Print spooler stops when I try to install network printer

[dbland07666]

When I try to connect to a network printer (Laserjet 1010 running on my XP sp 2 machine) it stops the print spooler and I get the message, "the local print spooler service is not running". It is driving me crazy. I restart it, try again, and it stops again. I've done this literally a dozen times.

The odd thing is that for some accounts on my Vista machine I was able to run it, though it took multiple attempts.

When I google this error I see many people with the same problem against many different printers, but no good solution.

I attempted to install the patch for KB 938194 which improves Vista stability and which specifically mentions this problem but it said it did not apply to my machine (whether that was because it had already been installed by automatic updates or some other compatability issue I don't know--how do I tell what patches have been installed).

Any help would be appreciated.

[Steve]

Hi dbland07666,

welcome aboard

Please see Vista Home Prem PC can't install printers on XP machine [Resolved] as it may help you resolve your problem.

If the problem persists then try install SP1 Download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 ( SP1 )

If you still have no joy get back to us and we will see what next to try,

regards

Steve

[dbland07666]

Well, I went over the the HP web site and they don't have Vista drivers for the laserjet 1010! So I guess it's sp1 for me!!!! I'll let you know what happens.

I see that SP1 was just released a couple of days ago.

[dbland07666]

On second thought, I see that it's not the final SP1 and I don't want to install it unless I really have to. I checked the XP drivers it looks like there's a newer one of those, so when m wife let's me get onto that machine I'll install it.

Thanks for all your help -- I'll let you know.

[Steve]

Hi dbland07666

yeah, it looks like HP are working on a driver for the 1010 so I'm sure it wont be long.

Vista SP1 is Release Candidate 1 at the moment. I installed it as I felt a slightly tainted SP1 was better than no SP1 and any problems with SP1 RC1 would be to do with unusual Harware and Software which I dont have... so no probs yet....yet...fingers crossed

tell us how you get on anyway,

regards

Steve

[dbland07666]

The good news is that HP's web site says they will have a driver for Vista soon!

The bad news is that message is from December of 2006!!!!!

So I'm not holding my breath.

I also checked for an updated XP driver, HP's web site says I have an old version so I tried to update but it wouldn't install and gave no details on why.

I can live with this issue since I'm down to just 1 account on my Vista machine (of 4 accounts) that can't print to the HP, but it can print to my Canon so I think I'll leave it as is until SP1 RTM comes out.

I'll still let you know.

[The Mad Scribe]

Okay, there seem to be a number of slight variations on this problem so I don't know if this might work for you, but it worked for mine, which was Vista Business.

In the properties for the print spooler, in the Recovery tab, there are three drop down menus pertaining to service failures, make sure all three are set to restart service. The lowest of the three pertains to all failures after the first two, and, I believe, defaults to Do Nothing.

Beneath those are two more options with numeric fields, the upper is how often it clears the failure log and the lower is the delay before auto-restart of the service takes place. Set the lower box to zero. This should cause the spooler to restart almost instantly, you shouldn't even be able to notice any change at all to its state.

On the machine I was troubleshooting I still got the "spooler subapp has stopped working and had to close" error, but I was able to print several documents on several network printers and it hasn't crashed yet.

I should note that this is a workaround and not a fix for the underlying error.

Hope this helps!