Thread is not dying

Question

public t() {
     mytable = new myTable(day,hour,minute,show,toggleTime);     
     table = mytable.getTable();
public class myTable{
myTable(Vector day, Vector hour,Vector minute,Vector show,long toggle_Time) {
createTableLayout(day,hour,minute,show);     
     this.toggleTime=toggle_Time;//in milly second
public JTable getTable() {
return table;
private JComboBox createComboBox(Vector colVector)
     JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox(colVector);     
     comboBox.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
          public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
          startThread();
     return comboBox;
private void startThread()
     if(this.thread !=null)
          try{
          this.thread.stop();
          this.thread.join();          
          thread=null;
          s.stop();
          }catch(java.lang.InterruptedException iexp)
               System.out.println("From myTable:"+iexp);
     s=new selectURLToDisplay(table,toggleTime);
     threadFromSelect=s.getThread();
     thread=new Thread(s);
     thread.start();     
class selectURLToDisplay implements Runnable { 
public void run() {
     readTableData();
     running= true;                    
     return;
If I change the value in the combobox of the table it creates a thread with the new table data. But it can't stop the previous Thread .. Any idea .
please help.

Answer 1

Thread termination is a [very] frequently discussed topic, answered numerous times in this forum -- why don't you do a search?
Briefly, threads need to cooperate in order to do graceful interruption and joining. Thread.stop() is not the correct approach to the problem.