Log4J did not want to load the properties file using a PropertyConfigurator call and kept giving this exception although the properties file was in the classpath in the right location:
java.io.FileNotFoundException: log4j.properties (El sistema no puede hallar el archivo especificado)
the way to get around it is using
PropertyConfigurator.configure(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("log4j.properties"));
Regards.