USB Printer Problems

I recently went to fix a friends computer that he said would not shutdown. Upon prodding I found it was having a USB controller error. It is a relatively new Dell System(4600) running XP. Upon turning off the printer, the system successfully shut itself down. The printer/scanner model is an HP psc2175xi. The system will also not bootup with power on to the printer and gives a similar USB error. The USB port used is the primary port on the rear of the computer. The device manager shows no problems!!! Anybody seen this before? It seems that the solution should be simple but no luck so far.

USB devices can be finicky. I have an m-audio ozone which is a keyboard MIDI controller and audio interface I use with my (coincidentally, Dell) laptop.

If I power it up before I boot my computer, when the computer does boot it "detects new hardware" then, if I let it, proceeds to try installing the drivers (which are already installed) thereby freezing my computer and causing me great frustration at my saturday night jam sessions. I must do this, in order: 1. Hook up the USB cable but leave the ozone powered off 2. turn on the laptop 3. once laptop is fully booted turn on the ozone

If I do that, everything works splendidly. If I forget to make sure the power on the ozone is off though ... oodles of trouble.

So, no I don't really have an answer to your printer issue except to note that it's probably a similar thing in the way windows detects devices on USB ports.