IDEA 4.0.3 crashes the moment I launch on XP

Worked fine for a few days, but I had a system panic and now any effort to launch IDEA quickly ends in a stack trace:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.intellij.diagnostic.DialogAppender.append(DialogAppender.java:4)
at org.apache.log4j.AppenderSkeleton.doAppend(AppenderSkeleton.java:221)
at org.apache.log4j.helpers.AppenderAttachableImpl.appendLoopOnAppenders(AppenderAttachableImpl.java:57)
at org.apache.log4j.Category.callAppenders(Category.java:190)
at org.apache.log4j.Category.forcedLog(Category.java:375)
at org.apache.log4j.Category.error(Category.java:306)
at com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger.error(Logger.java:18)
at com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger.error(Logger.java:143)
at com.intellij.ide.plugins.c.a(c.java:132)
at com.intellij.ide.plugins.c.a(c.java:208)
at com.intellij.ide.plugins.c.a(c.java:211)
at com.intellij.idea.Main.main(Main.java:19)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:324)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(DashoA8113)
at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(DashoA8113)

It is repeatable... which means I am dead in the water. Just downloaded latest on Apr 8th (1182?). How can I clear the logjam?

tone