Our client needs us to dump records from several large related objects into PDFs for archival use. These PDF's are then saved as record attachments in a custom object named Snapshot. The PDF's generate with no problem as long as the nuumber of records involved is below a certain number. Beyond that point we get the following error on screen:

Time limit exceeded
Your request exceeded the time limit for processing. _

Going through debug logs shows that NO exception is being thrown (despite the Try wrapper around the call). Instead the getContentAsPdf() call is returning after just over 2 minutes and processing is simply ending at that point.

Here are the relevant lines from the debug log:

<SNIP>
13:30:34.197 (197470000)|SYSTEM_METHOD_ENTRY|[21]|System.PageReference.getContentAsPDF()
13:32:36.249 (122249850000)|SYSTEM_METHOD_EXIT|[21]|System.PageReference.getContentAsPDF()
13:32:36.249 (122249973000)|CODE_UNIT_FINISHED|GroupOrderBackupAttach invoke(createSnapshot)
13:32:36.875 (122253275000)|CUMULATIVE_LIMIT_USAGE
13:32:36.875|LIMIT_USAGE_FOR_NS|(default)|
  Number of SOQL queries: 1 out of 100
  Number of query rows: 1 out of 50000
  Number of SOSL queries: 0 out of 20
  Number of DML statements: 1 out of 150
  Number of DML rows: 1 out of 10000
  Number of script statements: 11 out of 200000
  Maximum heap size: 0 out of 3000000
  Number of callouts: 0 out of 10
  Number of Email Invocations: 0 out of 10
  Number of fields describes: 0 out of 100
  Number of record type describes: 0 out of 100
  Number of child relationships describes: 0 out of 100
  Number of picklist describes: 0 out of 100
  Number of future calls: 0 out of 10

13:32:36.875 (122253275000)|CUMULATIVE_LIMIT_USAGE_END

13:32:36.253 (122253361000)|CODE_UNIT_FINISHED|VF: /apex/GroupOrderBackupAttach
13:32:36.253 (122253383000)|EXECUTION_FINISHED

Here's the relevant code:

public PageReference createSnapShot()
    {
        Snapshot__c ss= new Snapshot__c(Group_Order__c=go.Id,Snapshot_Date__c=Date.today(),Snapshot_Type__c='Audit');
        insert ss;
        
        PageReference pdf1 = Page.GroupOrderBackup;
        pdf1.getParameters().put('id',go.Id);

        Blob pdf1Blob;
        try{
        	pdf1Blob = pdf1.getContentAsPdf();
        }
        catch(Exception e){
        	pdf1Blob  = Blob.valueOf('Exception: ' + e.getTypeName() + ' - ' + e.getMessage() + ' - ' + e.getCause() + ' - ' + e.getLineNumber() + ' - ' + e.getStackTraceString());
        }
 
        Attachment a = new Attachment(parentId = ss.id, name='Full Backup_'+go.Name+'_'+datetime.now() + '.pdf', body = pdf1Blob);
        insert a;
       	
       	if (go.RecordType.Name == 'RTMS')
        {
        	PageReference excel = new PageReference('/apex/CustomExcelWithBackButton');
        	excel.setRedirect(true);
        	excel.getParameters().put('groupOrderId',go.Id);
    
        	return excel;
        } 
        else 
       	{
       		return controller.view();
       	}
    }

Any ideas on how to get past this? Is there a setting (either open or "Black") that can be changed to give us more time?