Printing problems: Too many failed attempts

[Ian Sinclair <Ian_Sinclair talktalk net>]

A few weeks ago, I could use Evince to print out large PDF documents; no problems. Then there was a new download of CUPS updates, and now each attempt to print a PDF ends with no printing and the message Too many failed attempts.
Removing Evince and then reinstalling it allows me to print a document, but subsequent printing ends with the familiar error message.
I have tried printing from Adobe Reader 9, but this prints four pdf pages on one A4 sheet - almost unreadable.
I have read comments that suggested the fault might lie in the ... /printers.conf file, but there is nothing there that seems to cause the problem. No-one seems to have a satisfactory answer and I have had to resort to priting pages one at a time from Gimp, which is time-wasting and annoying. Can you help?