Thank you for the link. Have new drivers now. Actually had to establish a new user account (my son did this) to force some settings to cooperate. He set up a dial-up connection there which opened the stuck COM3 port and deleted the old printer drivers; went to the OKIdata Link and got the new drivers.
PROBLEM SOLVED-
but I don't know where the icon is that I saw in my travels through this site to let people know that "another job well done" has been accomplished.