OS 10.6 crash issues

Background

My printer Deskjet 3050 J610 stopped working after installing OS 11, the latest HP software for that printer is for OS 10.8 which won’t install on OS 11. The printer is not on the list for AirPrint and I can’t get HP Smart to print or scan.

The Issue

I have an old Macbook running 10.6 that completely crashed 3 years ago and I was able to resurrect it by formatting the HD numerous times after which I could reinstall OS 10.6 and my legacy software. I found at that time that trying to connect to Wi-Fi caused the OS 10.6 installation to crash, so during set up I had to leave the Wi-Fi unconnected to get success. 

So, due to the issues with the HP printer with OS 11.2.1 on the MacBook Pro I decided to install the HP 10.5 driver on the 12 year old Macbook that has been running OS 10.6 without issues; I use this Mac to run legacy Photoshop and Premier Pro that won’t run on my MacBook Pro running OS 11.2.1.

The installation of the HP driver went well until I forgot and set the connection to Wi-Fi, the computer crashed with a blue screen. I knew that I needed to turn off the Wi-Fi connection for the computer to work. Using the 10.6 install disk I could see the Wi-Fi connection in the menu bar so turned this off, but of course every time I restarted the Wi-Fi connection restarted and disabled the start-up.

I have been unable to start in Safe Mode, Single User Mode, and recovery mode seems not to work for OS 10.6.

After reinstalling OS 10.6 the computer restarted without the option of setting up the Wi-Fi so I was unable to turn Wi-Fi off. The computer rebooted by itself and the Apple logo and the spinning wheel ran for over an hour, so I assumed the Wi-Fi connection was the issue.

I tried reinstalling 10.6 with an ethernet connection to the router but that had the same result. I had thought it may bypass the WI-Fi connection.

I found that the install disk gives me access to the Terminal. I have tried numerous commands in the Terminal to turn off the Wi-Fi, some examples:

networksetup -setairportpower en1 off (en0 in ethernet)

networksetup -setairportpower airport off

sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled Wi-Fi off

sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled airport off

sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled "AirPort" off

networksetup -removepreferredwirelessnetwork en1 SSID_OF_NETWORK

each time these were returned with "command not found"

The option looks like a full formatting of the HD and reinstallation of OS 10.6 and the legacy software like I have done in the past.

Prior to that, I wanted to ask the community if there are any better solutions.

Of course, a new printer may be an option soon.

Any ideas would be most welcome.