CD Drive and Printer recently died--what could affect it?

[mirrorrim]

Hello, new to this place. I'm trying to solve an issue at work.

We have a HP Laserjet 1200 Series printer (Yes, it's ancient--my boss hates buying new things, but this printer has worked remarkably well). We had to buy a new one after 10+ years of use. Recently, the printer queues up print jobs, then I get an error bubble saying the printer could not print the document.

I've tried it all-drivers, a hard restart, everything is connected, no paper jams, even deleted and reinstalled the printer. It will print multiple things fine then suddenly the next document wont print and it all goes downhill. (Once it was printing 1 line of symbols for 200+ pages before it stopped).

Now, the CD-ROM drive (ANKXOPQ A34DAB4T6 SCSI) is dead. It wouldnt open, so I used a paperclip. Put a CD in, closed the door. Nothing. No whirring noise; nothing is working inside. If I double-click the icon it asks for me to insert a disc.

So my questions:

Are these hardware problems somehow related? How can I fix them?

My boss and co-worker are convinced it's because of a tremendously large online back-up being done through Mozy. They think everything will magically work when it's done in a week. I'm not so optimistic. Mozy has not affected my internet speed, using software programs, or anything else on the computer.

Specs:

Windows XP
Intel Pentium 4 3 GHZ
3 GB RAM
More than 800 GB free space
(The computer was built in 2004)

[Geek-9pm]

Are these hardware problems somehow related?
 How can I fix them?

No.
Buy a new computer and printer. (There may be other items that were damaged. I assume the equipment is all out of warranty.)

New equipment now is very low cost and each item comes with a warranty.
The investment  will pay for itself very soon in an Office environment where productivity and low down time are the objectives.

I have worked as a Certified Technician for many years. Extensive troubleshooting is justified only whine very high costs are at stake. A $5000 item we fix, a $300 item when we send to the local thrift store. Or something like that. 

These comments are based on the premise that you are in an Office.

[Allan]

Agree the problems are not related, though I think buying a new computer may be a bit of overkill. I would try to exchange the printer in case that's the problem though.

As for the cd drive, put in a bootable cd and reboot the system (make sure the cd is at the top of the boot order in the bios). Does the system see the cd at boot? If not, you need a new cd drive.

[Geek-9pm]

Allan,
I do not think the items were related. Agreed. 
But if they were, it could be either the motherboard or thePSU.
An new computer gets you a new PSU,  mother and CD-Drive in one swoop and you don' have to pay a tech ti install it.
Minimum down time. And a warranty. 

Later the old thing could be repaired in a shop or sold for parts.

[Allan]

Neither a mobo nor psu issue would cause these problems.

[dahlarbear]

1.  Printer Connections:
     a.  Is the print device directly connected to computer?
     b.  If connected to computer, what interface port (parallel, serial, USB, other)?
     c.  Power plug to wall outlet, power strip, surge suppressor, or uninterruptable power supply (UPS)?
     d.  Is printer shared with other computers?

2.  Which Printer:
     a.  HP LaserJet 1200 Printer
     b.  HP LaserJet 1200n Printer
     c.  HP LaserJet 1200se Printer

3.  Check Windows XP Event Viewer logs for more errors or information?

4.  Has the computer experienced any crashes recently, Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)?

5.  Move printer to another computer and see if problem follows.

[Geek-9pm]

Neither a mobo nor psu issue would cause these problems.

Allen, you know nothing about the subject.