FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
D:\entw\java\reflectioncrash>c:\java\1.4.2\ customer \jre\bin\java -version
java version "1.4.2_02"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.2_02-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.2_02-b03, mixed mode)


FULL OS VERSION :
 customer  Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Error in MemoryManagement while passing an Object[] array to its old reference which is of type java.lang.Object.
Instead of returning a decent Exception the whole JVM crashes.


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
/** Marc Schoenefeld **/
/* illegalaccess.org  */


public class MemApplet extends java.applet.Applet{

	static Object o = null;

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    (new MemApplet()).doit();
  }
  
  public void paint(java.awt.Graphics p) {
  	(new MemApplet()).doit();
  }
  
  void doit () {

    while (true) try {
        Object[] oarr = {o};  o = oarr;
    } catch (Throwable t) {
      o = null;
      System.out.println("Wurfgeschoss: " + t);
    }
  }
}


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
an exception
ACTUAL -
Window Alert box:
 Exception "Unknown software exception" (0xc00000fd) has occured in your application at location 0x6d3deb0e.


ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
no stack trace available

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
/** Marc Schoenefeld **/
/* illegalaccess.org  */


public class MemApplet extends java.applet.Applet{

	static Object o = null;

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    (new MemApplet()).doit();
  }
  
  public void paint(java.awt.Graphics p) {
  	(new MemApplet()).doit();
  }
  
  void doit () {

    while (true) try {
        Object[] oarr = {o};  o = oarr;
    } catch (Throwable t) {
      o = null;
      System.out.println("Wurfgeschoss: " + t);
    }
  }
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
check all my class files for the following bytecode sequence

   3 iconst_1
   4 anewarray class #5 <Class java.lang.Object>
   7 dup
   8 iconst_0
   9 getstatic #6 <Field java.lang.Object o>
  12 aastore
  13 astore_1
  14 aload_1
  15 putstatic #6 <Field java.lang.Object o>
  18 goto 3
(Incident Review ID: 217993) 
======================================================================

N/A

The problem is in the Garbage collection subsystem, dealing with
the very deeply nested arrays (an array who's element is an array who's
element is an array...)

This is a duplicate of bug 
  4396719  Mark sweep stack overflow on deeply nested Object arrays


  xxxxx@xxxxx   2003-10-28