Startup problem with Java 1.6

[Rene Grothmann]

In another thread, I posted a problem about my specific computer with
a delay after the start of Java applications. During the delay, there
is no disk activity. It just looks, as if Java is doing some
computations, or some connection somewhere. The delay is between 5 and
10 seconds. The same delay happens in each page, containing a Java
applet.

It seems, the delay happens only at larger applets or applications,
packaged as jar files. These applications are my own applications, and
I have packaged them myself. However, I tried also other applications,
and had the same problems.

I am using Java 1.6 Update 14 on Windows XP. For a try, I installed
jre 1.5 Update 10. There, the application starts immediately.

Has anyone any idea, what could cause this?

 

[Rene Grothmann]

I also tried Java 1.7.0, but it shows that same delay.

 

[Roedy Green]

It seems, the delay happens only at larger applets or applications,
packaged as jar files. These applications are my own applications, and
I have packaged them myself. However, I tried also other applications,
and had the same problems.

You can snoop with Wireshark. See
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/wireshark.html

You can try replacing the domain name with the IP. If it speeds up,
the problem is in your DNS lookup.

You can try a complete uninstall/reinstall. See
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jdk.html
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The industrial civilisation is based on the consumption of energy resources that are inherently limited in quantity, and that are about to become scarce. When they do, competition for what remains will trigger dramatic economic and geopolitical events; in the end, it may be impossible for even a single nation to sustain industrialism as we have know it in the twentieth century."
~ Richard Heinberg, The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies

 

[Rene Grothmann]

Which domain name should I replace with IP when starting a local Java
application?

For applets, I could try your suggestion. But it is certain not to
help. The simple fact is, that Java does NOTHING for about 8 seconds,
before it starts downloading the Java applet archive, which it
indicates with a progress bar. Well, actually, it might contact some
overloaded server for something. So your sniffer suggestion is an
idea. But I would be rather disappointed, if Java halts on any applet
page for several seconds, just to phone home. Actually, I do not
believe in this.

I rather believe in some bug in Java on XP. There is one similar bug
filed on java.sun,com, but from the description, it does not fit into
my category, since it is experienced AFTER the jar is loaded from the
net.

By the way, if you want to try the applet in question, go to

http://zirkel.sourceforge.net/doc_en/Data/Applications/Conic Sections/Ellipse.html

or try any other of the geometric applets there (with the link on
top). The program archive is rather long, but loads only once. The
delay is in front of the loading. When I open another of these pages,
I have to stare at an empty applet space for about 7-8 seconds.

Rene Grothmann

 

[Knute Johnson]

Which domain name should I replace with IP when starting a local Java
application?

For applets, I could try your suggestion. But it is certain not to
help. The simple fact is, that Java does NOTHING for about 8 seconds,
before it starts downloading the Java applet archive, which it
indicates with a progress bar. Well, actually, it might contact some
overloaded server for something. So your sniffer suggestion is an
idea. But I would be rather disappointed, if Java halts on any applet
page for several seconds, just to phone home. Actually, I do not
believe in this.

I rather believe in some bug in Java on XP. There is one similar bug
filed on java.sun,com, but from the description, it does not fit into
my category, since it is experienced AFTER the jar is loaded from the
net.

By the way, if you want to try the applet in question, go to

http://zirkel.sourceforge.net/doc_en/Data/Applications/Conic Sections/Ellipse.html

or try any other of the geometric applets there (with the link on
top). The program archive is rather long, but loads only once. The
delay is in front of the loading. When I open another of these pages,
I have to stare at an empty applet space for about 7-8 seconds.

Rene Grothmann

I'm running XPSP3 and 1.6.0_14 and I don't see the delay. Could it be
that your computer is really slow?

 

[markspace]

Well, actually, it might contact some
overloaded server for something.

Yes, you should be able to deploy this locally and test it. Got to
separate the network from the rest of the system. Debugging is all
about divide and conquer.

> I rather believe in some bug in Java on XP. There is one similar bug
filed on java.sun,com, but from the description, it does not fit into
my category, since it is experienced AFTER the jar is loaded from the
net.

When was the last time you did a thorough virus scan of your system?

Like Knute, the app seems fine for me. After the initial download
period, it loads instantly when I close and refresh the page. I
couldn't say there was an 8 second delay before the initial download
either, more like immediately after the html finished rendering.

When I open another of these pages,
I have to stare at an empty applet space for about 7-8 seconds.

Less than two seconds for me when I switch pages. Although I see a NPE
on the console. Also, the app you posted a link to responds very oddly
to scrolls (mouse wheel) events.

Exception in thread "Thread-26" java.lang.NullPointerException
at rene.zirkel.ZirkelCanvas.paint(ZirkelCanvas.java:642)
at rene.zirkel.tools.ObjectTracker.animate(ObjectTracker.java:344)
at rene.zirkel.tools.ObjectTracker.run(ObjectTracker.java:388)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

 

[Knute Johnson]

Yes, you should be able to deploy this locally and test it. Got to
separate the network from the rest of the system. Debugging is all
about divide and conquer.




When was the last time you did a thorough virus scan of your system?

Like Knute, the app seems fine for me. After the initial download
period, it loads instantly when I close and refresh the page. I
couldn't say there was an 8 second delay before the initial download
either, more like immediately after the html finished rendering.




Less than two seconds for me when I switch pages. Although I see a NPE
on the console. Also, the app you posted a link to responds very oddly
to scrolls (mouse wheel) events.

Exception in thread "Thread-26" java.lang.NullPointerException
at rene.zirkel.ZirkelCanvas.paint(ZirkelCanvas.java:642)
at rene.zirkel.tools.ObjectTracker.animate(ObjectTracker.java:344)
at rene.zirkel.tools.ObjectTracker.run(ObjectTracker.java:388)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

I wonder if he might have some sort of DNS problem? 8 seconds is a
little fast but it could be something along those lines.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

Which domain name should I replace with IP when starting a local Java
application?

For applets, I could try your suggestion. But it is certain not to
help. The simple fact is, that Java does NOTHING for about 8 seconds,
before it starts downloading the Java applet archive, which it
indicates with a progress bar. Well, actually, it might contact some
overloaded server for something. So your sniffer suggestion is an
idea. But I would be rather disappointed, if Java halts on any applet
page for several seconds, just to phone home. Actually, I do not
believe in this.

I rather believe in some bug in Java on XP. There is one similar bug
filed on java.sun,com, but from the description, it does not fit into
my category, since it is experienced AFTER the jar is loaded from the
net.

By the way, if you want to try the applet in question, go to

http://zirkel.sourceforge.net/doc_en/Data/Applications/Conic Sections/Ellipse.html

or try any other of the geometric applets there (with the link on
top). The program archive is rather long, but loads only once. The
delay is in front of the loading. When I open another of these pages,
I have to stare at an empty applet space for about 7-8 seconds.

I just tried it also on XP.

It does seem a bit slow, but the jar file is 2.1 MB.

Starting the JVM, download 2.1 MB, load a lot of files - it
takes some time.

Arne

 

[Lew]

I just tried it also on XP.

It does seem a bit slow, but the jar file is 2.1 MB.

Starting the JVM, download 2.1 MB, load a lot of files - it
takes some time.

I just tried it with Firefox 3 on Ubuntu 8.04. It behaved erratically, taking
about 10 seconds or so to start the first time I navigated to the page. After
that, it depending on mouse actions - I timed 45 seconds with nothing but grey
rectangle where the applet was, then hit F5/refresh and it came right up.
Other attempts had varied results.

 

[Roedy Green]

Which domain name should I replace with IP when starting a local Java
application?

This would only apply to a Applet loaded over the net if your Applet
tag contained an archive="http://somedomain.com...
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The industrial civilisation is based on the consumption of energy resources that are inherently limited in quantity, and that are about to become scarce. When they do, competition for what remains will trigger dramatic economic and geopolitical events; in the end, it may be impossible for even a single nation to sustain industrialism as we have know it in the twentieth century."
~ Richard Heinberg, The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies

 

[Roedy Green]

By the way, if you want to try the applet in question, go to

http://zirkel.sourceforge.net/doc_en/Data/Applications/Conic Sections/Ellipse.html

When I loaded it, it seemed to take an unusually long time to start,
but during the delay it said "loading applet".

How fat is your jar? Are you doing some extensive initialisation?

By any chance do you know Paula Zirkel?
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com

"The industrial civilisation is based on the consumption of energy resources that are inherently limited in quantity, and that are about to become scarce. When they do, competition for what remains will trigger dramatic economic and geopolitical events; in the end, it may be impossible for even a single nation to sustain industrialism as we have know it in the twentieth century."
~ Richard Heinberg, The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies

 

[Rene Grothmann]

Thanks for all the replies.

I could not do anything about the delay, nor find its reason. Just to
make sure, here is what happens:

When I go to the above page, it takes several seconds doing nothing,
then it suddenly starts the applet, which runs smoothly. The same
thing happens each time I go to an applet page. The archive is already
loaded, or else it would display the loading progress bar. The data,
which the applet loads, are rather small, and are loaded immediately.

It is just so, that Java seems to take some time, before it starts any
action.

Strange.

Virusses: I checked my system. It is OK. Java is the only application
with this behavior. I would exclude that option.

DNS problems: I am using the computer in different networks. Moreover,
this would be obvious in all the net activity I do, like posting here.
Moreover, Java takes the same time, if it started without any active
net connection.

Debugging: I cannot debug Java before it has started my application.
And the delay is before that point.

Graphics Driver: Noone had that idea. But there might be
incompatibilities. I will try to re-install my driver. Maybe it helps.

 

[John B. Matthews]

Thanks for all the replies.

I could not do anything about the delay, nor find its reason. Just to
make sure, here is what happens:

When I go to the above page, it takes several seconds doing nothing,
then it suddenly starts the applet, which runs smoothly. The same
thing happens each time I go to an applet page. The archive is
already loaded, or else it would display the loading progress bar.
The data, which the applet loads, are rather small, and are loaded
immediately.

It is just so, that Java seems to take some time, before it starts
any action.

Strange.

Virusses: I checked my system. It is OK. Java is the only application
with this behavior. I would exclude that option.

DNS problems: I am using the computer in different networks.
Moreover, this would be obvious in all the net activity I do, like
posting here. Moreover, Java takes the same time, if it started
without any active net connection.

Debugging: I cannot debug Java before it has started my application.
And the delay is before that point.

Graphics Driver: Noone had that idea. But there might be
incompatibilities. I will try to re-install my driver. Maybe it
helps.

Thank you for this fascinating series. I could not reproduce the effect
you describe on Mac OS X 10.5, Java 1.5 or Windows Vista, Java 1.6.
FWIW, I see that this resource is "not found":

<http://zirkel.sourceforge.net/doc_de/none>

Previously, I've had trouble with missing files named "favicon.ico".