diff --git a/source/de/anomic/index/indexRWIEntryOrder.java b/source/de/anomic/index/indexRWIEntryOrder.java
index fda5be6c5..d676ef125 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/index/indexRWIEntryOrder.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/index/indexRWIEntryOrder.java
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ public class indexRWIEntryOrder extends kelondroAbstractOrder implements kelondr
             if (this.max == null) this.max = mmf0.entryMax; else indexRWIVarEntry.max(this.max, mmf0.entryMax);
             //long s1= System.currentTimeMillis(), sc = Math.max(1, s1 - s0);
             //System.out.println("***DEBUG*** indexRWIEntry.Order (2-THREADED): " + sc + " milliseconds for " + container.size() + " entries, " + (container.size() / sc) + " entries/millisecond");
-        } else {
+        } else if (container.size() > 0) {
             // run minmax in one thread
             minmaxfinder mmf = new minmaxfinder(container, 0, container.size());
             mmf.run(); // execute without multi-threading
diff --git a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearchRankingProcess.java b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearchRankingProcess.java
index 4c36908b1..b65fc7749 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearchRankingProcess.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearchRankingProcess.java
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ public final class plasmaSearchRankingProcess {
         // attention: if minEntries is too high, this method will not terminate within the maxTime
 
         assert (container != null);
+        if (container.size() == 0) return;
         
         process.startTimer();
         if (this.order == null) {