Unfortunately, you did not really give enough information to fully identify
your exact problem.
How did you attempt to uninstall the old printer drivers?
Windows uninstall or the printer uninstall from the OEM (If it exists)?
Have you tried ti uninstall while in "Safe" mode?
Have you looked to see if the OEM offers a "cleanup" utility on it's web
site?
Printer make and model information might help.

When all else fails, and you attempt a manual uninstall, The first step is
to back up the registry. Next, it is usually necessary to examine the
registry for any entries that can be identified as related to the printer
and or the mfrs name. (A manual uninstal is usually a last ditch effort, and
can lead to problems.)
IE entries containing references to epson, or HP for example.

Printer driver files tend to have prefixes that begin with one or more
letters that are the beginning of the mfrs name.
BR (Brother) HP(Hewlett Packard) E or EP (Epson) and so forth
Finally some of the related registry entries contain a long string of
letters and numbers. There can refer to other registry entries that should
also be removed during a manual uninstall. (Search using the string within
the registry.)

"Boris of Adelaide" wrote in
message ...
I have a couple of defunct printers on my XP system. When I try to delete
them, Windows refuses. Says it is 'deleting - off-line" but nothing
further
happens. I tried refreshing the Printer spooler but that didn't help. The
current printer is correctly installed and working.