Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close

After installing Windows XP SP3 on one of my PCs, the print spooler stopped working. After logging in, error message windows with text like this appeared:

Spooler subsystem app has encountered a problem and needs to close.

I couldn't start the print spooler service, and I couldn't even run Gimp to take screen shots of the error message windows.

Following Microsoft's instructions, I uninstalled all the printer drivers, and the problem was solved. Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the printer drivers I care about (HP Universal Print Driver and PDFCreator), and everything was back to normal.