blank errors.jsp on startup

[Doug Hughes]

After a server reboot, my confluence server immediately transfers to a blank/mepty errors.jsp page with no text when I try to access it.

I already checked the database and it is up and I can login.

This is the most recent message in the current catalina.log

19-Apr-2016 14:39:07.950 SEVERE [http-nio-8090-exec-4] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.custom Exception Processing ErrorPage[errorCode=500, location=/500page.jsp]
 com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$InitializationException: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.getInterruptibly(LazyReference.java:149)
        at com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.get(LazyReference.java:112)
        at com.atlassian.confluence.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.getServletModuleManager(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:20)
        at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:62)
        at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:58)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:239)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.DebugFilter.doFilter(DebugFilter.java:46)
        at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:239)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:720)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:468)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:391)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:318)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.custom(StandardHostValve.java:439)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.status(StandardHostValve.java:305)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.throwable(StandardHostValve.java:399)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:180)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:88)
        at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:518)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1091)
        at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:673)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1500)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(NioEndpoint.java:1456)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.atlassian.spring.container.ContainerManager.getComponent(ContainerManager.java:33)
        at com.atlassian.confluence.util.LazyComponentReference$Accessor.get(LazyComponentReference.java:42)
        at com.atlassian.util.concurrent.Lazy$Strong.create(Lazy.java:85)
        at com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$Sync.run(LazyReference.java:321)
        at com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.getInterruptibly(LazyReference.java:143)
        ... 29 more

[Doug Hughes]

I figured this out.. I had initially installed a version of confluence that broke for one reason or another, so I uninstalled it, but the uninstall was apparently incomplete. The confluence username and startup script were still present. So, when I installed it again, there were 2 startup files and  a second user. All of the logs, etc. were owned by the second user, confluence1. So the two procecsses are trying to start at the same time and stomping on each other. Disabling the one startup script and restarting the server fixed it.

Side recommendation: I recommend that the install error out if the confluence user already exists and alert the installer.

[105349]

Awesome, glad to hear that you got it figured out!

[105349]

Hey Doug!

My first thought is that there's some sort of plugin issue that's causing startup to fail.  

Give this a try first:

Confluence - Clear Plugin Cache

Good luck!