Print spooler service is not running

[collaborate]

Hello all.  I am freaking out. I have a Dell laptop with Windows XP and a HP 1012 Laserjet. The laserjet has been working fine and suddenly yesterday evening it stopped being able to print. I get the message:  print spooler service is not running. I have tried a lot of things I found on the internet to get it going again but nothing has worked so far.  

Please understand that I am not a computer nerd or technically inclined. But I can follow instructions if they are clear.

Also, as I was getting ready to post this message, the printer suddenly printed out a page that said the following:

PCL EL error

     Subsystem:  IMAGE

     Error:  InsufficientMemory

     Operator:  0x46

     Position:  9

?????????? What on earth does that mean?

I had not installed new software for a couple of weeks prior to this happening yesterday evening. 

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

I NEED my printer to get my work done.

I also do not seem to be able to install a printer either! So I cannot even try to reinstall the printer driver software.

Thanks in advance,

Virginia

[frprinterwiz]

- Turn off the printer

- Turn off the computer

- Turn on the computer and wait until it has completely loaded

- Turn on the printer

Once the printer has fully started, go into the driver's properties from the Printing and Faxing window and try to send a test page.  If it still says the spooler is not running then in the Control Panel, open Adminstrative Tools and select Services.  Scroll down the list and select Spooler - does it say started?  If you right click on it, can you start it?  If it's set to manual change it to Automatic.  If it doesn't want to start or isn't in the list then you have an issue with your operating system.  Check the MS knowledge base for help with spooler issues.

If it looks good and started and set to automatic and your printer still won't print then try this test.  Open a word document and select print.  Look for a small check box next to print to file.  What this will do is spool out the document but then save it to the hard drive instead of sending it to the printer (it will ask you to name the file and give you a chance to save it to where you want).  If this works with no errors then the issue is likely the printer.

If it's the printer then try a different cable, check to see if you can upgrade the firmware.

If print to file doesn't work, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the driver.

[steverfsr]

Virginia, I hope it worked for you. It certainly worked for me. I've been having the same problem, and thanks to frprinterwiz, I was able to print his instructions after I went through the process getrting the spooler to work. Thanks again!!

Steve

[comfortq]

Hi.  I too am having spooler problems.  I tried your suggestion, but Print Spooler was already set to Automatic.  What is MS knowledge base for help with spooler issues?  This is so frustrating.  I have Windows 7,so if you have any other suggestions, that would be great!

[collaborate · Accepted solution]

What I discovered, after trial and error, was that there was a spooled document waiting to be printed that was causing the problem. I had to delete the print job and then my printer started working normally again.

But it was strange because even uninstalling the printer and deleting the print driver software and then reinstalling it did NOT clear out the document waiting to be printed!!! 

I forget how I discovered that there was a document hiding and waiting to be printed but eventually I did. I don't even remember why I looked for it or if I discovered it by chance.

Still very mysterious about how it worked but I have had no problems since then.

Hope this helps someone.

Virginia

[HANNAHMADETHIS]

The instructions for checking the print spooler status was  the solution to my printer problems.  Somehow the print spooler was disabled.I changed it to automatic and both my printers are up and running again.  thank you so much. , sharon  adkins

[jcpleona]

Thanks!!

This advice worked for me. My HP printer is now running. Great Job!!

[JRMD]

Your fix won't last long.  The HP software has a dll file that causes the spooler service to crash. It hapeens to me 3x a day at least.  I can't figure out why HP doesn't fix it with a patch.

Problem signature

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: spoolsv.exe

Application Version: 6.0.6002.18294

Application Timestamp: 4c6a9898

Fault Module Name: hpzjcd01.dll

[pbj3pura]

Thank You so much!!!!!!!!! It worked!! I am not computor literate but your instructions were easily understood. I printed what I needed and more. 

[woodstock]

we resolved this issue two different way.  for a 64 bit os, HP has a 1020 64 bit driver.  for all 32 bit os, we used the HPLJ 6L driver.  Not another problem with the printers:smileyvery-happy: