Cannot get Brother HL-2140 laser printer to work -- AT WIT'S END...

Question

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me to get this printer to work -- I'm about at the point that I'm just ready to chuck the d*mn thing out the window!
For the record, I'm trying to use it with a Dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 with 2 GB of memory, running System Version 10.5.6. And connection via USB.
I CANNOT get it to print anything. Well, that's not COMPLETELY accurate -- I WAS able to get it to print a "printer settings" page by pushing the button on the printer. So obviously, it works. But ANYTHING sent from the computer -- no go. Every time, the print monitor or whatever it's called gives me a message saying "*Sending data failed!"*
I have the latest driver downloaded from the Brother website. I have scoured the manual, the Brother website, and googled it, and have tried EVERY fix I've been able to find, save one (that I'm trying to avoid, for reasons I'll explain later). NONE of them have worked.
There was a thread on here back in November, which I would've just posted on, but it's archived:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8507844&tstart=0
I downloaded and tried the Print Therapy program that was mentioned in this thread -- it didn't help. The only thing I haven't tried is archiving and reinstalling, as was mentioned in the thread. I assume this means the system software, right? I REALLY don't want to do this, if I don't absolutely HAVE to. I have always bought Macs, because they just work. I don't want to "get under the hood" and tweak and tinker to get my computer to run better, or constantly have someone ELSE work on it when it's not working right, like many of my PC-owning friends have to. I don't run out and get the newest system software the instant it comes out, either -- instead of getting excited over new features and stuff, I generally tend more to get annoyed that I have to "relearn" or get used to the new ways things are set up or run or whatever. Anyway, when I got an iPhone a little over a year ago, I discovered after bringing it home that I had to go back to the Apple Store to buy Leopard -- because I couldn't activate the phone on my Mac (with old system software). So I did, installed it, and got a blue screen. That's it. Nothing else. I had to call Apple support and have someone talk me through going into the Terminal (which I didn't even know existed until that point) and enter a bunch of code. I felt like I was back in high school 20+ years ago, learning MS-DOS in computer class (which is why I didn't continue on with learning computer programming. Yuk. I discovered the Mac, and never looked back...). After about a half hour or so, we finally got it working. So my point after all that is that if I reinstall Leopard, I'm afraid I'll get just the blue screen again -- and I don't want to go through THAT again...
In the thread, someone mentioned using Pacifist to install just parts of it. If I tried that, does anyone know exactly WHAT parts I would need to reinstall? Or does anyone even know if I'm at risk of getting the "blue screen" again, if I do either this OR a full install? Will it "reset" all that stuff I typed into the Terminal to the way it was when I first installed Leopard, or is whatever I changed in there now permanently changed?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It's 95% sure to be a software problem - but...
You need to start eliminating possibilities. Like, you need to try a different USB cable. You need to try the printer and cable on a different computer.
Go to Blue Apple Menu > About this Mac > More Info and check to be sure your Mac knows there's a Brother printer attached.
Use your Apple Hardware Test CD (or maybe your model has that as a program on the original Install DVD) and run the test.
Read up on Archive and Install:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1545
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1264477