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Java errors trying to run VSTAR

Sun, 05/01/2016 - 20:37

 

I purchased an HP laptop so I can do my photometry while traveling. A 64 bit processor running Windows 10. I installed jre-8u92-Windows-x64  big friendly check mark and message that Java installed successfully  

Downloaded VSTAR.jnlp.  Started it. Got error box with big red dot and an "X"  .  Messages say

Java Installation Not Completed

Unable to install Java

There are errors in the following switches:

"C:\Users...\vstar.jnlp";,

Check that the contents are valid and try again

 

I have no idea what to do next. I have had no problems (recently) with Java and VSTAR on my desktop iMac 

I love VSTAR. I detest Java  There is no excuse for error messages like that  Laziness on the developers part

George

Ps. I am referring to the developers of Java

David Benn
Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Mon, 05/02/2016 - 01:28
Windows 10 Java problem

Hi George

I'm sorry to hear about that.

Can you tell me whether downloading the latest release from SourceForge (instead of WebStart) works on that Windows 10 machine?

Can you also tell me the output of "java -version" in a Windows command (DOS) prompt?

We'll sort this out.

The fact that we don't (can't easily) test on all platforms before release leaves us open to this kind of thing but to be honest, I'm not sure that would help since there are many moving parts (OS version x Java version).

David

Robert Jenkins
Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Mon, 05/02/2016 - 01:52
V Star W10

Hi David and George

Just for information, I have a 64 Bit ASUS computer running Windows 10 and I have not experienced the problems being reported.  In fact I have been using VStar over the last few days from the Web Launch.

Robert

Mon, 05/02/2016 - 11:36
Clarification

David,

i want to make it clear that my comment about the developers was NOT directed at you, but at Oracle/Java. I spent decades as a software developer and designer. One can see this message as a catch all for a group of inconsistent situations. ,

George

David Benn
Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Mon, 05/02/2016 - 13:44
No worries

Hi George

No worries at all mate. smiley Understood. I agree that the message from Java is not at all helpful. 

I would like to help you resolve the problem though, so feel free to pass on the info about your environment (java -version) and we'll see if we can spot the problem. Also whether or not you can run the version from SourceForge.

Thanks. 

David

Thu, 05/05/2016 - 20:19
Requested environment

Hardware and OS:

HP Stream Notebook PC13.  Windows 10 Home.  Version 1511  OS Build 10586.218  RAM 2 gig

64 bit OS, x64based processor

Software:

JRE 1.80_92 Download

Platform SE Binary - 8.0.920.14

Web start Launcher - 11.92.2.14

VSTAR jnlp downloaded 2016.5.1 at 4:10 PM EDT

Let me know if more is needed

George

 

 

David Benn
Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Thu, 05/05/2016 - 22:42
64-bit, SourceForge

Hi George

The other question I had above was:

Can you tell me whether downloading the latest release from SourceForge (instead of WebStart) works on that Windows 10 machine? This will tell us whether it's WebStart or Java in general.

From what you mention, the only other two things I wonder about at the moment are:

  1. Your hardware is 64 bit. Is the Java version? "java -version" in the command prompt should tell us that.
  2. Is there enough memory? VStar asks for at most 500 MB of heap space but it would be good to look at how much free memory there is just before you run VStar (task manager, e.g. via ctrl-alt-del).

David