printer spooler

i am unable to print anything as the computer does not recognise the printer when i click print, however it does recognise it is plugged in under my computer. it says i need to run the spooler service and when i click 'yes' to do so nothing happens. i have uninstalled the software and tried to reinstall it but it now says the spooler service needs to be active for me to do so. i have looked under msconfig and it is ticked to start up when windows boots, howver it says the program has been stopped. i have not stopped it and this comes up everytime i boot. how do i enable the spooler ? any advice greatly appreciated.