Jo22 wrote:

...could it be that something is interrupting during start-up also ?

Could be. I don't know that I want to further speculate without knowing exactly what is being played at startup though.

Another option that hasn't been mentioned is minimizing the playback impact by reducing the rate of, and/or compressing, the startup WAV. Just as an example, here's a comparison of the five-second sound snippet that plays during Windows 95 startup on my 386/25.

44.1kHz, stereo, Linear PCM - 903KB!

22kHz, stereo, IMA ADPCM - 114KB! <- The one I'm actually using.

22kHz, mono, IMA ADPCM - 57KB!

Cloudschatze wrote on 2020-03-02, 17:50:

What is playing as the startup sound? I'd assumed it was the default, but perhaps it's not, and is something of a longer duration?

True it does have plus and it is a plus sound. I'll try some others and see what they sound like.