Why is Eclipse 3.2 throwing an error on startup

Question

I have a windows 32 bit computer and just downloaded The Eclipse 3.2 SDK and can not get it to start. It immedietly throws the following error to a log file.

I have tried starting it with a java 1.5 VM and still haven't had any luck. Any Ideas? Thanks

!SESSION 2012-08-07 11:10:28.084 -----------------------------------------------
eclipse.buildId=@build@
java.version=1.7.0_05
java.vendor=Oracle Corporation
BootLoader constants: OS=win32, ARCH=x86, WS=win32, NL=en_US
Command-line arguments:  -os win32 -ws win32 -arch x86

!ENTRY system.bundle 4 0 2012-08-07 11:10:28.519
!MESSAGE FrameworkEvent.ERROR
!STACK 0
org.osgi.framework.BundleException: Exception in org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundleActivator.start() of bundle system.bundle.
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl.startActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:1014)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl.start(BundleContextImpl.java:970)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.resumeBundles(StartLevelManager.java:549)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.incFWSL(StartLevelManager.java:484)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.doSetStartLevel(StartLevelManager.java:275)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.launch(StartLevelManager.java:245)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundle.resume(SystemBundle.java:155)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.launch(Framework.java:503)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.OSGi.launch(OSGi.java:51)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.startup(EclipseStarter.java:289)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:173)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:336)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:280)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:977)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:952)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.checkSystemState(BaseStorage.java:654)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.getStateManager(BaseStorage.java:634)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseAdaptor.getPlatformAdmin(BaseAdaptor.java:385)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAdaptorHook.frameworkStart(EclipseAdaptorHook.java:80)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseAdaptor.frameworkStart(BaseAdaptor.java:260)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundleActivator.start(SystemBundleActivator.java:55)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl$2.run(BundleContextImpl.java:995)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl.startActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:989)
    ... 18 more
Root exception:
java.lang.IllegalStateException
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.checkSystemState(BaseStorage.java:654)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.internal.baseadaptor.BaseStorage.getStateManager(BaseStorage.java:634)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseAdaptor.getPlatformAdmin(BaseAdaptor.java:385)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAdaptorHook.frameworkStart(EclipseAdaptorHook.java:80)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.baseadaptor.BaseAdaptor.frameworkStart(BaseAdaptor.java:260)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundleActivator.start(SystemBundleActivator.java:55)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl$2.run(BundleContextImpl.java:995)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl.startActivator(BundleContextImpl.java:989)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.BundleContextImpl.start(BundleContextImpl.java:970)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.resumeBundles(StartLevelManager.java:549)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.incFWSL(StartLevelManager.java:484)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.doSetStartLevel(StartLevelManager.java:275)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.launch(StartLevelManager.java:245)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundle.resume(SystemBundle.java:155)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.launch(Framework.java:503)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.OSGi.launch(OSGi.java:51)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.startup(EclipseStarter.java:289)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:173)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:336)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:280)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:977)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:952)

!ENTRY org.eclipse.osgi 4 0 2012-08-07 11:10:28.524
!MESSAGE Startup error
!STACK 1
java.lang.RuntimeException: Exception in org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundleActivator.start() of bundle system.bundle.
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.resumeBundles(StartLevelManager.java:557)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.incFWSL(StartLevelManager.java:484)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.doSetStartLevel(StartLevelManager.java:275)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.StartLevelManager.launch(StartLevelManager.java:245)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.SystemBundle.resume(SystemBundle.java:155)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.Framework.launch(Framework.java:503)
    at org.eclipse.osgi.framework.internal.core.OSGi.launch(OSGi.java:51)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.startup(EclipseStarter.java:289)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:173)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:336)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:280)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:977)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:952)
!SESSION Tue Aug 07 11:10:28 EDT 2012 ------------------------------------------
!ENTRY org.eclipse.core.launcher 4 0 2012-08-07 11:10:28.526
!MESSAGE Exception launching the Eclipse Platform:
!STACK
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:186)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:336)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:280)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:977)
    at org.eclipse.core.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:952)

UPDATE After reinstalling the JVM and using the -vm path parameter I still get the following error

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Unable to acquire application service. Ensure that the org.eclipse.core.runtime bundle is resolved and started (see config.ini).
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:65)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:400)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:177)

Answer 1

The problem can be solved as follows.

Edit the eclipse.ini file located in your Eclipse install directory and insert -clean as the first line.

This will force Eclipse to run. You can then remove the -clean line from the .ini file

Answer 2

Although this is an old thread, I'll contribute in case someone Googles this issue. I started having this problem after Java 7 Update 11 was installed. I uninstalled update 11 and now eclipse works just fine. I run eclipse from \Program Files\eclipse.

Answer 3

I had the same problem on Ubuntu and solved by running:

eclipse -clean