WIndows 7 Print spooler off.

have you checked the spooler service?  Might have crashed.  Should start again on a reboot, or you could just manually start it.  But it might also crash again if there's a buggy driver.  Worth starting spooler service and seeing what happens.  If it happens again update all print drivers.

go to service manager and run the service for print spooler.

I rebooted and it did not help.  How do I get to the service manager to reset the spooler?

in xp it is click start run then type services.msc. but i dont know exactly what is the command in w7.
or you can go to start control panel to get it.

downloaded and reinstalled driver.  Did nothing.  In Windows 7 is there place to restart the Print Spooler?

At the command prompt.. "net start spooler" and "net stop spooler" are the commands to start / stop your spooler services.

Nothing is working.  Through Help and Support in Windows 7 went to Administrative Tasks, Services, and restarted Print Spooler.  It showed start.  Went back through Control Panel and printer was there and set as default, also PDF writer returned which also had been gone.  Tried to print through Word - Print Spooler Off.  Rebooted - Print Spooler Off.  Went to Microsoft website and downloaded their printer trouble shooter, ran it, said it fixed the problem, printers in Control Panel look right, try to print - Spooler Off.  Go through Admin and turned service back on, try again, Spooler off.  Now what? Buy a MAC?

Could a cable cause this symptom? Should I try replacing it?

I've attached a copy of the error message with Control Panel looking OK
PrintSpooler.odg

I tried to deinstall last updates for office, however, did not help. Then I restored the computer to a date in the past and it worked.
First I really thought that this must have been an update that went wrong, but that was not the case.  Most likely it was a specific program that I installed which caused this, however, despite I deinstalled that program, the printspooler kept crashing...

Its changed, but still a problem.  I got the print spooler to stay up long enough to delete ALL printers.  I rebooted PC and the printer connected is back in printers.  There is a job in the print queue that won't print and I can't delete.  Removed all printers again. Turned printer off.  Print spool still up.  Rebooted. Printer is back with document stuck in queue.  It won't delete it won't print.  Print Spooler is now staying up. Noting else will print.  Error message document in queue

Rebooted for third time. Deleted all printers.  Rebooted.  Printer returned and works.  

Nice one, glad you got there in the end.  It seems HP are really cutting costs on some of their printers - the drivers really are quite rubbish.  If you get this again remember to try a different driver type, default is usually PCL 6 so try PCL5 or PostScript.  O, one other thing, with one printer in the end I had to change the driver to HP LaserJet 5L which still meant it worked fine but the model specific driver was just that unstable...