convergence in abaqus is a frequent problem in abaqus. It can be due to contact, time step, convergence criteria etc. It is hard to say where is the problem from your model description. You have to look into the message and status files.
By the way, there is a abaqus user mailing on yahoo.
Anh...
to make an inp file only when you create a job, choose option "data check" in a dialog form. after creating a job, submit it. abaqus cae will check your model and generate a inp only.
hope that will answer your problem.