Dell computer printing problem

I just added a new Dell gripe to my computergripes.com site. A relative couldn't print on his computer, all the printer definitions disappeared. He couldn't add a new printer definition due to an error with the Print Spooler service. The event logs had many errors, too many for a phone call.

I remotely controlled his machine and found that the Print Spooler service wouldn't start because it depends on the LexBce Server service which wouldn't start because it was disabled. Turns out LexBce is Lexmark printer software that Dell pre-installs. Thanks for nothing Dell. This machine had no Lexmark printers attached to it.

The real problem is why the Print Spooler depends on Lexmark software if there are no Lexmark printers. Or put another way, the real problem is Dell. I enabled the LexBce service, started it, started the Print Spooler service and all was well. For more, see the computer gripes entry.