DHCP but no cable connected added a delay; I thought that got fixed between original and SE

It most likely is the network connection that is causing this. Since I don't use a network with my Win98 machines, I either don't install a card, or I disable the on board network port. I just saw this on Reddit, I've never tried it, but it cured the problem for this person.

Thank you I disabled DHCP and assigned the IP manually, I feel the startup is faster however there is still 10 seconds where nothing is happening before the GUI is loading

schlang wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

Thank you I disabled DHCP and assigned the IP manually, I feel the startup is faster however there is still 10 seconds where nothing is happening before the GUI is loading

That always happens to me with 98SE, ME fixes that issue but some don't like that OS for other reasons.

I checked with boot log analyzer and I waste 6 seconds on this:

InitDone = TSRQuery (Time Estimated)

pete8475 wrote on Yesterday, 23:25:

schlang wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

Thank you I disabled DHCP and assigned the IP manually, I feel the startup is faster however there is still 10 seconds where nothing is happening before the GUI is loading

That always happens to me with 98SE, ME fixes that issue but some don't like that OS for other reasons.

The static IP improves startup from 30 seconds init time for the NIC to 9 seconds init time

schlang wrote on Today, 12:43:

pete8475 wrote on Yesterday, 23:25:

schlang wrote on Yesterday, 23:18:

Thank you I disabled DHCP and assigned the IP manually, I feel the startup is faster however there is still 10 seconds where nothing is happening before the GUI is loading

That always happens to me with 98SE, ME fixes that issue but some don't like that OS for other reasons.

The static IP improves startup from 30 seconds init time for the NIC to 9 seconds init time

Yep.