HP printer installation is changing my First boot device

I’ve honestly never run into anything quite like this before—it's a bit of a head-scratcher. I'm trying to set up a new HP P1566 laser printer, but the moment I go to install the drivers, things get weird. It seems like the printer actually forces itself as the > in the BIOS via some sort of > utility, which ends up preventing Windows XP from even booting properly. I tried manually switching the boot priority back to the hard drive, but nothing changes; the system just stays frozen on a black screen with a blinking cursor. Interestingly, if I boot the PC with the printer turned off, everything runs perfectly fine—but the second I power the printer on, the whole computer eventually freezes up mid-use. The kicker? While the system is still responsive, the printer itself prints without any issues at all. I've already tried a clean reinstall of the latest drivers from the web, but it hasn't changed a thing; it's the exact same headache.
I’ve used a mountain of HP's printers over the years, but I have never encountered an issue even remotely similar to this one.
Does anyone have any bright ideas or perhaps a lead on what might be causing this? I would truly appreciate any constructive advice you can throw my way!

That printer actually has a built-in flash drive—can't you just disable it in the boot order?

He scrubbed it clean entirely, but once he’s finished recording that mess, the system won't even attempt to boot Windows... and just like you suspected, if he tries a hardware reset, there it is—right back at the top of the list. It's honestly unbelievable.

Go ahead and give this a quick skim—just to make sure you actually followed the installation procedure to the letter: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/pr...nstall_FAQ.pdf

Also, check your Device Manager—do you see any kind of flash device showing up there?

It looks like point 25 is the smoking gun... I actually got confirmation on that from a guy over on the newsgroups too 👍
Thanks so much for digging into this—I'll be sure to circle back and let you know how it turns out. I’ve got to run over to a friend's place right now; I recommended this printer to her based on my long history of solid experiences with HP, and now she's absolutely tearing me apart for it 🙂

Just kill the damn thing when it starts acting up—it’s honestly the easiest way. 😁

Once I finally disabled that HP installer from the flash drive, everything started running smoothly without any more hiccups👍.
Thanks again—honestly, every bit of advice I've picked up from you has been incredibly helpful... just wanted to set the record straight for anyone else following this thread🙂.
Best regards!