I have a java web start application that requires a specific version of the
jre to run, say 1.4.0
If this jre is not installed on the system it will be downloaded from java.sun.com as the jnlp files shows in the resources section:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<jnlp codebase="$$codebase">
  <information>
    <title>Java Web Start Test Case -- JRE Auto Download</title>
    <vendor>Sun Microsystems, Inc.</vendor>
    <homepage href="homepage.html"/>
    <description>Auto Download/Install JRE</description>
    <description kind="short">Auto Download/Install JRE from java.sun.com.</description>
    <icon href="images/Button_Default.jpg"/>
    <offline-allowed/>
  </information>
  <resources>
    <j2se version="1.4.0" href="http://java.sun.com/products/autodl/j2se"/>
    <jar href="jar/hellojaws.jar"/>
    <property name="jnlp.TESTNAME" value="JRE Auto-Download"/>
  </resources>
  <application-desc main-class="hellojaws"/>
</jnlp>

Most of the times, the download and install of JRE work fine.
However, at times it fails w/ the following message:
"Failed to load resource"


Steps to reproduce:
1. make sure jre 1.4.0 is not installed. you'll need a java ws install though
2. from browser, point to
http://sqe-jpi-07.sfbay.sun.com:8088/JavawsTigerTest/hellojaws/JRE_Autodownload_14.jnlp
3. if you get license agreement dialog dismiss and restart at step 2.
til you get a Java Web Start - Download Error unable to launch J2RE 1.4.0 installer
The JWS dialog will contain the requested link from java.sun.com and the "Failed to load resource" message

difficult to reproduce at times. I wonder if it's not load related?