diff --git a/src/daemon/main.test.ts b/src/daemon/main.test.ts
index 628dbcf44..ffbb04761 100644
--- a/src/daemon/main.test.ts
+++ b/src/daemon/main.test.ts
@@ -530,8 +530,10 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
     readonly device: { readonly id: string };
   };
 
-  /** Lets real I/O that a mutated daemon would still be doing finish, so "nothing happened" is
-   * a statement about the daemon and not about how early the test looked. */
+  /** Lets the work a mutated daemon would still be doing finish, so "nothing happened" is a
+   * statement about the daemon and not about how early the test looked. Only sound when that
+   * work is all in memory: a timer fires after it however loaded the machine is, but real I/O
+   * (a process spawn, a real file) can outlast it. */
   const settleRealTime = async () => new Promise<void>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 25));
 
   async function leasedIos(options: ConstructorParameters<typeof FakeDriver>[0]) {
@@ -634,11 +636,18 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
     const writeHeld = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
       releaseWrite = resolve;
     });
+    let reachWrite: () => void = () => undefined;
+    const writeReached = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+      reachWrite = resolve;
+    });
     class HoldingFilesystem extends MemoryFilesystem {
       async writeFileAtomic(
         ...arguments_: Parameters<MemoryFilesystem["writeFileAtomic"]>
       ): Promise<void> {
-        if (holdWrites && arguments_[0] === statePath) await writeHeld;
+        if (holdWrites && arguments_[0] === statePath) {
+          reachWrite();
+          await writeHeld;
+        }
         return super.writeFileAtomic(...arguments_);
       }
     }
@@ -655,7 +664,6 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
       }) as StartDaemonOptions;
     const failing = new FakeDriver({ availableOsVersions: ["26.5"], clock, platform: "ios" });
     failing.failOn("reclaim", 1, new DriverCrashError("purge exploded"));
-    // The previous process: a device left quarantined, and one request still open.
     const first = await startDaemon(options(failing));
     const grant = (await first.dispatch("lease.request", ios, agent)) as Grant;
     await first.dispatch("lease.release", { leaseId: grant.lease.id }, agent);
@@ -672,20 +680,19 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
       request: ios,
       requesterId: "agent-1",
     });
-    // Leasing's startup settles the open request by writing the registry; hold that write.
     holdWrites = true;
 
     const starting = startDaemon(
       options(new FakeDriver({ availableOsVersions: ["26.5"], clock, platform: "ios" })),
     );
-    await settleRealTime();
+    // Waits on the write itself, not on real time: how long startup takes to reach it depends on
+    // the machine's load. The race lets a startup that never writes fail on the count below.
+    await Promise.race([writeReached, starting]);
     const timersWhileLeasingStartupPending = clock.pendingTimerCount;
     releaseWrite();
     runningDaemons.push(await starting);
     const timersAfterStartup = clock.pendingTimerCount;
 
-    // One timer is startup's own (nothing to do with devices). The quarantined device's retry
-    // timer is armed by core's convergence, which must not have begun.
     expect(timersWhileLeasingStartupPending).toBe(1);
     expect(timersAfterStartup).toBeGreaterThan(timersWhileLeasingStartupPending);
   });
@@ -700,11 +707,18 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
     const writeHeld = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
       releaseWrite = resolve;
     });
+    let reachWrite: () => void = () => undefined;
+    const writeReached = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+      reachWrite = resolve;
+    });
     class HoldingFilesystem extends MemoryFilesystem {
       async writeFileAtomic(
         ...arguments_: Parameters<MemoryFilesystem["writeFileAtomic"]>
       ): Promise<void> {
-        if (holdWrites && arguments_[0] === statePath) await writeHeld;
+        if (holdWrites && arguments_[0] === statePath) {
+          reachWrite();
+          await writeHeld;
+        }
         return super.writeFileAtomic(...arguments_);
       }
     }
@@ -723,7 +737,6 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
     const grant = (await first.dispatch("lease.request", ios, agent)) as Grant;
     await first.stop("test");
     // The restarted process's driver knows no device, so the leased one is gone from its platform.
-    // Ending that lease writes the registry; hold that write.
     holdWrites = true;
 
     let started = false;
@@ -731,7 +744,11 @@ describe("startDaemon wires core and leasing together", () => {
       started = true;
       return daemon;
     });
-    await settleRealTime();
+    // Waits on the write, not on real time: the steps before it include real I/O, so under load
+    // they outlast any fixed sleep. From the write on, a startup that did not wait for it only
+    // has in-memory work left, which finishes before the next macrotask.
+    await Promise.race([writeReached, starting]);
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setImmediate(resolve));
     const startedWhileEndingPending = started;
     releaseWrite();
     const daemon = await starting;