USB printing == kernel lockup?

[Pete Toscano]

Hello,

I'm still looking into this, but has anybody else seen this problem?
When I do anything (print to it, query its ink levels with escputil,
etc.) with my Epson 870 while it's hooked to my computer via USB, the
whole machine locks hard.  If I change the connection over to a printer
cable on a parallel port connection, eveything works fine.  USB printing
used to work fine until recently.  (I don't print much, so how recently,
I don't know yet.)

I'm in the process of trying other kernels (tested 2.4.5 and
2.4.6-pre[68]) and USB controllers (JE's UHCI vs the standard UHCI) but
I'm not done yet. 

Has anyone else has seen this problem?  I posted to the gimp-print and
linux-usb lists, but there was nary a response.

The printer is connected to the USB hub in my Nokia monitor, which also
has a mouse connected to it and that's running fine.  I'm using a Tyan
Tiger 133 mother board (VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset) and SMP-enabled
kernel.

Thanks,
pete