diff -up cups-1.5.2/backend/runloop.c.waitloop-snmp cups-1.5.2/backend/runloop.c
--- cups-1.5.2/backend/runloop.c.waitloop-snmp	2012-03-09 11:42:45.907055236 +0000
+++ cups-1.5.2/backend/runloop.c	2012-03-09 11:44:53.106166733 +0000
@@ -437,6 +437,7 @@ backendWaitLoop(
   fd_set	input;			/* Input set for reading */
   time_t	curtime,		/* Current time */
 		snmp_update = 0;	/* Last SNMP status update */
+  struct timeval timeout;
 
 
   fprintf(stderr, "DEBUG: backendWaitLoop(snmp_fd=%d, addr=%p, side_cb=%p)\n",
@@ -457,7 +458,9 @@ backendWaitLoop(
     if (side_cb)
       FD_SET(CUPS_SC_FD, &input);
 
-    if (select(CUPS_SC_FD + 1, &input, NULL, NULL, NULL) < 0)
+    timeout.tv_sec = snmp_update ? (snmp_update - curtime) : 5;
+    timeout.tv_usec = 0;
+    if (select(CUPS_SC_FD + 1, &input, NULL, NULL, &timeout) < 0)
     {
      /*
       * Pause printing to clear any pending errors...