OS X V10.6 Snow Leopard :: Epson Laser Prints Low On Multiple Pages / Copies

I have an Epson AcuLaser C2600 which I got some years ago and which has run fine on 10.3, 10.4 and until recently on 10.6. It has suddenly started printing second and later copies of a single page document about 3cm lower on the page than it should. It does the same on pages after the first page in multi-page documents. This does not always happen but does for much or even most of the time. This happens in various applications. Sometimes the printer shows a 'Check paper size' warning but does not stop.

Discussions with Epson have led to checking Print and Fax preferences, Page Set Up, Extended Printer Settings (all of which I'd done) and making some changes to the printer control panel connected to Paper Size and Auto Continue. The problem remains and discussions continue. It is worth commenting that something like this seems to have been an Epson issue for some time but the suggested solutions have not worked for me.

I have stuck on 10.6.7 because there seemed to be a number of printer issues with 10.6.8 and as everything was fine (and I like a quiet life). I have made no OS updates so it is hard to understand why this has suddenly started (unless it is a hardware issue). I recently installed Pages 4.1, the only other changes have been things like updating browsers (and adding a couple of extensions) and other applications.

Info:
mini 2.4 8GB, PB G4 1.67 15" 512MB, ASUS EeePC 701, OS 10.6.7, 10.4.11, Linux