diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 1f88041cec..3edfb3511d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
  * fix windows startup (CASSANDRA-948)
  * make concurrent_reads, concurrent_writes configurable at runtime via JMX
    (CASSANDRA-1060)
+ * disable GCInspector on non-Sun JVMs (CASSANDRA-1061)
 
 
 0.6.1
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index 6a8d923cd0..1ba99733f5 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -313,7 +313,16 @@ public class StorageService implements IEndPointStateChangeSubscriber, StorageSe
         }
 
         DatabaseDescriptor.createAllDirectories();
-        GCInspector.instance.start();
+
+        try
+        {
+            GCInspector.instance.start();
+        }
+        catch (Throwable t)
+        {
+            logger_.warn("Unable to start GCInspector (currently only supported on the Sun JVM)");
+        }
+
         logger_.info("Starting up server gossip");
 
         MessagingService.instance.listen(FBUtilities.getLocalAddress());