Too small initial heap for new size specified

You must provide a max total heap > min new heap.
This is fine:

java -XX:NewSize=256m -Xmx257m -version 
java version "1.6.0_20"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.9.8) (rhel-1.22.1.9.8.el5_6-x86_64)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 19.0-b09, mixed mode)

This is not fine, as no space is left for Old generation

java -XX:NewSize=256m -Xmx256m -version 
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Too small initial heap for new size specified

See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/vmoptions-jsp-140102.html for more documentation

I know this is trivial, but many people don't know.