Well, thanks to all of your replies, I went to the computer store and picked up a HP 6940 deskjet printer. Very nice and modern looking (much newer than my 882C).

So I was told it comes with everything but a USB connector which I then bought on the spot. So far so good. Got it home yesterday.

This morning was the big day.

I have owned MANY printers in 20 years. Mostly HP, I did own a Lexmark, hated it, I did own an Epson, hated it. So I have stuck with HP and I have an HP Media Center so I like everything to match.

And for $49.00 plus $7 for the USB thing, no big price here.

And it comes with two cartridges, one color, one black and white.

So I unpack everything (I can hook up a printer in my sleep, no need to read instructions, and that's good BECAUSE IT DIDN'T COME WITH ANY SETUP POSTER, which the user manual said "Use the SETUP POSTER to set up the printer".

WHAT SETUP POSTER???

I'm looking and I'm looking, things are in french and english and because I speak French, I can definitely see NO SETUP POSTER because I know what a setup poster looks like and there is no Setup Poster.

So I said "okay, you can do this without a setup poster.

I do all the connections, and I am now to the part where you insert the cartridges.

None of my previous printers used these cartridges so of course Melody has to figure out how to insert the two cartridges WITHOUT ANY SETUP POSTER (which would have saved me one hour of my time).

I open the two cartridge thingees, I open the ink cartridges and I try to insert the black cartridge. I absolutely did not know how to do this. There were no instructions on the wrappings, no setup poster, I WAS FLYING BLIND.

I said "Melody, you are tech savvy, you have been setting up printers for years, YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THIS".

No I did NOT!!! I absolutely could not slide the cartridges in, and there was no way to insert these things.

So I said "go online and see if they demonstrate this"

So I unplugged the back of the USB that was going in the printer, because I knew that if I turned on the computer, a little box would appear telling "new hardware found".

So now I just unplug the USB thing, I turn on my computer, I go on the internet, and I type in google "How to insert ink cartridges in Deskjet 6940?

Of course, several links come up and I click on one and lo and behold there is a little animated video detailing how to do this.

I see the ink cartridges are supposed to slide easily into the place where it's supposed to slide into.

I could not do this. There was some kind of barrier preventing me from doing this. I tried removing the barrier, I tried poking the barrier. NOTHING.

I'm doing this all morning long, getting extremely frustrated.

Then a little lightbulb goes off in my head.

I TURN ON THE PRINTER.

The green light goes on, the little barrier SLIDES DOWN IN SOME HIDDEN SPACE, and Melody goes

AHA!!!! I can now slide my cartridges in.

I re-inserted the USB in the back of the printer, and of course a little window pops up "New Hardware found

Now here is the confusing part.

I follow the Hardware wizard (I have XP), it tells me I have successfully installed my printer, my printer is ready, set to be the default printer, but it doesn't print from wordpad.

I then look at my screen and it prompts me to insert a cd. I insert the software cd, and it does it's thing and then it tells me AGAIN

New Software found, insert the cd WHICH I JUST FINISHED INSERTING.

I just exited out of the whole thing.

I tried to print, it printed a sample thing that I typed in word pad, and then all of a sudden it printed (all my itself), some kind of test color sheet.

I would imagine I am all set THANK GOD.

But what do I do if the next time I turn on my computer the message saying "new hardware found, please insert the CD",

If my printer is working, why am I being prompted to insert a cd time and time again. I am now just x'g out of that message.

I FINALLY HAVE MY PRINTER.

lol

Melody

That chart will come in handy if I ever need to identify the boxes of old computer parts sitting in my garage, attic, closets!