diff --git a/classpath/java/io/BufferedReader.java b/classpath/java/io/BufferedReader.java
index ef02fb3e2c..3d2e3fd6bc 100644
--- a/classpath/java/io/BufferedReader.java
+++ b/classpath/java/io/BufferedReader.java
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ public class BufferedReader extends Reader {
   public int read(char[] b, int offset, int length) throws IOException {
     int count = 0;
 
+    if (position >= limit && length < buffer.length) {
+      fill();
+    }
+
     if (position < limit) {
       int remaining = limit - position;
       if (remaining > length) {
diff --git a/src/machine.cpp b/src/machine.cpp
index c933a790bc..89d237c3fd 100644
--- a/src/machine.cpp
+++ b/src/machine.cpp
@@ -1872,10 +1872,10 @@ hashMapInsert(Thread* t, object map, object key, object value,
     PROTECT(t, key);
     PROTECT(t, value);
 
-    t->vm->weakReferences = makeWeakReference
-      (t, t->vm->weakReferences, 0, 0, 0);
-    jreferenceTarget(t, t->vm->weakReferences) = key;
-    key = t->vm->weakReferences;
+    object r = makeWeakReference(t, 0, 0, 0, 0);
+    jreferenceTarget(t, r) = key;
+    jreferenceNext(t, r) = t->vm->weakReferences;
+    key = t->vm->weakReferences = r;
   }
 
   object n = makeTriple(t, key, value, arrayBody(t, array, index));