Would someone have a link for this it? both appear to be down. thank you!

Yeah, great suggestion. I was thinking the same thing. I reinstalled CB 16 same issue. I also installed CB 17 and 15. Still had the same issue. Its baffling.

Fritz says we are using 32 threads and I am getting good nodes. CB 16 says its using 32 threads the nodes look ok but it keeps freezing

No issues at all. I can use any engine with less than max threads, and its smooth. However, as of a few days ago I could use max threads on ChessBase without issue. I still can use max threads in fritz 17