IE hangs while launching Java 2D demo on WinXP

Kernel JRE: http://javadl.sun.com/webapps/download/GetFile/1.6.0_10-ea-b08/windows-i586/jre-6u10-ea-windows-i586-p-iftw-k.exe
OS: WinXP home, SP2
Locale: Italian enabled
Browser and version: IE6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519

Steps to reproduce:
1) From IE6, download and Install Kernel JRE
2) Just after install, load Java 2D Demo applet from http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/1.5.0/demos/plugin/applets.html
3) Click on some tabs, eventually click on Composite, the browser hang, and
exceptions thrown on Java Console:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-15" java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.awt.Dimension.<init>(Dimension.java:93)
at java.awt.Component.getMaximumSize(Component.java:2477)
at java.awt.Container.getMaximumSize(Container.java:1715)
at javax.swing.JComponent.getMaximumSize(JComponent.java:1669)
at javax.swing.BoxLayout.checkRequests(BoxLayout.java:465)
at javax.swing.BoxLayout.layoutContainer(BoxLayout.java:405)
at javax.swing.JToolBar$DefaultToolBarLayout.layoutContainer(JToolBar.java:764)
at java.awt.Container.layout(Container.java:1432)
at java.awt.Container.doLayout(Container.java:1421)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1519)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1526)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1526)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1526)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1526)
at java.awt.Container.validateTree(Container.java:1526)
at java.awt.Container.validate(Container.java:1491)
at java2d.DemoGroup.setup(DemoGroup.java:258)
at java2d.GlobalPanel.stateChanged(GlobalPanel.java:103)
at javax.swing.JTabbedPane.fireStateChanged(JTabbedPane.java:400)
at javax.swing.JTabbedPane$ModelListener.stateChanged(JTabbedPane.java:253)
at javax.swing.DefaultSingleSelectionModel.fireStateChanged(DefaultSingleSelectionModel.java:116)
at javax.swing.DefaultSingleSelectionModel.setSelectedIndex(DefaultSingleSelectionModel.java:50)
at javax.swing.JTabbedPane.setSelectedIndexImpl(JTabbedPane.java:599)
at javax.swing.JTabbedPane.setSelectedIndex(JTabbedPane.java:574)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTabbedPaneUI$Handler.mousePressed(BasicTabbedPaneUI.java:3606)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6097)
at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3265)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:5865)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2058)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4472)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2116)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4302)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4322)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:3983)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:3916)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2102)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4302)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:599)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:273)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:183)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:173)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:168)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:160)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:121)
....
The complete contents from Java Console is attached.

This did not happen on FireFox 2.0