PRINT SPOOL ISSUE

[cfillingim]

Hello,I have to open my MSCONFIG and disable my PRINT SPOOL. IF I BOOT MY COMPUTER (RUNNING WINDOW XP SV2) WITH THE PRINT SPOOL ENABLED. I WILL GET AN ERROR AND MY PC LOCKS UP, AND MY CPU USAGE GOES UP TO 95-100% USAGE. THERE ARE NO EXISTING PRINT JOBS IN MY PRINTERS FOLDER WITHIN THE SPOOL. I BELIEVE IT HAS TO DEAL WITH THE PRINTER DRIVERS, BUT NOT SURE WHICH ONES i CAN DELETE.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Hi cfillingim,

Check back to your first thread for my suggestion:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246425-45-print-spool-issues

 

[graywolf]

Any chance you have a Lexmark? What's your printer?

 

[cfillingim]

I do have a lexmark z series printer. All though I wasn't using it when I started haveing the issue.

 

[aford10]

I would start by uninstalling all printer software, current and previous. Then go to Lexmark's website and download the newest driver.

 

[graywolf]

Lexmark has other issues. If you still have a problem after that, write back.

 

[cfillingim]

I appreciate the replies. Unfortunately none have resolved the issue.

What is allready known and been done to resolve:

1.) Print spool has been disabled already, through MsConfig. This was the first thing I did. Thus is the only way I can get my computer to function with out bogging down and popping up errors. When diabled, computer works excellent.

2.) All print drivers and programs associated with such have been removed. (Ie. Lexmark, HP, and a VNC program.)

What we are trying to achieve:

1.) Booting Computer with print spool enabled, not stopped. While monitoring my CPU usage, and maintaing a normal level. Keep in mind when print spool is enabled, my CPU usage is at 95-100% usage persistantly.

2.) Reinstall print drivers and software and be able to utilize my printer, as it worked before. While keeping CPU usage at a normal rate.

Again...thank each of you for time and effort. Let's see who can resolve this..

 

[digitalprospecter]

Quick suggestion after reading your troubleshooting synopsis.

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS and delete the files .

You may have to set Windows to display hidden files and folders in Folder Options.

If there are any files at that location, delete them, reenable your print spooler and restart your computer and let us know what happens!

 

[digitalprospecter]

or try this Microsoft fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/pc_print_methoddstoptheprin

 

[graywolf]

Which printer is giving you the problem? Make and Model # please.
And when you go into the Task Manager, do you still see Lex-something or Lx-something, even though it's uninstalled and not the printer with the issue?

 

[cfillingim]

digitalprospecter, I like the direction your going with..C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\PRINTERS. I checked the PRINTERS folder originally and there is nothing there. However I was very curious of what I could delete from the SPOOLS folder, without causing more issues. Keeping in mind my goal is get printers installed again.

I was using lexmark z600, printer and my task manager shows nothing.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Any files contained within the \Printers folder is ok to delete. They are your spooled print jobs. This may clear up your problem, or may only give you temporary relief until the next printjob from the offending app or printer.

My most recent print spool battle was with HP Host-Based Driver Printers and Adobe Reader and Acrobat. There is a little known issue when printing PDF's to host-based driver printers that will crash or lockup the print spooler. Are any of your printjobs .PDFs?

 

[digitalprospecter]

Here is an off the wall idea as well. The print spooler saves printjobs to the hard drive before sending them to the printer. This is desirable because Windows can continue to process other jobs instead of like the old DOS days where you had to wait for your printjob to finish printing before you could do anything else. Anyway... why don't you try performing an error check on your C: drive and make sure the option for a surface scan is checked. This will ensure that the print spooler isn't trying to write to a bad sector on your hard disk. I know it is out in left field, but it is a possibility and I ran into it back in the Windows 3.11 days.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Last idea until i hear back from you.

Microsoft states that the print spooler program can become corrupt and need to be replaced. Here is their process to do so:

Click Start, click Run, type %windir%\system32, and then click OK.

Note %windir% represents the folder where Windows is installed.

Right-click the spoolsv file, and then click Rename.

Type oldspool, and then press ENTER.

Insert the Windows XP disk in the computer's CD or DVD drive. Press and hold down the SHIFT key as you insert the disk to prevent the Windows XP installation from starting automatically.

Click Start, click Run, type expand CD drive:\i386\spoolsv.ex_ %windir%\system32\spoolsv.exe, and then click OK.

Notes
Make sure that there is a character space between "spoolsv.ex_" and "%windir%."
CD drive represents the drive letter of the CD or DVD drive that contains the Windows XP disk. For example, if the letter of the CD or DVD drive is E, type the following, and then click OK:
expand E:\i386\spoolsv.ex_ %windir%\system32\spoolsv.exe

Restart the computer.