USB / printer woes

[David Reedy Jr]

Small home network. Bottom line, trying to get a USB printer working 
with cups. Right now I'm thinking it's more of a usb problem.

USB related dmesg output...

uhci0: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xd400-0xd41f at device 11.0 on 
pci2
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> port 0xd000-0xd01f at device 11.1 on 
pci2
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <VIA 83C572 USB controller> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <VIA UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <VIA VT6202 USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xf2000000-0xf20000ff at 
device 11.2 on pci2
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb2: EHCI version 1.0
usb2: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1
usb2: <VIA VT6202 USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb2: USB revision 2.0
uhub2: <VIA EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered

when I turn on the printer I get...

ulpt0: <HP Deskjet 3840, class 0/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 2> on uhub1
ulpt0: using bi-directional mode

Depending on the physical port connected to, it's either uhub0 or uhub1, 
connecting to usb0 / usb1 both of which are usb revision 1.0. All the 
information I have says this printer is usb 2.0. Why is it not 
attaching to ehci0/uhub2/usb2?

echo "something" > /dev/ulpt0 results in silence. So does printing a 
test page from the cups web interface. It's a black hole.

Can anybody tell me what's wrong? Would removing ohci/uhci from the 
kernel force it to connect to the usb 2.0 side of things?

tia,

Dave.