USB printer goes AWOL

My USB printer (Lexmark X125) loose the USB connection after a couple
of days of non use. The USB Printing Support than dissapears in
Hardware/Device manager, but in Controlpanel under printers the
printer properties still shows the printer available . The Lexmark
settings utility will not open.
A reboot is required to get it back.
If I cut off the power to the printer after use, it will be back weeks
later as soon as power is turned back on, without a reboot.
This leads me to think that this is not a software, but a hardware
problem. Lexmark keeps telling me over and over to uncheck any power
management options, un- and re-install the program and update drivers
(the one they have on their website is older than the one that came
with the printer). They are working on this now since several months,
but have no clue. I must give it to these people; they haven't dropped
the ball yet.
OS is Win2K/SP4. Power Management options apply only to USB 2.0 Root
Hub and are not set to power off to save battery (no USB power
required for printer in first place, connected to a Desktop PC
secondly).
..
Any such experiences or thoughts ?