NullPointerException vb6 client

I am using a vb6 client app which accesses a web service residing on a Apache Coyote/1.0 1b1 server

I used PocketSOAP WSDL Client Wizard to create a vb6 dll project from the wsdl which I then compiled and
reference with my client app.

I am receiving NullPointerException any time I make what I believe to be a valid request.
(However I do receive a defined FieldValidationException when I pass a bad arg i.e. a MAC with ":" rather than just hex digits
or any invalid mac value such as the last example below where I switched the order of args passed.)

Below is a tcpTrace of two requests/response.

Most information I have seen referring to NullPointerException has to do with the installation on the server such as
jdk version, classpath, etc... 
The server I am testing against is a new 'live' installation so this also makes me wonder if it may have to do with the
server rather than my request.

However since I am receiving proper validation error it appears that the web service is functioning properly at least
to some degree and may be the way my request is formatted.

Any help I receive from the developers of the web service is sparse and slow. So any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

-- Jim

<tcpTraceLog tcpTraceVersion='0.8.0.712' xmlns='http://www.pocketsoap.com/tcptrace/xmlformat/01' xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema' xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance'>
<logStarted xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T16:54:49-05:00</logStarted>
<connection>
<loggedAt xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T16:59:51-05:00</loggedAt>
<connectionOpened xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T16:55:08-05:00</connectionOpened>
<connectionClosed xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T16:59:51-05:00</connectionClosed>
<source>127.0.0.1</source>
<destination>alopa.imctv.com:80</destination>
<bytesClientToServer>683</bytesClientToServer>
<bytesServerToClient>614</bytesServerToClient>
<clientData>POST /axis/services/InboundService?wsdl HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:8080
Accept-Charset: UTF-8, UTF-16;q=0.8, iso-8859-1;q=0.8
Accept-Encoding: deflate
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8
SOAPAction: ""
User-Agent: PocketSOAP/1.4.3
Content-Length: 422

<S:Envelope
 S:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
 xmlns:a="http://api.metaprov.alopa.com"
 xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
 xmlns:XS="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
 xmlns:XI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<S:Body><a:getDetails><in0 XI:type="XS:string">Cable Home</in0>
<in1 XI:type="XS:string">0000cac5166d</in1>
</a:getDetails>
</S:Body></S:Envelope></clientData>
<serverData>HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:54:22 GMT
Server: Apache Coyote/1.0

1b1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
 <soapenv:Body>
  <soapenv:Fault>
   <faultcode>soapenv:Server.userException</faultcode>
   <faultstring>java.lang.NullPointerException</faultstring>
   <detail/>
  </soapenv:Fault>
 </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
0

</serverData>
</connection>
<connection>
<loggedAt xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T17:05:24-05:00</loggedAt>
<connectionOpened xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T17:00:41-05:00</connectionOpened>
<connectionClosed xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T17:05:24-05:00</connectionClosed>
<source>127.0.0.1</source>
<destination>alopa.imctv.com:80</destination>
<bytesClientToServer>682</bytesClientToServer>
<bytesServerToClient>948</bytesServerToClient>
<clientData>POST /axis/services/InboundService?wsdl HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:8080
Accept-Charset: UTF-8, UTF-16;q=0.8, iso-8859-1;q=0.8
Accept-Encoding: deflate
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8
SOAPAction: ""
User-Agent: PocketSOAP/1.4.3
Content-Length: 421

<S:Envelope
 S:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
 xmlns:a="http://api.metaprov.alopa.com"
 xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
 xmlns:XS="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
 xmlns:XI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<S:Body><a:getDetails><in0 XI:type="XS:string">0000cac5166d</in0>
<in1 XI:type="XS:string">CableHome</in1>
</a:getDetails>
</S:Body></S:Envelope></clientData>
<serverData>HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:59:55 GMT
Server: Apache Coyote/1.0

2ff
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
 <soapenv:Body>
  <soapenv:Fault>
   <faultcode>soapenv:Server.userException</faultcode>
   <faultstring>com.alopa.metaprov.api.FieldValidationException: device-mac validation failed. </faultstring>
   <detail>
    <ns1:fault xsi:type="ns1:FieldValidationException" xmlns:ns1="http://api.metaprov.alopa.com">
     <ns1:errorCode xsi:type="xsd:string">3000</ns1:errorCode>
     <ns1:errorMessage xsi:type="xsd:string">device-mac validation failed. </ns1:errorMessage>
    </ns1:fault>
   </detail>
  </soapenv:Fault>
 </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
0

</serverData>
</connection>
<logStopped xsi:type='xsd:timeInstant'>2005-04-12T17:38:51-05:00</logStopped>
</tcpTraceLog>