NO printers work, not even document writer.. Everything used to work.

[lukec53]

So I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, For months I had any printer I set up working easily, and never had any problems printing. Last week I went to print a document from microsoft word, and it says "Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup". I thought that was pretty weird, so I went into Google Chrome, and tried printing a PDF online, it said "The printer selected is not available or not installed corectly. Check your printer or try to select another printer"
I figured it was probably just a simple driver issue, but to make sure, I selected "Microsoft XPS Document writer" from the drop-down list, but to my surprise, it had the same error message, as did all of the options on that printer list.
I uninstalled and reinstalled my printer driver anyways, and that did not fix my problem, even after trying to update the driver. Actually, it made it worse. My computer almost completely froze up and was running at 100% cpu power... I had to restart it. This happened a few times and I noticed that every time it did, in Task Manager in the processes there was a process called something like "USB setup" or something that effect (i don't want to freeze my computer to find out). I also noticed about half a million "splwow64.exe - Print driver host for 32 bit applications". (is this supposed to say "for 64 bit applications" if im running 64 bit windows? or is that literally for programs that are 32 bit programs?)
I can't print anything at all, and have restarted many times. I think this is a deeper problem than drivers, I KNOW its not just my printer driver, nor my printer because it works with my girlfriends computer. Other usb devices work fine.
Any ideas? Help!!

 

[zigzag3143]

So I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, For months I had any printer I set up working easily, and never had any problems printing. Last week I went to print a document from microsoft word, and it says "Windows cannot print due to a problem with the current printer setup". I thought that was pretty weird, so I went into Google Chrome, and tried printing a PDF online, it said "The printer selected is not available or not installed corectly. Check your printer or try to select another printer"
I figured it was probably just a simple driver issue, but to make sure, I selected "Microsoft XPS Document writer" from the drop-down list, but to my surprise, it had the same error message, as did all of the options on that printer list.
I uninstalled and reinstalled my printer driver anyways, and that did not fix my problem, even after trying to update the driver. Actually, it made it worse. My computer almost completely froze up and was running at 100% cpu power... I had to restart it. This happened a few times and I noticed that every time it did, in Task Manager in the processes there was a process called something like "USB setup" or something that effect (i don't want to freeze my computer to find out). I also noticed about half a million "splwow64.exe - Print driver host for 32 bit applications". (is this supposed to say "for 64 bit applications" if im running 64 bit windows? or is that literally for programs that are 32 bit programs?)
I can't print anything at all, and have restarted many times. I think this is a deeper problem than drivers, I KNOW its not just my printer driver, nor my printer because it works with my girlfriends computer. Other usb devices work fine.
Any ideas? Help!!

Does indeed sound like a driver. The fact that your GF computer works but yours doesnt just means she has the right setup you dont.

Go into device manager>Show hidden devices>USB tab>delete anything greyed out. reboot.

see this tutorial.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165554-usb-driver-general-fix-problems.html#post1417126

 

[Britton30]

Welcome to Seven forums lukec53.
The splwow64.exe is a host driver for 64 bit systems to run 32 bit apps, in this case it is for printing. The "wow" part is Windows on Windows, such as syswow64, which let 32 bit software to run in the 64 bit environment. It usually starts when an app which may use printing is opened. You have several because you've been trying to print several times and failed, at least I think so.

After trying zigzag's steps try a virus scan with MalwareBytes, there a link below my sig. Update it and run a full scan. The 100% CPU activity may be the splwow processes, but may be some sort of infection.