printer has disappeared & can't add any more

I am running XP Pro SP3 which was installed a week ago. Just noticed that
the printer (a Dell ) which was shared among other computers in a workgroup,
is gone. I tried "Add Printer" but no response, neither "Server Properties".

I did a Google search and tried some the following suggestions, such as
restarting print spooler, clearing in registry, MS fixes and notign seems to
work. I even tried Windows repair, but then my systems stalled on bootup
(lucky had an image copy to restore to). Are there any DLL' s that I could
load to get it back? I can get it off some of the other XP machines.

I would appreciate any assistance. I hope to not resort to another install
from scratch, just for a printer.

Was the print spooler service running? Look in the event log for Service
specific errors stating the print spooler service is not running.

If the spooler is running , can you view installed printers in the File
Printer functions from Notepad?

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base he
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"bubu" wrote in message
...
I am running XP Pro SP3 which was installed a week ago. Just noticed that
the printer (a Dell ) which was shared among other computers in a
workgroup,
is gone. I tried "Add Printer" but no response, neither "Server
Properties".

I did a Google search and tried some the following suggestions, such as
restarting print spooler, clearing in registry, MS fixes and notign seems
to
work. I even tried Windows repair, but then my systems stalled on bootup
(lucky had an image copy to restore to). Are there any DLL' s that I
could
load to get it back? I can get it off some of the other XP machines.

I would appreciate any assistance. I hope to not resort to another
install
from scratch, just for a printer.