Can not connect printer to iMac running osx 10.6.8

Question

Hi, I am a complete novice and need help please
I had an iMac and it ran great albeit a few little glitches with our HP Mulitfunction printer but I thought the printer was a dud.  At christmas I got hubby a new ipod and things went downhill from there
In order to run our new ipod I had to install a new operating system as we got Mac OSX Snow Leopard and were sent by apple version 10.6.3
I imediately had to update it to work with our ipod and now iphone 5's to 10.6.8 which is where we are now
From updating I could no longer use our HP printer, sometimes it printed and sometimes it didnt, it alternated with being able to scan or not scan.  I uninstalled and reinstalled all the software and drivers and googled til my fingers bled possible fixes for the issue.  Nothing worked, we decided we needed a new printer as it was too old (albeit 3 yrs) and no longer was compatible.
Cue today and we purchase a new Samsung Laser Colour Multifunction CLX-3305FN.  I followed the instructions on the booklet to install it and it hasn't worked.  Uninstalled it, googled it, reinstalled it, tried to USB connect it, uninstalled it, reinstalled in, downloaded new drivers, checked for software updates etc etc until I find myself here hoping someone can help.
I think it's a network issue with the computer?  I really don't know but in lamen terms;
All printers I can eventually get to come up but they are always "orange"/off line once I send a print job to them
When the computer tries to send the print job, it comes up with an error message;
Unable to connect to printer; will retry in 30 seconds...
Refer Printer Utility for detailed printer status and trouble shooting guides.(Utility, Printer Setup>Utility>Open Printer Utility)
YET
If I go in through the printer utility I can scan from the device to the computer meaning they are connected?
I've got the USB from the HP printer connected which is why I think scan is working but I don't know
Ive run network diagnostics and it always comes back fine (green lights down the network status list)
I've "pinged" the printer through the network utility and this comes up;
Ping has started…
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
ping: sendto: Network is down
PING 169.254.214.99 (169.254.214.99): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
--- 169.254.214.99 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss
What is wrong with me???  Why can I not just get this to work?
Anyhelp, much appreciated
Ta
Bree

Answer 1

Thank you so much Paul_31 for your suggestions, HUGELY appreciate the effort
I have reset the printing system, a few times for good measure but nadda.
I have also looked at getting the software from the Apple site after seeing that with Snow Leopard you should let the operating system lead the install not the manufacteurers software as it is most likely out of date.  I too found it wasn't there so I uninstalled the software got up the CLX_3300 series stuff then went from there with the USB cable.  It apparently hasn't worked either
Unfortunately now after using the print utility to scan for a while that has now gone again on the last restart of the Mac.  I am so completely clueless
The box says the printer is compatible, the place of purchase said it was compatible, the Samsung site says it is compatible.
I think it's the set up of my Mac? Our maybe a glitch in the network settings?
Thanks again