System hangs while running java apps

[Dan Shield]

First of all, if I'm not in the right newsgroup my apologies. I didn't know
where to start.

I've got a Compaq Presario with a 1.5 GHz P4 and 256 Meg RAM. Several
months ago, java apps started experiencing episodes where the would stop
responding for several minutes, and then continue on, only to repeat the
behavior several minutes later.

I first ran the spyware/adware utilities, and nothing out of the ordinary
showed up. I finally decided to reinstall the base os (XP). Did that, and
immediately updated to SP2. Same problem. Updated audio and video drivers.
Same problem. Updated the BIOS. Same problem. Replaced the sound card.
Same problem.

Now the kicker. I rebooted with a bootable Linux distro, downloaded and
installed the latest java version, configured FireFox w/ the plugin, and ran
one of the offending java apps. SAME PROBLEM!

It appears to be a hardware problem, since the OS and associated drivers are
completely different, but I have no idea what could be going on. Has anyone
seen this before, or have any ideas as to what could be going on?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Paul Lutus]

First of all, if I'm not in the right newsgroup my apologies. I didn't
know where to start.

I've got a Compaq Presario with a 1.5 GHz P4 and 256 Meg RAM. Several
months ago, java apps started experiencing episodes where the would stop
responding for several minutes, and then continue on, only to repeat the
behavior several minutes later.

I first ran the spyware/adware utilities, and nothing out of the ordinary
showed up. I finally decided to reinstall the base os (XP). Did that,
and
immediately updated to SP2. Same problem. Updated audio and video
drivers.
Same problem. Updated the BIOS. Same problem. Replaced the sound card.
Same problem.

Now the kicker. I rebooted with a bootable Linux distro, downloaded and
installed the latest java version, configured FireFox w/ the plugin, and
ran
one of the offending java apps. SAME PROBLEM!

It appears to be a hardware problem, since the OS and associated drivers
are
completely different, but I have no idea what could be going on. Has
anyone seen this before, or have any ideas as to what could be going on?

Yes, I know exactly what is going on, but only in a negative sense. It is
not a Java problem, nor does it have anything to do with your operating
system (you eliminated that possibility by replacing it).

Wrong newsgroup.

 

[Chris Uppal]

Now the kicker. I rebooted with a bootable Linux distro, downloaded and
installed the latest java version, configured FireFox w/ the plugin, and
ran one of the offending java apps. SAME PROBLEM!

Is it only Java apps that exhibit this problem ? Are you using Sun's JVMs on
both OSes ?

It appears to be a hardware problem, since the OS and associated drivers
are completely different, but I have no idea what could be going on. Has
anyone seen this before, or have any ideas as to what could be going on?

Pure speculation (assuming "yes" to the above questions): the Java runtime code
generation is producing code sequences, or patterns of memory access, that
expose a flaw in your machine. But that's only a guess as to why it /only/
shows up with Java apps, the problem (whatever it is) is clearly hardware, as
you've said.

It may be that some soak test utility, or low-level diagnostic program, could
identify the fault. But it sounds to me as if your options are either to
repair/replace the machine (or broken bit thereof), or to give up running Java
applications on it.

-- chris

 

[Dan Shield]

Still working on the problem, but it seems that it isn't only java apps.
PCMark04
has inconsistant results for all the tests, I've just never seen the problem
in other
apps before.

Thanks for not flaming me.

Dan