Well, the first thing that comes to mind is to review Device Manager in Safe
Mode. Some explanation: When you start Windows in Normal Mode, the list of
devices you see in Device Manager includes only those devices which were
loaded. When you look at Device Manager in Safe Mode, you see the list of
all devices that have been installed. In many cases in Win9x, you'll find
duplicated entries in the Safe Mode list--more than one entry for the same
device. If there really are more than one instances of the device, this is
all right and proper. But if there are three entries for your hard drive
when you only have one, then you have problems.

Imagine a squad of paratroops that, as they are headed for the plane, pass
by a table and grab their respective backpacks. Each backpack is customized
for each paratroop, and you don't want anyone grabbing the wrong pack, so
they have big name tags. However, over time, perhaps one or more of the
paratroops changed (body weight, mission/duty requirements, etc.) and he
needs a new backpack--or something in the automatic safety checks noted that
the backpack was deficient and replaced it. Or perhaps the paratrooper dies
or was otherwise lost from the team. His backpack is no longer needed. But
the crew chief is a bit sloppy, and those obsolete backpacks don't get
removed from the table. No problem for the backpacks that belonged to
paratroops who are not present--except, of course, that clutter on the table
can create confusion. It's the obsolete pack that was once used by a
remaining paratrooper that's dangerous. They both look the same, the old
pack and the new one, and the guy usually gets the right one because it's
usually closer to the front of the table--but not always.

In the above, the list of names the crew chief can read off the backpacks is
Device Manager in Normal (loaded) Mode. The table of backpacks is Device
Manager in Safe Mode. Windows is the crew chief.

(Well, that was fun, and I hope you will forgive the creative writing--I
have to satisfy my muse somehow! But that analogy falls apart very quickly,
so let's move on.)

In this case, I would (as always) look for duplicated entries in Safe Mode.
Some of them are proper so, just make a list of those items for which more
than one entry exists and how many of each one. Post the list here for
review.

But mostly, I want to know what Device Manager in Safe Mode shows for Ports.
Or, more to the point, I want you to remove them so that they will get
reinstalled (but I'm still interested in what was there before you deleted
them.) Just the LPT ports, to start with. This, alone, may fix your problem.
If not, it points to other possibilities.

You can't find any info on the LPT card itself that would identify it?