Spool 32 Errors
Some printing problems in Windows 95/98 and above are caused by faulty interactions between the print spool system and the application performing the printing. As yet Microsoft has not provided a reasonable solution or explanation. The typical symptom is that the print job is successfully printed but the application performing the printing doesn't receive correct notification and hangs, or a Spool32 error message is raised.
Overview
Pre-loading spool32.exe may help. This can be done in several ways, but adding it to the WIN.INI is a neat solution.
Solution (for many cases)
Setup the pre-loading spool32.exe at startup by performing the following steps:
1. Run SYSEDIT from the RUN command in the start menu.
2. Select the WIN.INI file.
3. Change the line "load=" to read "load=spool32". Note: case doesn't matter.
4. Quit from SYSEDIT and reboot the PC.
Problem Continues
If pre-loading the spooler hasn't solved the problem then you will need to look further.
Microsoft advises that local printers using ECP type printer ports may cause applications to stops responding and hang. (Refer to Microsoft Document Q141919.)
A technical article on trouble-shooting spool32 errors can also be found on the MS website. Article number: Q191949
If the PC uses an ECP printer port and it is suffering spool32 type errors and hanging while printing, then the printer port should be changed to 'normal' mode within the CMOS settings of the PC.
Extensive information on problems and solutions for spool32 errors can also be found on the Internet using a search engine such as Google, and entering "Spool 32 error" as the search term. This will list numerous articles relating to this problem.
Microsoft suggests that "terminate and stay resident" software may be implicated in the problem. These are generally programs that sit in the "background" performing special tasks, such as virus scanning, etc. It may be worthwhile to uninstall these applications (if possible) one at a time, to see if this helps resolve the issue.
9/5/2001
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