Jantics

This is a shameless, blatant cry for help.
Lemme just say that right now.

I tried installing a new printer today and have had a miserable time.

If ANY of you out there can help, or if you know someone who can help, please do something.

Here’s some background information:

This is the very first printer I’ve had with my new computer.
The computer was custom-made for me last summer, and is certainly not outdated in any way.  I promise.  So the problem can’t be that it’s “old.”
The OS is Windows XP.
The printer/scanner is an HP deskjet F4200.

Ok.  Here’s what I did to set it up:
1.  Plugged it in to the electrical outlet (duh)
2.  Plugged in the USB cable.
3.  Turned the “power” button on.
4.  The computer immediately recognized that I’d introduced new hardware, and brought up this nice wizard which guided me through the whole process.  I put in the installation CD and everything went beautifully.  It said the installation was successful.  Then it gave me this window which offered me the opportunity to print a test page:

I clicked on “Print Sample Page.”
At first it didn’t seem to want to; nothing was responding.
I checked to make sure the cartridges were installed right, and yes, they looked right.  I took them out and put them back in again, just to be sure.

Here’s the window that says YES, the cartridges are correctly installed:

It didn’t seem to understand that there was paper in the printer, but eventually, YES, it finally printed out a test page.
Everything looked fine.

The problem is that it won’t print out anything from any of my programs at all.

Despite the fact that my “Printers” folder lists it as installed and ready,  (see screencap), none of my programs are recognizing it.

(BTW, I don’t understand why it’s listing two printers in that window.  I’ve only used this one.)
The black check mark next to the F4200 means it’s selected as the default printer, right??

Yes… see, here’s the window that confirms it’s the default printer:

Yet, no program will recognize it.

Microsoft Word gives me this:

My photo-editing software program gives me this:

And my music composition software gives me this:

I have restarted the computer.  (Twice, in fact.)
I have turned the printer off, and back on again.  (At least three times).
I have checked to make sure the cables are still connected.  (Yes, they are.)

The frustrating thing is that I’ve now gotten THIS error, which makes no sense because I can SEE that everything’s connected:

I clicked on the “Help Documents”  and got this:

Notice the options it gives:
1.  Computer not turned on.
Wrong.  Of COURSE it’s turned on.  Here I am, using it to make this blog entry.  I can see the blue light flickering away, like it always does when it’s on.    As a side note, I can also see that the printer itself IS on; the lights are all on, just as they should be.  Nothing is blinking or giving me any warning signs.  Just the regular green lights which say it’s ready.

2.  Computer not connected to the product.
Well, it MUST be connected to the product, because it recognized the new hardware as soon as I plugged the USB cable in.   And it printed out a test page.

3.  Software not installed correctly.
Wrong, because the screen SAID it successfully completed the installation process.

4.  Software installed but not running.
How could this be?  I don’t understand this one either.  The (so-called) “Help” section of the software is running, the “Print test page” thing worked, so certainly there’s no reason the rest of it wouldn’t be running, right?

I took out the installation CD and re-inserted it, and it remembered me.  (Or, rather, the computer remembered the CD.)  I got a window which said “Welcome Back!”

I am at the end of my rope.

Can any of you explain what’s going on?
Why won’t my printer work the way it’s supposed to?

Those “help” documents aren’t helping at all, and I have quickly grown to loathe them with an intensity usually reserved for onions, worms, and migraines.
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