USB HP printer seen as unreadable disk

My HP 1606 LaserJet printer is no longer functional as a local device. I get the message "This disk is unreadable". I have read elsewhere on this board that it is the result of a flash drive in the printer that is seen via USB as a disk instead of as a printer and the Mac OS gets confused. Also when I try to reinstall it locally it sees it as a scanner. Why it worked before the various OS updates...? In any event, it still works via Ethernet. I thought someone else might have the same problem and be interested in this solution.