patndoris TechnoGeek

This is a long blog - but easy and quick reading. Settle in and enjoy a good laugh! This actually happened to me a couple of years ago (as evidenced by the Vista and Java 1.5 references), but the lesson is still very valid.  All too often we assume when something doesn’t work right it must be our computer..have you ever done that?  Read on and you’ll see I obviously have!  But I certainly learned a very valuable lesson that I’ve never forgotten.

There’s a Java based streaming webcam I sometimes watch. On the Vista laptop the site connects and all the Java Applets function, but I’d had one pesky problem where the initial image of the cam loaded and then remained static. Streaming? Does IE7 & Vista know this means an updating picture? Hmm…IE7, Java, or Vista problem? Googled and Googled and after countless frustrating hours found only a couple people with the same problem…no posted resolutions. How nice! Why don’t people post problem resolutions for the rest of us?

Ian was kind enough to test IE7 for me - it worked. Possibility 1 ruled out. I posted on BBB and someone tested Vista for me - it worked. Possibility 2 ruled out. But wait! He tested it using Java 1.5. My machine had 1.6. In my infinite wisdom and relentless pursuit of an answer I decided to downgrade my Java to 1.5. My Thursday night went something like this. (Why oh why couldn’t I have been happy with all things working except that? (and YH voice conference of course!))

Tried to simply install Java 1.5….all goes well until I get a (somewhat expected) error at the end of install due to a newer version being already on the laptop. Uninstall 1.5…uninstall 1.6 (factory installed)…uninstall recent 1.6 update. Reinstall 1.5 successfully and test webcam site - WOO HOO it works!! Problem solved right? Disable automatic updates - happy to use old version if it works. Test YH Games, my YH 360 & Freeslots.com to be sure they’re OK. Here’s where the fun began - 6pm.

Only placeholders display on 360 no pictures. What’s up with that? Freeslots won’t connect…huh? YH’s main page loads but won’t connect to games. Uh oh….obviously Java 1.5 doesn’t like Vista for some sites. Test a few other non-Java related sites and they work fine. Ask 12-1/2 year old male offspring (who’s busy with 200 separate IM’s going on AOL) to test YH games for me on PC to see if he can connect. Yup it works….must be Java. GRRRRR! Decide to delete 1.5, revert to 1.6 and live with webcam issue. Simple enough!

Not so! Reintall 1.6 & update. Test webcam site - original problem returns as expected. Test 360, YH Games & Freeslots - @#$%! If click on any other Java page IE closes!! Google (in annoyance) discovering install probably corrupt. What the heck?! I didn’t get any errors! Somewhat impatiently uninstall 1.6 and 1.6 update AGAIN and reinstall. Attempt to check all sites….well IE not shutting down on me anymore…but problems persist, sites not working right. Now what could possibly be wrong with a version that previously worked??

Spend too much time checking Internet settings, trying things and Googling. Finally, decide to system restore to Thursday morning. Vista’s a bit slow at this…I’m not the most patient…but resign myself anyway. Click the button…wait…all goes well…system restored. Could this be the end of my story at 7:30pm? Nope, of course not! Same problem. Most websites ok….not Java ones. Alright…obviously something is really wrong here!

Spend WAY too much time looking at Internet settings. Unplug router and reboot it in case that’s the problem. Update router firmware (successfully) for good measure. Retest….still no luck. Getting really frustrated. Regretfully resign myself to another system restore to Wednesday night when I KNEW it was all working. Click button…wait….and wait… finally successful restore. Retest problem. @#$%!! STILL NOT WORKING!! What the heck could be wrong? Run CCleaner to look for missing files. Oh boy! Lots of missing DLL’s for Java. Google for Java DLL - not a successful search. Google is not my friend at the moment.

Decide to use the handy dandy backup discs I created to copy all Sun and Java files back from the CD’s to their original locations. Never done this before but how hard can it be? Really quite simple….and 1 file did have a different size. This 1 file MUST be the cause of all this rapidly developing headache at 10:30pm! Wrong again!

11:00pm tell Alene I’m about ready to cry. I NEED YH games and my 360 to work! Can live without webcam! Try to find Larry - no answer. Alene locates Larry and I start what turns out to be a rather lengthy voice call on YH with him. He doesn’t use IE but very patiently tried and tried to help me. We looked at everything we could think of….reviewing all the steps I’d done and the results. Tossed around other options…tested…no changes. Running out of ideas here. Perhaps need a fresh install of IE7? The possibility was as scary as changing registry entries - didn’t really want to go there!

Out of desperation, we disable my firewall on the router…still no luck. Then (light bulb goes off) and I get the bright idea to try these sites from my PC (which has had NO Java changes.) WHAT? Can’t connect from there either? Try AOL on the PC - huh? Connects just fine? Boot up old laptop - it has same symptoms! 3 machines? Same problem? What the heck is going on and why can AOL get to them??? No sense…no sense….what could possibly be wrong. Wait…if all 3 machines have the same issue…then…my laptop was ok all along?

All of a sudden…Larry remembers a similar past problem (and failed attempts to fix it) and says “maybe it’s your ISP somehow blocking the sites.” WHAT??? 8 hours and this could be an ISP issue? And just then… like magic! all of a sudden! - the sites begin working! All machines now test perfectly. Oh the words I wanted to say just then - bit tongue quite hard (may have drawn blood I’m not really sure…was too tired at almost 2am to care.)

Realization hits…in all likelihood Java 1.5 would have been just FINE on my Vista laptop. The stars simply conspired to line up to make this problem occur precisely at the same time I decided to downgrade Java to see if it fixed the webcam problem. What other possible conclusion could I have drawn? I change Java - now Java websites don’t function. Any other set of circumstances and I might have decided it wasn’t my machine. I spent the entire night and into the early morning trying single mindedly to solve a problem that DIDN’T EVEN EXIST!

Oh well - I’m sticking with 1.6 on here for now. I’ve submitted a bug report to Java and await a reply or update. I don’t think I’m brave enough to start the whole process over again just to see what might happen. (BTW this was time lapse blogging…some details have been omitted so you can read this in less than 8 hours!)