when loading any applet, an exception is thrown in the java console:

java.lang.NullPointerException
        at java.awt.image.BufferedImage.flush(Unknown Source)
        at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.paintForegrnd(Unknown Source)
        at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.paint(Unknown Source)
        at sun.awt.RepaintArea.paintComponent(Unknown Source)
        at sun.awt.RepaintArea.paint(Unknown Source)
        at sun.awt.windows.WComponentPeer.handleEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

build is tiger PIT M3 build2

C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.5.0\bin>java -version
java version "1.5.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0-b99)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0-beta-b10, mixed mode)