Best Driver Scan That Does Updates for You?

These so-called driver scanners do not work. The general advice is, don't use them and only update a driver if it needs updating. If the system is working well there is no need to update any drivers.

But back to your specific problem, I noticed you reformatted and, (I assume), reinstalled XP. How did you do that because we find that many users forget to install necessary drivers during the install, and the other necessary ones immediately after the install. For example;

XP does not know what a SATA hard drive is. During the install/setup procedure the user would need to press F6 to install SATA drivers from a floppy disk or other external media. If your system has SATA hard drives, did you do this during this install?

Next, after the setup is completed, the user needs to install motherboard/chipset drivers, then sound card drivers, then video card drivers. Did you do those?

After that any printer software can be installed from the printer's own software CD, and usually with the printer disconnected.

Mark

You're right, I know, the repairman didn't do all this. Only used him one time, because he had an attitude, "I'm only going to use the set of Recovery CD's and that's it."

I'm Saving your reply. Thanks much. I'm going to do a search now for How many possible Print Spooler errors are there. Are you saying that S_ _ _ feature would have fixed the Print Spooler? But that it's too late to do it now? Thanks again.

Have a look at the Device Manager, (Control Panel > Device Manager, or Control Panel > System then Device Manager), to see if there are any exclamation marks against any entries.

As for the printer problem, another thought I had was the Print Spooler Service. Is it running? To check that go to Start > Run, type in services.msc and click OK. In the new window scroll down and find Print Spooler then double click the entry to open its Properties window. If it is not started, start it now and set the start type to Automatic.

However if it is already started, disconnect the printer, (if USB use the "Safely remove hardware" option, or if it is the older connection, shut down the computer and printer, disconnect the leads, then restart the computer and head back to the Print Spooler service), Stop the service, set it to disabled, then reboot the computer again.

Then reverse all that to start the Print Spooler again and set it to Automatic.

Mark

Thanks much. There are no exclamation points, I learned early on, and I wonder if it means some drivers are not being Recognized. MS FixIt decided a paper jam, one docu, was causing the problem, "Fixed", so I did a screen shot souvenir in case it really was fixed, and finally it said may not
be installed properly. (Downloaded Software/Drivers, FULL Version from HP, and someone at their forum verified I'd picked the right one to download, but it didn't, and I finally had to use 2007 Disk. Print Queue Status - "Ready". I must be so close! Now I'm ready to try the rest of your steps, and I thank you so
much. A repairman I've used before said the Print Spooler error was why I haven't been able to install even new printers, and that there are lots of different kinds. I've tried google search to find how many, no results yet on that.

Services Msc suggestion sounds potent, and the one after it. Just now a note below in red reminds
me to provide my OS, Model Number, etc. XP Home, SP3, HP 1310 SERIES, specifically 1315xi, a 2004 printer, and my XP is pretty old too. New hard drive in 2007. Samsung, I think, though pc is one of the original Compaq Presario's. Model #5400 something.

I've tried stopping and starting the Print Spooler, but realize it needs to be tried again. "These things take time", doing all the tests, plus I have an eye appointment in the morning will be dilated most of the day and may not be able to get back to this right away, just so you know why if I seem to be slow reacting. I appreciate all this help no end. Facebook Friends, mainly artists and musicians, say they don't know a thing about technology. Me either, but I want to learn.

I'm typing all thse instructions into a larger font, and Arial Black, to email to Ofc. Max, where they'll print things for you when your printer's down, and I can read better without losing my place all the time.
May I ask for some clarifications, because I've just never had these tech problems before.

About installing drivers, I may not want to try, When creating a new Port, which I may have noted at another site but I think you'd know, and I'm combining that with your suggestions, NAMING it ? It has to be the PATH name, but not in the usual form, a C:\ etc. It says name the port,
starting with \\ \ and then, select your driver. I frankly don't know how to do either of those things but would like to learn. Thank you again.

I'll try it, and can use System Restore if the problem isn't solved. The words are in a different order sometimes, like DriverPack Solution, don't know if it's the same thing. Lots of utilities have more than one name, I've noticed. Thanks.

about so-called "Driver" utilities. As we have said before they can cause problems by telling you that such and such drivers need updating when they don't, and in fact isn't this why you posted here with your top post?

If your system needs drivers, always get them from the maker or manufacturer of the device you need them for and don't trust 3rd party software suggestions and recommendations.

Mark

Can't find a version of that from a recognizable source that I ever heard of, so I'm wary too. Plus the search results mention "shared files" as if it's pretty complicated.

Will the person recommending it tell us more? What source you used, etc.? I didn't even trust Driver Manager, which we've all heard of. I'll bet there isn't one that will just tell you exactly what drivers you need and download it, especially free. I'm not even sure, don't have any verification those 23 are the right ones. One search result says checked by McAfee and Norton, but how do we know? Thanks much.

I'm unsure now where we stand, so can you tell us what drivers you are looking for, and why?

Mark

who makes a recommendation that you seem to like. Make sure you can trust someone as being knowledgeable and reliable before you bite.

I don't even know which drivers I need, reason I'm asking about a scan that would tell me that detail, Mark, in case it has anything to do with the Print Spooler not making connection to Printer, and to Steve, I'm certainly not saying MagicGirls is wrong, just asking what download source she chose, and if anyone else ever heard of this, or of the sources that come up in search results. And I know from personal experience these utilities you buy are sometimes a disaster, delete too much, and you have no way of knowing if they really fixed something, unless this printer should start working without any error messages. Even if that was fixed, something else may have been damaged in the process. That's why I'm trying to learn all about the Print Spooler here. If CNET had an XP Drivers Utility, I'd trust it, but they must have good reason not to have one,right?

Thanks to Everyone, as usual. I'm very grateful to have people to talk to. Maybe tomorrow I can get that printed out about what all the Recovery Disks guy should have done. (Eyes still burning from appointment yesterday, drops.) Hope all those 8 Recovery Disks don't have to be done over ??? I do know a repair man who said he'd "set up" my printer for $60, which I'm assuming means find which of the many Print Spooler errors is causing the problem. If he'd have to use all those disks again, which would take a lot of time, he'd probably charge more? And charge me $30 for pickup and delivery, wouldn't be able to do it in my home, Monday. Please don't forget to tell me, will the Recovery Disks have to be done over, and all those extra steps you mentioned for DURING the Recovery? How will he know when to do them? Is there a prompt?

Thanks again.

I googled the three words suggested by the poster and came up with what might be the suggested software. I know nothing about it and would never consider it for myself. If you wish, download and try it out and report back if it helped, did nothing or made matters worse.

For one thing, all the sources are unheard of, at least as far as I'm concerned, and for another, the three words are switched around so much, but coming up in the same search results, it just all seems too unusual. Sure I have System Restore, and McAfee and MalwareBytes, but I'm still cautious. And there's the screen name MagicGirl, who doesn't return. I don't want to be rude, but you can't be too careful.

So I'm reading some e-How suggestions. Can't find C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS
folder. The list ends with the "v" words, no "w's" words, no Windows.

Would this file have been in the set of 8 Recovery CD's? Should have been, right? The following question is not paranoid if you knew the guy and how shifty he was, so, could he have deliberately sabotaged my printing, to get more business? Installed a Remote Access on my computer w/out asking me if I wanted it, and did other things instead of what we'd agreed upon.

Do the Recovery Disks have prompts in them so he could tell where Print Spooler could be and delete it? I've never tried to use anything like that myself. BTW, Microsoft search results sites recommend utilities like Driver Manager, which I once had a lot of trouble with, like a virus, couldn't unzip something, and Driver Update, which may be the very same thing (?) I'm afraid of those too. "Better safe than sorry." And it's just their scans that are free. You have to then Register and pay, can't know how many, if any, things were fixed. Unless, my printer might start working. I doubt it. If I could have found that Print Queue in C:, I was to press Control & A keys together, select the print list and delete it. All the suggestions boil down to that and making sure the print spooler is on. (It says "Automatic". I've stopped and started it before, didn't tonight. Should I?)

Is it possible Print Spooler is not even installed? Maybe has been deleted? What then?

you mention were created by or for you after getting your computer then they contain an image of your hard drive that should take it back to factory specs (just like it was when you first started using it out of the box).

It would not have any later Service Packs nor would it have all the Windows patches released since the computer was built.

Using them is something that YOU should easily be able to do, and this link offers details on what you would do to recover to factory specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07145&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=376827&tmp_track_link=ot_search#N415

That should also take care of any spooler problems. If you then get the same messages after re-installing the printer it would signify a problem with the printer itself.

The set of 8 CD's came with the new hard drive I bought in 2007, so EVERYTHING should be on them. I'm asking could the slightly-wild (imo) one-time repairman have deliberately deleted the Print Spooler? He deviated so much from what we'd agreed on, so as to charge me more, that I WOULDN'T PUT IT PAST HIM, one bit, to have just deleted the Print Spooler, IF that can be done. I'm asking, could it be done?

I have SP3, and must have all the updates because the computer itself is working fine. Support for XP will end on the 8th of next month, btw, I guess everyone knows.

Last night I came across an HP UNIVERSAL driver, I may try this morning before time for church, put a little extra donation in if it works, or go looking for light-weight new computers this afternoon, maybe Best Buy. Walmart has a little e-machine I could easily carry in for repairs, not have to pay pickup/delivery charges. Looks a bit cheap, but at least I could carry it. The sales clerk said he wouldn't buy one. But he can carry the big ones. What do you guys think?

You will need to make certain that your specific printer is supported for the operating system you have.

In trying to reread some of your posts, it does appear that you've had a number of issues with the possibility of also having some system corruption. A corrupt system can also affect hardware and peripherals. Sometimes a repair installation of Windows can fix such things.

I've had my share of problems with HP printer drivers when replacing or adding printers on systems. I've found it best to completely remove the printer and not just the icon. It's a two step process with XP, BTW. If printer management software is also involved, this becomes more complicated. I'd not try to re-install any printer driver or software until I was certain that all remnants of the old stuff was gone. Driver installation errors are often caused by such remnants that are still on the drive. Manual removal can sometimes be done if you can find the offending files but this is not an easy trick. I believe you're also dealing with an all-in-one printer so I extend my sympathies. These are not so friendly. It may be that, at some point, you return the system to it's factory state an rebuild from scratch. It's not a task I envy doing but here's hoping that persistence pays off. You won't learn nearly as much from being told what to do as you will by banging your head against a problem. The more bumps, the more you'll retain. Good luck.

The lady next to me at church this morning said try the Recovery Disks myself, as I had never even looked for labels. So I hurried home, went through all of them, surprised
how simple that was, but could find NOTHING about printers! (Except Image Zone 4.2. You're right that it's an All in One, and it's all installed, Print Status says Ready, but I
just get an error msg on every document in the Print Queue. ) There was a picture print Wizard, which said Not Responding when I clicked on it to see what it was.

NTFS doesn't mean printers, evidently. What's Runtime Components?

Not to worry, Everybody. I'll either pay the better repairman $60 to "set up" my printer, which is supposed to be installed but isn't on these 8 Recovery CD's, unless under some odd name, or, maybe I'll even buy a computer if I can find a lightweight one that has everything in it, on which fonts can be enlarged.

Anybody want to recommend a lightweight COMPUTER? I think Asus is a bit lighter. Would I have any problems with it that you know of? XP isn't going to be supported after a couple more weeks anyway, unless some special program.

I thank you all so much. This is a really good forum. And MAYBE I'll be able to help friends solve problems when their equipment is wearing out. (Ha!)