Thank you for all the replies, everyone. Here's where I am:
Yes, I have administrator access and networking works fine, even accessing the other printers - but it asks for drivers on THIS computer to run the remote printers, and that's where I get stuck. The printer spool service is running, and I tried restarting the spool and then installing - no go.
Even before checking the CMOS, I tried the "dir > lpt1" at the command prompt and it print without problems. In my BIOS setup I have the options of {disabled, 378, 278, 3BC} for the Parallel Port Address, and {normal, bi-directional, EPP, ECP} for the Mode. I had it set to 378 and bi-directional, and it worked, so I don't think its the port. Also, in checking Device Manager and Registry I can see that the computer senses that the HP is connected, as it has tried to assign it "lpt1.4," whatever 1.4 is. I tried "dir > lpt1.4" for the hell of it and that worked too. Though I'm at wits end over here, I think juicekrew is right -- it's not the hardware. I've had this printer for a while with this machine, under win2k, etc., and it's worked fine before.
juicekrew, as far as the HP driver link you sent me: it ends up telling me that the driver is included with the Windows XP setup files, which I know it is, and not giving me an option to download it separately from the site. Besides that, I'm convinced that the installer itself or the windows installation is at fault here, maybe with registry entries(?), as trying to install proper XP drivers for other printers won't work either. The install stalls at the end of the wizard.
Now in terms of this boot sector stuff. I had my win2k booting from a second 40GB drive ( D: ) and wanted to move all my files onto the primary drive (160GB, C: ) so I could eventually remove D:. So I installed WinXP on C: maybe a week or two ago, which hadn't been booting before, and cut-and-pasted all my D: files, including the D:\WINNT folder for win2k, onto C:. I didn't do a "true reinstall," but I installed it on this disk which to my recollection never booted before. If it's true that I have this boot sector virus, I would have needed to get it on the C: drive's XP installation in these past two weeks or so, right? ...
In any case, if at all possible I'd like to not have to reinstall everything for the 3rd time. Is there some way to scan for a boot sector virus before I take any action? I have avast! antivirus software, and my BIOS even supports boot virus protection, but I'm not sure if I ever had it enabled :-D... Or, should I install XP on the D: drive and see if I can install printers then?
Thank you again for all your guidance,
Tryforceful