Printer Port missing in Add Printer Wizard

I have an HP Laserjet 4 printer. It was working fine until two days ago. I
tried to print something yesterday and received a message that I need to
install a printer. The printer had vanished from the Printers and Fax
section of XP. When I tried to re-add the printer using the Print Wizard I
noticed that LPT1 was no longer a choice. I went to the device manager and
found the lpt1 was there and seemed to be functioning properly. I went to
Tech Republic and found out that this is a know issue with XP and Microsoft
has not bothered to post this on their site. I followed the instructions
that were listed in Tech Rebublic but that did not resolve the problem. I am
hoping the someone out there is familier with this problem and may be able
to offer a work around. I would appreciate any help that can be offered.