Print Spooler not restarting ... timing out..

Hi All,

Just came across a weird-as problem today... I cant get a print to leave the print queue. I've been able to stop the print spooler but when i go to restart it, the progress bar takes a long time to reach the end and when it does get to the end i get an error indicating that the process has taken too long i.e. a timeout type error. The printer spooler then continues to indicating "starting" and i am unable to stop or restart this service. I have to shut down the PC but by simply just by holding down the power down button as a "shut-down" or "Restart" does not respond.

I can access the web-brower interface for the printer and my other pc can print to it. My PC is getting an IP address via DHCP successfully and i am able to browse the internet and get email etc.

I've been reading up on some possible causes and some sites have simply mentioned that it could just be a bad driver and to go via registry aswell as folder and remove files.

I am going to to do that soon but i just thought i'd ask for some more help just in case. So any suggestions would be great. Thank you.

Kind Regards

Steve