Spark will not start

I am using Windows 7 64bit, and cannot get Spark to work. Spark 2.6 would not even complete the install, so I went back to 2.5.8 and install completed, but when I click the icon, it does nothing. Nothiing in the task manager, nothing in the notification area, just nothing. I have uninstalled Vipre with no change in the end result. I know 2.6 works on Win7 64bit, as I have it installed and running on my PC, it just wont run on my laptop (HP g62 i5, 8gb ram). I have tried what I know to try… Any ideas??

Anything in the error logs?

C:\Program Files\Spark\logs

C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Spark\logs

C:\Program Files\Spark\logs\error.log -

java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

at org.jivesoftware.launcher.Startup.start(Startup.java:86)

at org.jivesoftware.launcher.Startup.main(Startup.java:35)

Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError

at org.jivesoftware.Spark.startup(Spark.java:111)

… 6 more

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: 100663296 incompatible with Text-specific LCD contrast key

at java.awt.RenderingHints.put(Unknown Source)

at sun.awt.windows.WDesktopProperties.getDesktopAAHints(Unknown Source)

at sun.awt.windows.WToolkit.getDesktopAAHints(Unknown Source)

at sun.awt.SunToolkit.getDesktopFontHints(Unknown Source)

at sun.awt.windows.WDesktopProperties.setDesktopAAHints(Unknown Source)

at sun.awt.windows.WToolkit.initializeDesktopProperties(Unknown Source)

at java.awt.Toolkit.getDesktopProperty(Unknown Source)

at javax.swing.UIManager.(Unknown Source)

… 7 more

Nothing in output.log…

No C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Spark\logs directory (username replaced with mine when i checked…)

disable ClearType in Windows and try again please

Wow… go figure… that worked! Also solved a few other ‘minor’ issues I was having… Thanks!!!

a bit googling helped, the java gui seems to hate cleartype

http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6877831

Well, for once a wise thing from Java. I hate cleartype too