Initial new user open CiviCRM base page hangs

Configuration: Desktop: Windows 8.1, Chrome browser. Server: AWS EC2 micro; Ubuntu Trusty Tahr; CMS WordPress 4.1 w Twenty Fifteen theme; CiviCRM 4.5; MySQL 5.6; PHP 5.4 (all systems / apps at current patch levels).

34. Debugging new user login in CiviCRM.
1. Set up these notes.
2. First step is to clear out the CiviCRM log file. OK, it’s empty.
3. Log into WordPress with admin login, create new user: testuser2-au (author rights). OK.
4. In a new tab, log into Google and set up email aliases for testuser1-ed and testuser2-au. OK.
5. Log out of WordPress. OK.
6. Log in to WordPress with testuser2-au.
i. Got account pending message from WP-Security add-in module.
ii. Log in to WordPress with admin account, and approve new user in WP-Security module. OK.
iii. Log out of WordPress.
7.Log in to WordPress with testuser2-au. OK.
i. WordPress base page opens. OK.
ii. Click on CiviCRM logo, opens CiviCRM base page, with CiviNews empty, showing Refresh Dashboard Data and Configure Your Dashboard links only; Busy spinner is spinning. I left for ~10 minutes, the spinner was still spinning when I came back.
iii. Listed CiviCRM Log and got:
~~~~
dvhirst@ip-<IP tag>:~$ sudo tail -n 40 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/files/civicrm/ConfigAndLog/CiviCRM.<file tag>.log
Feb 07 12:16:34 [info] $Fatal Error Details = Array
(
[message] => is not of the type Positive
[code] =>
)
Feb 07 12:16:34 [info] $backTrace = #0 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php(387): CRM_Core_Error::backtrace("backTrace", TRUE)
1 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Utils/Type.php(250): CRM_Core_Error::fatal(" is not of the type Positive")
2 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Contact/Page/AJAX.php(862): CRM_Utils_Type::escape(NULL, "Positive")
3 [internal function](): CRM_Contact_Page_AJAX::dashboard()
4 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(296): call_user_func((Array:2))
5 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(75): CRM_Core_Invoke::runItem((Array:12))
6 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(52): CRM_Core_Invoke::_invoke((Array:3))
7 /var/www/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php(506): CRM_Core_Invoke::invoke((Array:3))
8 [internal function](): CiviCRM_For_WordPress->invoke("")
9 /var/www/wordpress/wp-includes/plugin.php(496): call_user_func_array((Array:2), (Array:1))
10 /var/www/wordpress/wp-admin/admin.php(212): do_action("toplevel_page_CiviCRM")
11

dvhirst@ip-<ip tag>:~$
~~~~
8. Closed browser tab without logging off. Opened new browser tab, navigated to CiviCRM URL, session automatically restarted with testuser2-au, shows the CiviCRM News, as expected. No new log entries at this point. Close browser; end session.
35. Log into CiviCRM Issue Tracker and post issue.