The SplashScreen API new in Mustang appears to be broken in some situations in build 61 and later. (I am assuming that Java Web Start has been rewritten to use the java.awt.SplashScreen class. If not, this bug should be reassigned to java/javawebstart/general or similar.)

The problem is reproducible on a Sun Blade 1000 with FFB2+ graphics. It is not reproducible on some other comparable machines with different graphics adapters. I suspect it occurs only on color-mapped rather than true-color displays. The output of fbconfig -prconf on the machine where the failure occurs is:

--- Hardware Configuration for /dev/fb ---
Type: double-buffered FFB2+ with Z-buffer
Board: rev 2 (Vertical)
PROM Information: @(#)ffb2p.fth 2.9 98/07/14
FBC: version 0x3241906d
DAC: Brooktree 9070, version 1 (Pac2)
3DRAM: Mitsubishi 130b, version 2
EDID Data: Available - EDID version 1 revision 1
Monitor Sense ID: 2 (Sun 48x31cm RGB color monitor)
Monitor possible resolutions: 1024x768x60, 1024x768x70, 1024x768x75,
        1280x800x76, 640x480x60, 1440x900x76, 1600x1000x66, 1600x1000x76,
        1920x1080x72, 1920x1200x70
Current resolution setting: 1920x1200x70 Hi-res

To reproduce the problem, simply execute e.g.

/java/re/jdk/1.6.0/promoted/rc/b61/binaries/solaris-sparc/bin/javaws http://bugster.central.sun.com/bugster.jnlp

(all on one line). The splash screen will either be corrupted (I've seen the "Java Loading" screen come up with only the blue channel visible) or will not come up at all. With build 60 the splash screen always comes up correctly. Clearly something changed in build 61 breaking this functionality. It is still broken in the current Mustang build 69.