Solved: Print spooler problem, etc.

I have a Dell desktop running Windows XP. Suddenly I find all printers are gone and no longer installed. I received the message "print spooler not running" Installation cannot start the print spooler service. Start the service now using Windows NT service manager and then press OK." I have no idea what happened or where to start to fix it. Also, I tried to restore to a week earlier to see if this would restore the printers but the restore failed . Thanks.

 

1. Right click the "My Computer" Icon on the desktop and select "Manage". This will open the Computer Management Window.
2. On the left side of the windows left click the +- twisty next to "Services and Application" then highlight "Services" below it.
3. On the right side of the screen double click the "Print Spooler" Service, when the window opens Click the Start button.

 

Thanks for your help. However, after following the instructions I receive the following message: "could not start the print spooler service on local computer. Error 23: Data error (cyclic redundancy check) What else can I do?

 

Does anyone know if the advertised print spooler fix and registry fix/maintenance downloads are safe and will fix my print spooler problem?

 

If you are getting that error I would run a chkdsk to make sure the hard drive does have an issue. Which that error message implies.

 

Yea, I do have a more serious issue than I thought. The computer crashed (blue screen fatal error message) I think my only recourse now is to reinstall XP but do not have a recovery disk. I will need drivers. Thanks for suggestions.

 

Before you go about reinstalling Windows run a chkdsk on the drive. it might be able to fix the problem.

 

I can't even get to my desktop. Is there a way to do a chkdsk without opening the desktop?

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally went to the Dell support and chat line. They were terrific and walked me through the complete re-install of XP and then loaded most of my software for me. Great tech support.