EJB calls on Websphere 5.1 hangs IE

Hello all,
I am facing this problem from a long time but still cannot get a definite solution for this.
Here is my scenario.
I am using an applet ejb communication, where the application Ear (which is complied under jdk 1.4) is deployed on Websphere 5.1 server, which is j2ee 1.3 compliant. Now when i try to make the ejb call from my applets which runs under IE 6.0 and client jre 1.5.0.11. Everything works fine, and i can make my jndi lookups and use all ejb services.
But the problem arises when i use jre 1.6.0.3 on the local machine for the client IE jvm. I cannot make an ejb calls from my applet now. My browser just hangs when i do the first lookup.
So i wanted to know is this because of the jre version difference between my Application server and the client jre, or its something else, i am missing.
Is there a hope if i switch to Websphere 6.1 which is j2ee 1.4 compliant and my code will be compiled under jdk 1.5 then ...
I hope this makes sense.

Please advise..

Thanks,