Help with Sun Java Installation

I have followed the advice in this thread (short of installing a different browser):
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=71285&page=3&pp=20

with no success at getting sun java to actually verify. Here is what I do get after running command and typing java:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\John O>java
Usage: java [-options] class [args...]
(to execute a class)
or java [-options] -jar jarfile [args...]
(to execute a jar file)

where options include:
-client to select the "client" VM
-server to select the "server" VM
-hotspot is a synonym for the "client" VM [deprecated]
The default VM is client.

-cp <class search path of directories and zip/jar files>
-classpath <class search path of directories and zip/jar files>
A ; separated list of directories, JAR archives,
and ZIP archives to search for class files.
-D<name>=<value>
set a system property
-verbose[:class|gc|jni]
enable verbose output
-version print product version and exit
-version:<value>
require the specified version to run
-showversion print product version and continue
-jre-restrict-search | -jre-no-restrict-search
include/exclude user private JREs in the version search
-? -help print this help message
-X print help on non-standard options
-ea[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
-enableassertions[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
enable assertions
-da[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
-disableassertions[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
disable assertions
-esa | -enablesystemassertions
enable system assertions
-dsa | -disablesystemassertions
disable system assertions
-agentlib:<libname>[=<options>]
load native agent library <libname>, e.g. -agentlib:hprof
see also, -agentlib:jdwp=help and -agentlib:hprof=help
-agentpath:<pathname>[=<options>]
load native agent library by full pathname
-javaagent:<jarpath>[=<options>]
load Java programming language agent, see java.lang.instrument

But I'm still not able to verify. In Internet Options under Advanced tab Java (Sun) Use JRE 1.5.0_05 for <applet> (requires restart) is checked and IE explorer is checked under the java control panel.

Any suggestions from here? Thanks for looking and especially for any help/suggestions.

Sorry for resurrecting the subject, I'm hoping opening a new thread will get some results, as just posting in the old one referenced above has not. Thanks again.

 

http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

Click-on the Verify Installation button.

 

Thanks for the response Shadow_Puter_Dude but it won't verify. I tried again with your link but I still get the error message with a link to try and verify again or go to help. Any other suggestions you think I should try?

 

Uninstall all versions of Java you have installed using Add or Remove Programs, then delete any Java directory in C:\Program Files; such as C:\Program Files\Java and C:\Program Files\Java(2) and so forth. Reboot then install the latest version of Java.

 

Will do and TYVM. BRB w/ results.

 

Java is once again uninstalled. I searched C drive for java and 27 files came up. I'm not sure which need to be deleted and which need to stay (i.e. some are the shortcuts of majorgeek support pages I stored in favorites for easy access, some belong to verizon online and some to roxio). For whatever reason it won't let me copy the search results and paste it into this window. Is there a way to do this or should I type the list in? If I need to type it in do you need to know the name, folder and type?

 

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Java and delete it. Also delete any directory like this one C:\Program Files\Java(?) where ? is a number starting at 2. That's all you have to do after running the uninstaller. Then install the latest version.

 

Good Morning Shadow_Puter_Dude and thank-you for helping. I deleted any java files that were created by the date (duh, If they were created on the day the trouble began - get rid of them). I figured that out last night and did this process 2x. Neither time did I have success. I am at the point where I was when I resurrected this thread where running CMD and entering java gets me all the gobbledy-gook but still no verification when going back to the site. I'm from Saranac Lake by the way, I see you're in Northern NY.

 

Entering Java at the command prompt won't verify your java installation. You have to use some command line parameters. This command will show you what Java version is installed: java -version

Otherwise use the link I posted before.


I'm north of Watertown

 

Ahh, I hope the recent winds didn't give you any troubles. I saw a very thick striped woolly bear caterpillar yesterday, don't know if I'm quite ready for another brutal winter but ready or not...

I have tried all your suggestions with no success when I try to verify through that link I end up on the "sorry" page, with an option to try and verify again or go to their help section. Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? I've been through all of sun java's help suggestions before even coming to here for help. I have no clue what needs to be tweaked so I can get this to work. So any suggestions are very appreciated and TYVM. The last machine I did this to was fine after going through the process once. That was Windows ME, I'm new to XP OS.

 

Basic Housekeeping, Defrag your HDD, empty you temp files and cache, CCleaner is a good program for that, run a registry cleaner. Check your system for spyware, malware.

 

I haven't defragged or scandisked but have run cc cleaner frequently during these tasks. I will defrag and scan disk tonight and typically do these 2 - 4 x a month, not sure about the last time for this tower as it's a hand me down while my HD is in Massachussets hopefully getting some data recovered. I just hooked it up Friday night and am trying to get it usable. I ran Clean Cache and HD Cleaner Registry Cleaner and deleted those keys. Do you think it's safe to do run "regedit", find "java" and delete the keys that are obviously related to JRE and JVM?
Or should I try another reinstall from this point?

 

Did you do a upgrade or clean install when you went from ME to XP?

 

My father sent his old gateway tower up to me and I just hooked all the components from my system onto his tower. It's always had XP, as far as I know, it did have a new motherboard installed a while back and has basically sat since then. My dad just went and bought a new system b/c he was frustrated by the time the board got replaced. I don't believe they ever went back online with this tower.

When I accidentally reformatted my HD and pulled it to send for data recovery last week, my brother brought me this tower to use in the meantime, since it was just sitting there not being used. I'm having trouble downloading spybot updates at the moment but will run ad aware and spybot after they are updated. What do you think of the manually cleaning out the registry suggestion from my previous post? Thanks for your persistence in helping me with this.

 

You can do that, but as always backup the registry first. Bad things happen when the wrong key is deleted.

 

I was too chicken to delete any keys manually so I went ahead and tried to reinstall and it worked!!! I think running clean cache and HD Cleaner reg cleaner did the trick. Thank you so much Shadow_Puter_Dude.