Installing J2SE 5.0 breaks Internet Explorer

[Wes Harrison]

After many frustrating hours of detective work I have isolated the cause of
my problems to the installation of J2SE 5.0 (or perhaps just the JRE) on my
Windows XP Professional SP2 machine. The problem is that any link which
opens up a new window now does nothing except create an error on page of "No
such interface supported". When I uninstall Java, everything is fine again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it perhaps a known problem with J2SE
5.0 and XP/IE under certain circumstances?

I haven't tried installing the JDK without the JRE because I need Java in
the browser.

Any help greatly appreciated,

Wes

 

[Bharath]

i have j2se 5.0 and winxp sp2. i also have an internet connection. i
have had no problems using them and i can browse without any problems.
why dont u try j2se1.4 or any other version of jre.

regards

Bharath

 

[Rhino]

After many frustrating hours of detective work I have isolated the cause
of my problems to the installation of J2SE 5.0 (or perhaps just the JRE)
on my Windows XP Professional SP2 machine. The problem is that any link
which opens up a new window now does nothing except create an error on
page of "No such interface supported". When I uninstall Java, everything
is fine again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it perhaps a known problem with J2SE
5.0 and XP/IE under certain circumstances?

I haven't tried installing the JDK without the JRE because I need Java in
the browser.

Any help greatly appreciated,

I'm also running J2SE 5.0 on Windows XP Professional SP2 and I'm not having
any of the problems that you describe, at least I don't _think_ I am. Could
you please describe exactly where you are and what you are doing when you
open these links and get the "No such interface supported" page? I'm not
really clear from your description what the exact scenario is; if you
clarify it for me, I can give it a try here and see what happens.

Rhino

 

[Wes Harrison]

I'm also running J2SE 5.0 on Windows XP Professional SP2 and I'm not
having any of the problems that you describe, at least I don't _think_ I
am. Could you please describe exactly where you are and what you are doing
when you open these links and get the "No such interface supported" page?
I'm not really clear from your description what the exact scenario is; if
you clarify it for me, I can give it a try here and see what happens.

OK, thanks for the reply.

IE was working fine - everything as expected. Then, since installing Java,
ANY link on a web page that actually opens up a new window does absolutely
nothing except wait for about 15 seconds and then put the little icon on the
task bar indicating that there is an error on page. If I double click on
that icon then I get the full error message which is "No such interface
supported". Also, if I try to open a link from within an Outlook Express
email message, nothing happens. So the browser is quite broken. But if I
uninstall Java, everything returns to normal again.

I have just tried installing the JDK without the JRE and there is no problem
except that I don't have Java in the browser (which I need).

Is that enough info? I am not sure what more I can add except that XP was
reinstalled yesterday so it's a fairly fresh installation.

Thanks,

Wes

 

[Wes Harrison]

OK, thanks for the reply.

IE was working fine - everything as expected. Then, since installing
Java, ANY link on a web page that actually opens up a new window does
absolutely nothing except wait for about 15 seconds and then put the
little icon on the task bar indicating that there is an error on page. If
I double click on that icon then I get the full error message which is "No
such interface supported". Also, if I try to open a link from within an
Outlook Express email message, nothing happens. So the browser is quite
broken. But if I uninstall Java, everything returns to normal again.

I have just tried installing the JDK without the JRE and there is no
problem except that I don't have Java in the browser (which I need).

Is that enough info? I am not sure what more I can add except that XP was
reinstalled yesterday so it's a fairly fresh installation.

Oh, and I would add that IE takes forever just to start up and open the home
page: about 5 minutes before the browser appears and it starts to load the
page. This behaviour is also fixed when I uninstall Java.

I have just tried turning off Sun Java in Internet Options but this hasn't
helped.

Thanks,

Wes

 

[Rhino]

So, if you go to any website at any URL at all and that link opens a new
window, you get this problem? The link doesn't have to be pointing at a Java
applet or be in a Java applet or anything like that? I had assumed that you
were omitting some critical aspect of the scenario where the problem took
place, something that involved Java directly in some manner.

When I first read your note, it seemed that the Java you were installing was
a full J2SE that you were putting somewhere in the file system but now, as I
reread your note, these symptoms would make a lot more sense if you're
talking about installing the Java plugin in IE, not a full J2SE in your file
system. Could you please explain which one you mean? It's entirely possible
that you've installed the Java plugin incorrectly and that _might_ explain
this behaviour. But if you have installed a full J2SE in your file system, I
am at a loss to imagine how this behaviour could happen as a result of the
J2SE. If we are talking about the Java plugin, could you please describe how
you installed it? I don't think I've ever installed the Java plugin
directly, at least not for several years: I usually put the code in my HTML
to download the appropriate plugin if it isn't already there; I believe
that's been the preferred approach for several years.

Also, the HTML for the links that cause the problem look like this, right?
<a href="http://www.microsoft.com//index.htm" target="_parent">

I just want to make sure we have the same understanding of what you mean by
a link that opens a new window.

Oh, and I would add that IE takes forever just to start up and open the
home page: about 5 minutes before the browser appears and it starts to
load the page. This behaviour is also fixed when I uninstall Java.

I have just tried turning off Sun Java in Internet Options but this hasn't
helped.

We MUST be talking about installing a Java plugin here, right? It just
doesn't make sense for this problem to be related to the installation of a
J2SE....

Rhino

 

[Wes Harrison]

So, if you go to any website at any URL at all and that link opens a new
window, you get this problem? The link doesn't have to be pointing at a
Java applet or be in a Java applet or anything like that? I had assumed
that you were omitting some critical aspect of the scenario where the
problem took place, something that involved Java directly in some manner.

Yes, any URL that clicking on results in a new window opening up. It
doesn't seem to have to involve Java directly although JavaScript is often
involved. It doesn't have anything to do with applets and as I said later,
opening a link within an email message doesn't work either and it can take
up to 5 mins just to open the browser in the first place.

When I first read your note, it seemed that the Java you were installing
was a full J2SE that you were putting somewhere in the file system but
now, as I reread your note, these symptoms would make a lot more sense if
you're talking about installing the Java plugin in IE, not a full J2SE in
your file system. Could you please explain which one you mean? It's
entirely possible that you've installed the Java plugin incorrectly and
that _might_ explain this behaviour. But if you have installed a full J2SE
in your file system, I am at a loss to imagine how this behaviour could
happen as a result of the J2SE. If we are talking about the Java plugin,
could you please describe how you installed it? I don't think I've ever
installed the Java plugin directly, at least not for several years: I
usually put the code in my HTML to download the appropriate plugin if it
isn't already there; I believe that's been the preferred approach for
several years.

The problem started after I reinstalled XP and then installed the full J2SE
JDK. However, I have since determined that it is only related to the JRE
component so this may be the plugin that you refer to. If I install the
full JDK and then uninstall just the JRE component everything works again.
This is how I am running at the moment as I require the JDK for development.
I also require Java in the browser so I need to get this working.

We MUST be talking about installing a Java plugin here, right? It just
doesn't make sense for this problem to be related to the installation of a
J2SE....

We are talking about installing the full JDK but, as I said, it seems to be
just the plugin component that is the problem. It completely breaks IE; it
becomes unusable. I have never seen this behaviour before, only since
reinstalling XP. I am absolutely certain 100% that Java is the culprit here
or at least the installation of the JRE. I have had this working on XP SP2
before so I simply can't explain it.

Wes

 

[Rhino]

Yes, any URL that clicking on results in a new window opening up. It
doesn't seem to have to involve Java directly although JavaScript is often
involved. It doesn't have anything to do with applets and as I said
later, opening a link within an email message doesn't work either and it
can take up to 5 mins just to open the browser in the first place.


The problem started after I reinstalled XP and then installed the full
J2SE JDK. However, I have since determined that it is only related to the
JRE component so this may be the plugin that you refer to. If I install
the full JDK and then uninstall just the JRE component everything works
again. This is how I am running at the moment as I require the JDK for
development. I also require Java in the browser so I need to get this
working.


We are talking about installing the full JDK but, as I said, it seems to
be just the plugin component that is the problem. It completely breaks
IE; it becomes unusable. I have never seen this behaviour before, only
since reinstalling XP. I am absolutely certain 100% that Java is the
culprit here or at least the installation of the JRE. I have had this
working on XP SP2 before so I simply can't explain it.

Frankly, I'm baffled here. It seems to me that there _has_ to be something
wrong with your explanation, otherwise this doesn't make sense. I'm not
suggesting that you're lying to me deliberately, just that you are
misunderstanding what you're doing in some way.

But you seem very clear that you are talking about a J2SE, not a plugin.
Then again, you don't seem very clear on what the plugin itself is: the
plugin is a special version of a JRE that installs in your browser (or
browser_s_ if you set up the HTML correctly), it is NOT the JRE that comes
with every J2SE. Roedy Green describes the plugin at this URL:
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/javaplugin.html but there's not a lot of detail.
A better place to read about it might be at the Sun site; this is probably
the best place to start: http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/. If you poke
around there, you'll probably find information on how to customize your HTML
so that it loads the plugin appropriately for you in your copy of IE. In any
case, if you ever plan to write applets, you will want to know about the
plug-in, what it does, and how to install it, even if it doesn't help you
with your current problem. (Exception: a lot of people are opting to use
Java WebStart now to run both applets and browsers so if you prefer that
approach, you _don't_ need to know about the plug-in.)

If you are trying to install a full JRE in your browser directly, that could
potentially cause the odd behaviour you're getting. But you seem pretty sure
that you are _NOT_ installing the JRE in the browser, just in your file
system. If that is right, I'm not sure what could be going wrong for you.
I'm 99% sure that it is a problem on your system alone though because I have
a very similar environment and have no problems with IE, Outlook Express, my
other browsers, or any applets I have.

If you don't get anything else useful on this newsgroup, try some of the
others, like comp.lang.java.help or the forums at the Sun site. This URL
takes you to the home page for the forums:
http://developers.sun.com/forums/index.html.

I'm going away for a couple of days and won't be checking email or
newsgroups until I'm back.

Good luck in finding your problem!

Rhino

 

[Wes Harrison]

Frankly, I'm baffled here. It seems to me that there _has_ to be something
wrong with your explanation, otherwise this doesn't make sense. I'm not
suggesting that you're lying to me deliberately, just that you are
misunderstanding what you're doing in some way.

It is quite possible that I am not understanding fully what I am doing but I
have no idea in what way.

But you seem very clear that you are talking about a J2SE, not a plugin.
Then again, you don't seem very clear on what the plugin itself is: the
plugin is a special version of a JRE that installs in your browser (or
browser_s_ if you set up the HTML correctly), it is NOT the JRE that comes
with every J2SE. Roedy Green describes the plugin at this URL:
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/javaplugin.html but there's not a lot of
detail. A better place to read about it might be at the Sun site; this is
probably the best place to start: http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/. If
you poke around there, you'll probably find information on how to
customize your HTML so that it loads the plugin appropriately for you in
your copy of IE. In any case, if you ever plan to write applets, you will
want to know about the plug-in, what it does, and how to install it, even
if it doesn't help you with your current problem. (Exception: a lot of
people are opting to use Java WebStart now to run both applets and
browsers so if you prefer that approach, you _don't_ need to know about
the plug-in.)

OK, I am not referring to the plugin. It's the full JRE.

If you are trying to install a full JRE in your browser directly, that
could potentially cause the odd behaviour you're getting. But you seem
pretty sure that you are _NOT_ installing the JRE in the browser, just in
your file system. If that is right, I'm not sure what could be going wrong
for you. I'm 99% sure that it is a problem on your system alone though
because I have a very similar environment and have no problems with IE,
Outlook Express, my other browsers, or any applets I have.

It's a "standard" installation of the JDK and the JRE, nothing out of the
ordinary. I know that it works in a similar environment because I have had
it working myself under the same OS so I too am completely baffled by this.
But it is serious. IE is completely broken. I have to choose either Java
or IE and I need them both.

If you don't get anything else useful on this newsgroup, try some of the
others, like comp.lang.java.help or the forums at the Sun site. This URL
takes you to the home page for the forums:
http://developers.sun.com/forums/index.html.

I have already tried Experts Exchange with no result. There is a very
similar problem that has a fix from M$ but if that doesn't work then they
suggest you reinstall the OS. I have done that 3 times and everything works
just fine until I install the JRE again.

Good luck in finding your problem!

Thanks, it looks like I am going to need it.

Wes

 

[Wes Harrison]

After many frustrating hours of detective work I have isolated the cause
of my problems to the installation of J2SE 5.0 (or perhaps just the JRE)
on my Windows XP Professional SP2 machine. The problem is that any link
which opens up a new window now does nothing except create an error on
page of "No such interface supported". When I uninstall Java, everything
is fine again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it perhaps a known problem with J2SE
5.0 and XP/IE under certain circumstances?

I haven't tried installing the JDK without the JRE because I need Java in
the browser.

Solved, finally. The problem is being caused by an antispyware program
Webroot SpySweeper which is shielding against ActiveX corruptions in real
time. When I shut it down, the problem goes away. The temporary solution
is to disable this part of the product. Webroot are working on a longer
term solution.

Thanks to all who replied.

Wes