My problem is with ‘spoolsv.exe’. Every time the laptop is booted spoolsv crashes/corrupts and inconsequence printing is not possible. This happens on regardless if I have a printer connected or not (except the Microsoft Fax & XPS writer). The spoolsv.exe file (Microsoft – 545 KB) changes to spoolsv.exe.org and there is a new spoolsv.exe file (Phoenix – 43 KB). I don’t know if this normal or not and where does the Phoenix file come from? (my BIOS id Phoenix). Deleting the Phoenix file and reinstating/changing the extension of the Microsoft file also clears the problem until re-booting. Using the ‘sfc/scannow’ facility repairs the corruption + switch the spooler on and printing is possible – switch off/on and the problem is back. I have another machine with Windows 7 64 bit installed – I have copied/pasted files from this (including spoolsv) but with the same result. I have tried numerous ‘solutions’ including tinkering with the registry – including increasing the service timeout, removing all printers references (except Microsoft), in fact I can’t remember them all. Many of the changes have solved the problem but only for a half a dozen boots/starts when the problem reappears. I have done a disk clean and no problems are found. I’m fairly sure I’m virus and malware free having had installed Norton Internet Sercurity 2011 (ans prior to that AVG) and Malwarebytes. I have been through the various possibilities on a virus/malware forum and they believe I am clean. I have now done a windows reinstall on several occasions and guess what, I still have the problem. Actually the first time I did it it did solve the problem for 6 or so boots. I am totally lost – is it hardware or BIOS or corruption of the Windows Installation partition or ?? I am running Windows 7 64 bit on a Dell Studio 1555 laptop. I don’t think the printer is at fault since after the Windows reinstall I have not connected the printer but I still have the problem. Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Hi, As my understanding, if you have reinstalled operation system, and still have this issue, I suspect this is related to the startup items in Windows 7. I suggest you boot into Clean Boot mode to check if this issue still occurs: 1. Click Start, type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER to start the System Configuration utility. 2. On the General tab, click to select the option Selective startup, and then click to clear the option Load startup items check box. 3. On the Services tab, click to select the Hide all Microsoft services check box, and then click Disable all. 4. Click OK, and then click Restart. Alex ZhaoPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Update on my Spooling problem since the last post. After reinstalling Windows (spooling not working) I did a few minor changes – added Norton + choose Chrome as my browser, guess what Spoolsv did not corrupt. The only other changes are numerous Window updates. Then after some 6 – 7 starts the problem has reappeared again. Thanks for your suggestion Alex but I can’t see anything with the services. My system is still in a basic state with the only non-Microsoft being ‘AMD Ext Events Utility’, Norton and the Print Spooler by Phoenix (when spoolersv is corrupted). The one thing I have noticed since the reinstall is that the start of the boot takes a lot longer i.e. the opening screen (showing the DELL trade mark) the progress bar stops about 2/3 away across for several seconds before progressing, then the boot is normal. Probably not significant. Thanks for your help.

I have discovered that the problem does not occur if I close by putting the laptop into hibernation instead of shutting down completely, so it must be something in the start up causing the problem. The laptop does not have a lot loaded – only the Chrome browser and Norton Internet security. The only non-Microsoft services loaded at start up is the AMD Ext Events Utility and Norton – could one of the Microsoft services be the problem? My knowledge is not good enough to know what this ‘something’ maybe, so some help or suggestions would really be appreciated. I think the statement that 'spoolsv corrupts' is inaccurate since deleting the Phoenix Spoolsv and changing the extension of the Microsoft spoolsv from spoolsv.exe.org to spoolsv.exe does solve the problem (until re-booting)