With the latest beta forceware drivers (260.63) the 3D-problems are gone. Must have been an immature OpenGL driver.

I have a problem with MMB under Mac OS X 10.6.4.

Every time it shows me the fallowing error: JVM terminated. Exit Code =-1 -Xmx300m [...]

It works here. Mac OS X 10.6.4, with or without the latest Java update.

What do you mean with 'here'?

It works on my machine, an iMac using Mac OS X 10.4.6. I just updated to the latest Java update, and it still works.

So, here is the full error message: (my system is up to date, it's a MacBook Pro Late 09 with 3.06 GHz)

Click to view attachment

Just thought I'd post something that was not a complaint. I'm moving to a new machine, running Windows 7 64 bit, and my biggest fear about the change was that MMB would break (my old machine was running XP). It didn't break. I didn't even have to re-download the image files. I just moved the entire workspace directory (all 34+ GB of it!) to the new computer, and installed MMB. The first time I double-clicked on the executable it prompted me for my workspace directory, and I told it. Then nothing seemed to happen -- no error, no crash, but the program didn't launch either. I waited a while and after nothing further happened, I double-clicked on the executable again, and it launched just fine, finding the images and indexes and running an update with no problems. Panorama view looks great. Yay!

I've reloaded my PC with Windows 7 64 bit (I had XP), and for some reason, MMB's panoramas are really slow-- ie, when trying to drag with the mouse to move the view around, I get maybe one frame per 10 seconds. Has anyone else had this issue?

I have the latest version of Java installed- version 6 update 26. I forgot to install Java 3D before I ran MMB at first, but even after installing it, the problem still occurs. My version of Java 3d is 1.5.1 (x64). My computer specs are:

Opteron 180 dual-core
2 GB RAM
Nvidia 9800 GT

FWIW I'm running Win 7 64 bit and am not having that problem.

Fred - It should be fine, your hardware isn't cutting edge but it's a decent enough combination and similar to a laptop I used with Windows 7 64bit until quite recently.

However with 64bit Windows 7 and 2GB of RAM there will be significantly less free RAM available than you would have had previously with XP. That can cause you to get into a scenario where there is a lot more memory paging if an application requires a lot of working memory - I can't recall if MMB actually does like to consume a lot of free memory or not though. If paging is the issue then you will see dramatic slowdowns, not just a general sluggishness, which seems to fit the symptom you're seeing with the panoramas.

The only other general advice is to make 100% sure that all of your drivers are as up to date as possible - there can be a huge difference in performance for the generic\rev 1 drivers included in the Windows 7 install media and the most recent ones that are available from the specific hardware vendors.

If you watch what is happening with Task Manager's Performance tab or the Resource Monitor to see how much physical RAM\CPU is in use when the problem arises that could help identify the root cause. Post some details here or PM me if you'd like a second pair of eyes to look at it.

As well as Task Manager, your ears will often indicate a paging issue.

Very true

From what I remember, a big image update will suck up lots of memory as it creates the slide show and does not seem to free that memory until MMB is closed. If you then try to create a pano right after such an update you may well be short of free physical memory, thus resulting in the slowdown.

So, do the panos work better for you if you do them right after starting MMB?

Airbag

Thanks for the replies. The issue occurs even if open MMB and don't do any image updates. The video driver I have installed is one I downloaded from Nvidia's site, and it works fine for the video games I play. I'm wondering if it's an issue with Java3d, since installing that didn't make any difference. MMB requires that, right? I got it from here, and picked "Windows x64". Attached is a screenshot of Resource Monitor while trying to view a panorama. There's not a lot of disk activity, and plenty of available RAM.

A new Nvidia driver fixed the problem.

For the last several days I have been getting errors in MMB and have not been able to download most of the available images. I was wondering if anyone else was having similar problems. An example of the error messages follows:

I recently completed a Widows update, but I didn't notice if the problem began right after the update. I suppose I could do a system restore to a point prior to the Windows update, but I thought I would check here before resorting to that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Ok, hundreds of people read this thread after my last post and no one commented, so I must assume it is not a common problem. It is still a serious problem for me, since I still cannot use MMB to follow Opportunity in her latest, exciting explorations. I have performed some tests that have proven this to be quite a mysterious problem.

Two PCs in my house have been unable to download ~95% of the images from Exploratorium or JPL for the past week or two. Both machines get the same error messages (as noted above), but a few images do manage to come down the pipeline (mostly solar images). Here is where it gets strange.

I took a laptop having said problem to a house using a dsl internet connection as opposed to my Verizon wireless connection, and MMB downloaded images like a champ...no trouble whatsoever. I put the same machine back on my Verizon air card connection and the trouble resumed. To double check, I asked my brother-in-law to download and run MMB on his laptop using a different Verizon cellular connection and he experienced the same errors. He connected the same machine to his cable modem and MMB downloaded images without any problems.

I have to assume Verizon Wireless is having some issue with MMB. I have been using Verizon Wireless and MMB without problems for several years until this problem appeared recently. Is there anyone out there using MMB with a Verizon connection and having similar problems?

Sorry, Tom - I have no idea. Does it allow you to download images at http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportu...cam/2011-10-03/ in a web browser? I'm not suggesting that at as a solution, just a point of information.

Sorry, Mike. I meant to, but forgot to mention that I can directly download images from Exploratorium and JPL sites without a problem using browsers. That is what is really strange about this problem.

That's bad, then. What the app is doing at that point is trying to read the length of the file, which shouldn't really be controversial. Either they have screwed up some obscure detail of file access over the internet, or maybe they're specifically looking to see if the request is coming from a web browser and if not killing it - I don't know.

Looks like less than a month ago, VZW began some more active packet shaping:
http://www.phonenews.com/verizon-implement...s-issues-17643/

If you try to squeeze water from the stone that is internet connection tech support, I'd maybe suggest a white lie along the lines of saying that it's an app you use for business purposes.

Thank you, gentlemen. I knew it had to be something Verizon was doing, but I didn't understand it well enough to call to complain. You guys helped me understand the situation so I can hopefully argue with customer support and get through to someone who can help. Thanks for the tip about a business purpose, Steve. I'm sure that will help.

If I can't convince Verizon to stop messing with my data, I wonder if I could find an ftp program that could download the images and populate the directories MMB is expecting. That's a work-around that I could live with.

I'm off to Google...

Might be worth trying FTP just to see if it works. If not, that might be an easier fight to win (which might resolve the same issue).

I was sort of being facetious. But it is good to avoid making it sound like you're complaining that your bittorrent traffic or high-def streaming is slowing down. Because they will want to leap to that conclusion and read some boilerplate to you.

Somewhat unrelated question Tom. I have several slow connections I'm forced to use out here with the grapes and the cows, but my Verizon wireless modem is the slowest -- and most costly when I exceed whatever monthly allocation it has. I can't imagine using that particular avenue for MMB. What kind of connection speeds are you getting with the VZW modem?

I don't have many choices where I live. I can use VZW or satellite, but since we travel a lot we use Verizon so we can be connected virtually wherever we go. The speed depends on where I am. In good areas I get speeds of 1-2 megabits/sec, but in other areas I get only a fraction of that speed. The slowest speeds are in areas where Verizon has no coverage and I have to connect through a competitive carrier, but even then it is usually better than dial-up.

Regarding price, I am lucky to have signed a contract years ago for unlimited service, so I don't have a monthly allocation to worry about.

Just to follow up on this, Verizon says they will try to resolve the problem. It took a while to get through customer support to technical support. I had to go through all the usual monkey drills: rebooting the device, restarting their software, reinstalling their software, etc. They finally admitted that it looked like their problem and passed me through to tech support where I had to repeat most of what I had already told them, and most of the monkey drills as well.

Tech support finally admitted that they needed to write a ticket to send the case of trouble to an "upper level of technical support" who would "definitely" solve the problem. <fingers crossed> I am hoping for a solution, though I half suspect them to come back with the lame argument that they do not support 3rd party software.

Mike: Since I can download these images with a web browser, but not with MMB, I'd have to assume there is something different about the way MMB downloads versus the way web browsers do. Is there a different protocol being used, or some different routine that Java employs? Or, could it simply be the fact that the images are requested rapidly and sequentially? Not being a computer programming person I am not certain which questions to ask

I am only asking in case the upper level tech support people ask me technical questions

Well it isn't a different protocol. It accesses the same files as you'd see on the web. Beyond that, I don't know what Java does behind the scenes. However, as I said, what the program is trying to do when it fails is read the file length. It doesn't make any sense for that to fail.

Thanks for that. Java seems to be the language of choice when it comes to internet applications. If I am asked, I will emphasize that same point.

Verizon called me back today and said they are not blocking anything on my connection. They tried to suggest it was a firewall issue or an MMB issue. I gave them irrefutable evidence that it was their problem, but it got me nowhere. I guess I will have to find new ISP, because I can't live without my Midnight Mars Browser.

I have come up with a workaround that isn't too bad. I installed a bulk file downloader which I use to dump all new images into one directory. Then, I run MMB version 1.5, which has a file import function, to import all the images to the appropriate directories, update the image index, and regenerate the images. Then I can run the latest version to view panoramas.

It's not quite the one click convenient update that I used to have, but it is way better than downloading the images individually and manually putting them into the correct directory structure.

That's a bummer. I had a look to see if there is any quick workaround; unfortunately there isn't a workaround for them breaking the internet. And the more I look at it, the program can apparently download text files just fine, according to your log, but not JPG files. So basically I think they're BS'ing you, and Verizon tech support should be ashamed of themselves.

Thanks, Mike, for trying. I'm sure they are BSing me. It seemed clear to me that they didn't want to deal with the issue, or perhaps they really had no idea what had changed with their network. That's hard to believe, though. I made it to their "tier 2" level of tech support, stumped them, and convinced them to write a ticket to elevate my problem to "tier 3." I really hoped to speak to someone in the higher level, but I couldn't get there. Tier 3 simply relayed a message to me blaming it on everything but themselves. They simply refused to listen to logic.

I'm happy, though, that it has turned out better than I thought it would. I thought it was going to be too much trouble to be able to continue using MMB, but this work around is really not too bad. It took me about 30 minutes to update the two weeks of images that I missed since the problem started, but now it only takes a few minutes each day.

I know you have been too busy to deal with MMB issues anymore, so I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me at all. Thanks again.

FYI, I've started a Google Plus page for Midnight Mars Browser where I will post when I update the metadata (a semi-daily occurrence for some years now), and probably post some screen captures.

I'm not sure when, but at some point Verizon fixed their network. MMB is once again updating the imagery properly for me.