Which version of JBoss AS is this? Looks like the start() method of PojoA isn't being called in a transactional context. It has been fixed recently and is available through the EJB3 plugin http://www.jboss.org/ejb3/ejb3plugin.html. If you are using JBoss AS 5.1.0 then apply that plugin against it and see if it fixes the issue.