Base System Device - Printer stopped working

I have a HP 4050N printer and recently purchased a USB to parallel cable so I
could use it with my current laptop that does not have a parallel port. It
worked fine for several weeks, but then I started traveling and would unplug
the printer when I took the computer with me then plug it back in when I
returned.

Then I began getting a message when I booted that there were three unknown
base system devices to install. I wasn’t sure what they were so I did not
install them. Gradually the printer became intermittent and finally it will
not print at all.

When I went to the device manager the base system devices show up with a
question mark in yellow.

When I went to Printers and Faxes in the control panel I find four HP4050N
icons that I did not install (I assume they self-installed each time I tried
a different USB port).

Any advice on how to make my printer work again?