[maplab-users] MapLab (ms4w) erratic

[Richard A. Milewski]

I think this may be a Java problem as much as anything.  I'm not a Java 
programmer so I'm out of my element, but.....

MapLab is erratic on my machine.  It simply stops working in odd ways at 
random.  A typical symptom is:

File Open in MapEdit and MapBrowser only works about 20% of the time.  
Sometimes switching from Edit to Browser lets me open a file and then I 
can move back to Edit.

Sometimes closing and reopening the browser helps, sometimes not. 
Sometimes a reboot appears to help... sometimes not.

 There's nothing in the Apache error log except messages about not 
finding favicon.ico and a_pixel.gif.

This is a ms4w installation (ms4w is the slickest Apache install for 
Windows on the planet!). The machine is running Windows XP Media Center  
Edition, and it has Java Runtime Environment Standard Edition 1.4.2_06, 
Default Virtual Machine 1.4.2_06-b03 and Java(TM) Plug-in 1.4.2_06 
installed.

I get essentially the same results with all three browsers, IE 6, Opera 
7.54, and Firefox 1.0.1.

There's nothing in either the Firefox Javascript console or the Sun Java 
console that indicates a problem.

Can anyone point me at a How-To on debugging a Java installation?   
...right now Java is just another four-letter word around here.

Thanks!

-- Richard