Hi, We are running Windows 2000 Professional (SP2) on a Pentium 3 IBM laptop with 64MB RAM and 6GB HDD. The laptop is also running Novell client version 4.8xx. When trying to print anything (a Word doc, e-mail, whatever) to a network printer (they are all set-up on Novell queues) the system will hang. This also occurs even when you try to view what printers you have installed. On examining the task list, spoolsv.exe is using up to 90% of the CPU time. I have stopped the print spooler service and restarted it again and still no luck. I am not getting the spoolsv error message that most other people seem to be getting and Bitware was never installed (which I'm glad about after reading the amount of problems others are having). Does anyone else have this problem and/or a fix? I am about to try the registry hack that was posted elsewhere and will let you know if it worked.

Well, the registry entry did work in a way. We can now print, but after printing the machine runs very slowly for about 5 mins and then comes good again. The reason it is running slowly sees to be that the System Process in Task Manager is running at 98%. When it stops, all is well. Any ideas?

First off, I'd look at your Novell client. Aren't they up to version 5 something now? After that I'd check the printer settings and make sure it's spooling correctly and everything. Run around the network and see if you can access other Novell-based items, or if it's just the printers...

I fixed the problem. All I had to do was rebuild the laptop (fully format, re-install Windows 2000 etc.) Hopefully this isn't the only solution but it seems to have fixed the problem. The current version of Novell client for Win2000 according to the Novell site is 4.8xxx. All the printer settings were fine, and everyone else could print to the printer OK. All other Novell resources were fine. I guess it's just one of life's mysteries....