Powerbook not recognizing printer drivers

Question

so, my powerbook for some reason is not recognizing new HP printer drivers. this has happened twice now with two different printers (both mac-compatible). this is a new thing--i used to use an HP printer quite happily with this laptop.
here's what happens:
i install. installation is successful, hooray. the hp device manager opens, i choose my device (the Deskjet F300, in this case), and i'm ready to go.
i open Word to print a doc. i get an error saying "word cannot print due to a problem with the current printer."
i open my Print Preferences panel and lo and behold, there's no printer in the list. i click the [+] button to add a printer.
my Printer Browser appears. the DJ F300 appears in the list as a USB device (there are no other printers). I select it.
in the subwindow below, i see this:
-printer name: Deskjet F300
-location: home
-print using: [dropdown menu of printer drivers]
i can't proceed until i select a driver. the F300 is not listed among the HP drivers in the dropdown menu, so i click the button that says More Printers.
the AppleTalk browser opens. there are no printers, but after a moment, a dialog box pops up saying a new driver has been detected, and do i want to reload the browser? i click OK to reload the browser.
and nothing happens. the driver still does not appear anywhere.
i have uninstalled and reinstalled the software, both from the CD and by downloading it from HP's site. i have run disk utility, but it didn't help. does anyone have any ideas?
if this is at all related--my computer also doesn't recognize that i've agreed to my iTunes user agreement (i have to re-agree every time i launch iTunes) and it doesn't remember that i want make iPhoto my default (although i click OK every time). it also won't remember changes to my screen saver--all small, annoying things i can live with, but maybe a clue to what's not working?

Answer 1

When you click on the blue circle in the upper right with the white magnifying glass, if it isn't indexing, it will just show you a search field with the text Spotlight next to it, and any results from your last search if you had results. If you are able to search for stuff there, usually that means the index is OK. If no search results come up when you search, that means the index needs to be rebuilt. To rebuild the index go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Spotlight and select Privacy. Drag the hard drive icon in there, and then remove it with the minus sign below. Indexing will restart, and will be indicated in the Spotlight menu until it is finished. This may take several hours.