Can't get printer connected

Hi

My main PC died and has gone away for repair so I'm trying to set up a skeleton system on my laptop.

Laptop is IBM ThinkPad, running XP Professional.

I'm trying to connect it to the HP Color Laserjet 3000 that I normally use, but without any success whatsoever.

I plugged the printer into a USB port and it tried to install itself with the "New Hardware Found" wizard and "generic IEEE 1284.4 printing support". This whizzes arround for a long time and and copies a load of files to Windows\system then finally comes back with a message that the installation failed because "RPC Server is unavailable".

In the hopes that something might nevertheless work, I tried to print something but was told to "Add Printer" from Control Panel/Printers and Faxes.

When I attempt this I get the message "Operation could not be completed. Print spooler service not running".

Not technical with PCs, my son usually does it all for me, but he's away today. Getting a bit desperate as I have to complete some work for a client, so hope someone can help please :-)

Thanks, Joy