Some further observations ...
You say that this is happening only on one of a number of systems similarly configured? Is there any difference in how the printer drivers are configured? And difference in printer driver versions or settings?
Also, is this happening when printing to a specific printer, to any number of printers, etc.? Can you share what particular printer model(s) you are printing to, the PDL used (PCL, PostScript, etc.)?
Acrobat as well as other Adobe applications usually stress both video and printer drivers much more than other applications due the graphical complexity of what often needs to be rendered. In the case of PostScript printers, these applications “pass through” PostScript to the printer via the driver and spooler using special printer driver “escapes” designed by Microsoft and Adobe. If you have a custom PostScript driver or the Microsoft driver with vendor/printer model-specific plug-ins, there may be an issue there.
You obviously know your way around Windows if you have gotten to the point of knowing about the Spooler service and experimenting with restarting same. I'll think about this one some more and see if I can guess at some other issues that might cause this. I guess the good and bad news is that this is only on one of your systems.
- Dov