Java Problems With Safari 1.3 (10.3.9) and 2.0 (10.4) and Firefox 1.0.3

We know it doesn't help much to just point out a problem without a solution (well, use Opera) but we have been having problems with various web sites since, we believe, updating our Java 1.4.2 installation with "Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9" the week before last. For example, using Safari 1.3 (Mac OS X 10.3.9) or 2.0 (Mac OS X 10.4) go to Edmunds.com, the car price web site and click on the link: "NEW Prices, Reviews, Information." The ensuing pages will not load without clicking Safari's reload button each time. There are numerous other web pages, many of them online stores, that no longer work properly with Safari.

We have confirmed this issue with numerous Macs that had been updated to 10.3.9 and had the Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9 installed, both before and after updating to 10.4.

Firefox 1.0.3 works with Edmunds.com (the first page that Safari chokes on asks for one's zip code) but gives us an empty page when we use Netscape Messenger Express to get our email--this too, has been confirmed on the same Macs.

Fortunately, Opera 8.0b1 seems to work with all pages that we have had problems with Safari and Firefox.

We tried restoring the Java Shared Archive that Java Update for Mac OS X 10.3.9 deleted as presented in Apple KBase document #301382. But this had no effect.

We tried to re-apply Java 1.4.2 Update 2 but the installer would not run, stating "This volume does not contain a version of Java that needs updating." The same with Security Update 2005-002 since all of the Macs are now using Mac OS X 10.4.

Finally, we installed the new Java 2 SE 5.0 Release 1 noted below. Again, the problems persisted in Safari and Firefox.

So, we will put up with Opera's banner ads for the moment until this issue is fixed by Apple and/or Mozilla.org. Actually, Opera is a pretty impressive web browser. You should try it. [Bill Fox]