spoolsv.exe crashes instantly

Print spooler was crashing on Windows XP client. spoolsv.exe and the c:\windows\system32\spool\printers directory was empty.

mkdir c:\prtspool

Pop open regedit,
go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers
and change the DefaultSpoolDirectory to the new c:\prtspool
net start spooler
it works.
Don't ask me why or how. I don't rightly care, but then I'd probably want to run scandisk or something.

Printers sometimes don't print completely. Try a different printing processor

The call goes out, "Gerald! I can't print properly!" I look -- sure enough, only part of the printout actually showed up on the page. I tried mono, then color, then landscape, then portrait and ... nothing.

"I called tech support of the software vendor and the printer vendor. They said it's a network admin issue."

I'm baffled. If the software vendor can't figure it out and the printer vendor can't figure it out, what am I going to do? Ah. I remember. I've encountered strangeness before. I changed the Print Processor from RAW to something... anything else. What do you know? It worked. Fun day.