Page Tiling is Way Off -- fixable?

Question

I'm running Illustrator CS3 (13.0.2) under an evaluation copy of Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit (build 7100) and the page tiling for my Photosmart printer is way off and mighty peculiar to boot. A "new" file may show the correct margins, but once I've gone into "print," and back to the file, the tiling shows 1/4" all around, as for the Laserjet (which is the default printer). Or the tiling lines may appear well outside of the page outline -- and double, with one set about 3/8" larger all around. A file I keep as a template for a plain 8 1/2x11" portrait layout opens with the tiling lines in the right place, but also changes as above once I've gone into "print" and come back to the file. The print preview shows 1/4" margins all around, and prints to that size, meaning anything laid out (lain out?) to the page tiling is off the 1/2" margin of the Photosmart. A similar "template" file for landscape does the same. (Landscape page tiling has always been wonky -- that is unchanged or maybe worse, with tiling lines for both layouts, doubled, etc.)
This is some kind of a system problem, not an Illustrator or perhaps even an Adobe software problem (it's the same in Photoshop though I don't often print from PS so it's not bothersome there), but I thought someone here might have had the same problem or one like it.
I 'm using the latest printer driver -- insofar as there is a "latest:" for Vista 65bit--, but HP didn't much want to install it to Win7 -- it did install when I chose the  "install with recommended settings" button.
Any input will be appreciated. (Except don't tell me to get CS4, I tried for a month to get the copy I bought to install and spent days' worth of phone hours to accomplish nothing, finally got some of my money back and decided to wait for CS5 or until I find non-Adobe programs to do some or all of the jobs... whichever comes first...)
TIA
Molly

Answer 1

<Have you considered creating a user-defined default document profile for the printer in teh printers control panel?
That doesn't seem to be an option with this printer, at least not anywhere I can find.
<Sounds like the print engine is querying those values and the system simply returns >>>what it thinks<<< are correct settings based on your printer default.
But the printer default (letter, document, meaning with the normal printer margin of .25" top and sides, about .4" on the bottom) should return the correct margins, shouldn't it? (.25" all around is the default for the Laserjet, but it makes no difference whether the default printer is the Photosmart or the Laserjet)
<Also check, which printer language it's using. It often makes a huge difference of PS vs. PCL. vs. WinPrint (GDI+).
<Far as I remember it's PCL like all the other HP printers we've had  --can't find that in the properties tabs either and put the manuals somewhere where I knew I could always find them... (bet I can download them)
Illustrator has never liked that printer much -- CS2 crashed if I changed the settings (which was nearly always necessary) from its printer setup function. And CS3 still gets absolutely crazy with page tiling if I change the page setting from portrait to landscape. I don't remember if PS has the same troubles.
<If all else fails, an alternative may be to save as PDF and print from Acrobat. It has a much better handle on such things. AI is really quite limited in that regard...
What I did, and should have thought of first thing!  was put a guide on the lower page tiling line of the template file (for printing custom-sized labels and sets of photos, has centers and cut lines marked) as soon as I had the template file  on the screen. The tiling lines are correct to the printable area of the Photosmart until the print function is evoked.  Then when I'm designing and spacing labels etc., I'll know where the lower boundary is.
Saving as a PDF isn't very practical for this stuff as my husband is of the nibbled to death by ducks, or millimetres, school of design and will have me making mm adjustments for hours on a label which to be stuck on a hard hat (and thus wrinkled and distorted, as a rule). Every time he needs a new set or a reprinting of an existing badge. (Hmmm... if I PDFed the file and told him it was unchangeable...)
M