_RGC_updateState = .true.           ! pretend everything is fine
+   return
+ endif
 
 !* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !*** Initialization of RGC update state calculation