Startup problems

Could be a power issue. I had a similar problem, although not with the printer port. The computer would turn on, and go through the motions of loading the OS (the drive light was flickering as it usually does during OS load) but the monitor wouldnt "turn on" (ie. it remained off, with the amber light flashing). I unplugged the box from the wall, waited a few minutes then unplugged the ATX power cable from the MB, plugged it back in, plugged the machine into the wall, and it worked. Not sure ofthe cause, or if it's the same issue, but it can't hurt to try.

The Power Spply may not be providing enough power to the board,you may consider switching the power supply and see if this will work

By reading you statement it sounds as though you are changing the printer more then the average person who plugs it in and leaves it. Your statements suggest it is an intermittent fault. That clues me in to the Physical port, cable or printer. If you change the cable on the port frequently you may have broken the cold solder point at the motherboard. A careful inspection of the motherboard out of the case and watching the whole assembly as you plug in the connctor and move the cable would showsthis. (Assuming this is ATX) The cable may indeed be shorting internally, try a new cable for the quickest test. Last option would be the printer. The easiest way is to try another printer of like kind. Although you could have a power supply problem, I would not go there first because the problem is intermittent and never gets past the P.O.S.T. with the parallel port attached to a device would suggest something else. During the P.O.S.T. the B.I.O.S. checks to see that the port is there before it goes to any added in cards I.E. Video, NIC, etc. These are things to look at but I would jump on a new cable first. Don?t rule out it could be a bad parallel port controller.

theres mostlikely a short somewere because the powersupply will shut itself off in case of a short circuit

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