Case of the missing printer

All was well until I got a spool 32 error when trying to print (HP LaserJet 5P on a W98SE amchine). I Ran selective startup to disable to win.ini file (Q191949 in Windows Knowledgebase), restart, reinstall printer, etc. That worked for a minute or so, then it stopped printing again. I can uninstall the printer then reinstall it, log off, log back on and it will print fine for a couple of minutes and then quits printing again. That looped for a while and now whenever I install a new printer (with the print test page option checked) it automatically tells me that it is unable to print. This is happening on the local printer as well as any network printers that I try to hook this particular computer to. Any ideas???