Stuck Spool

XP Pro+SP2+updates (not SP3).
I've just purchased and installed a new HP 2605dn Laserjet printer. Its
attached to a LAN via cable. It installed OK and ran perfectly the first
day. Neither the printer nor the computer were switched off overnight
and the next morning, when I tried to print something, nothing printed.
The document appeared in the print queue but it wouldn't print, neither
could I delete it. Powering the printer off and on had no effect, and
reprinting the document just added another document to the queue and
still nothing printed. In desperation I restarted the computer and,
without further ado, one document printed and the queue was empty. No
further problems were experienced that day, but the problem recurred the
next day. Sometimes it recurs in the same day, and once it was OK
overnight but recurred during the day.
I've had several email exchanges with HP technical support who were no
use whatsoever. They told me to update the printer firmware, but the
level they said was the latest was actually back level from that in the
printer. When this pointed out they accepted that I had the latest level
installed and, basically, gave up.
I installed the drivers on my wife's laptop that runs XP
Home+SP2+updates - she gets the same problem.

I've discovered that stopping and starting the spool allows printing
without restarting the computer, but its not very convenient. I've even
written a little .cmd to do it, but again, its not very convenient.

It's a new printer with the latest drivers and firmware - any ideas?


--
Regards, Gary Wooding
(To reply by email, change feet to foot in my address)