diff --git a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Trax.cs b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Trax.cs
index 6afb6aa..8b7da8b 100644
--- a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Trax.cs
+++ b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Trax.cs
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@ public partial class MainViewModel
     private readonly MusicPlayer _musicPlayer = new();
     private Music? _music;
     private bool _musicPlaying;
+    private bool _traxLoadInFlight;
+
+    /// <summary>Hard ceiling on the TRAX reachability probe. A track on an offline
+    /// network share blocks ~40s inside <c>MediaFoundationReader</c> before it throws
+    /// 0x80070035, and that call sat on the startup path inside LoadLayout, so the
+    /// window froze for the whole SMB timeout. The probe runs off the UI thread and is
+    /// abandoned at this budget; the orphan thread stays parked until SMB gives up,
+    /// which is the point — it is not the thread the creator is waiting on.</summary>
+    internal static readonly TimeSpan TraxProbeBudget = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2);
 
     private static readonly SolidColorBrush TraxIdleBrush = CreateBrush("#555");
     /// <summary>True while the TRAX background track is playing.</summary>
@@ -77,27 +86,70 @@ public partial class MainViewModel
         LoadTrax(play: true);
     }
 
-    private void LoadTrax(bool play)
+    /// <summary>Probes a path off the UI thread and gives up at <paramref name="budget"/>.
+    /// A probe may time out — that is the whole point. False means offline, missing, or
+    /// slower than the budget, and every one of those is a normal state, not an error.</summary>
+    internal static async Task<bool> IsTrackReachableAsync(string path, TimeSpan budget, Func<string, bool> probe)
     {
-        if (_music == null || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_music.TrackPath))
+        var probeTask = Task.Run(() =>
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                return probe(path);
+            }
+            catch
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+        });
+
+        var finished = await Task.WhenAny(probeTask, Task.Delay(budget)).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        return finished == probeTask && await probeTask.ConfigureAwait(false);
+    }
+
+    private void LoadTrax(bool play) => _ = LoadTraxAsync(play);
+
+    private async Task LoadTraxAsync(bool play)
+    {
+        var music = _music;
+        if (music == null || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(music.TrackPath) || _traxLoadInFlight)
             return;
 
+        _traxLoadInFlight = true;
+        var loaded = false;
         try
         {
-            _musicPlayer.Load(_music.TrackPath);
-            UpdateTraxLocalGain();
-            _music.IsEnabled = true;
-            TraxError = null;
-            if (play)
-                _musicPlayer.Play();
+            var path = music.TrackPath;
+            if (await IsTrackReachableAsync(path, TraxProbeBudget, File.Exists))
+            {
+                // Reached the share, so this bind is cheap and stays on the UI thread
+                // with every other MusicPlayer mutation — no new race to reason about.
+                _musicPlayer.Load(path);
+                UpdateTraxLocalGain();
+                music.IsEnabled = true;
+                TraxError = null;
+                if (play)
+                    _musicPlayer.Play();
+                loaded = true;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                AppLog.Write($"TRAX: '{path}' unreachable within {TraxProbeBudget.TotalSeconds:0}s — not loading");
+                TraxError = $"Can't reach {Path.GetFileName(path)} — is the drive on?";
+            }
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
         {
-            AppLog.Write($"TRAX: failed to load '{_music.TrackPath}': {ex.Message}");
-            TraxError = $"Failed to load: {Path.GetFileName(_music.TrackPath)} — {ex.Message}";
+            AppLog.Write($"TRAX: failed to load '{music.TrackPath}': {ex.Message}");
+            TraxError = $"Failed to load: {Path.GetFileName(music.TrackPath)} — {ex.Message}";
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            _traxLoadInFlight = false;
+            RefreshTraxUi();
+            if (loaded)
+                ScheduleSave();
         }
-        RefreshTraxUi();
-        ScheduleSave();
     }
 
     private void PlayTrax() => _musicPlayer.Play();
diff --git a/ai.md b/ai.md
index d179a77..0e58dc8 100644
--- a/ai.md
+++ b/ai.md
@@ -871,6 +871,22 @@ devices, no timers).
   track persists via **schema v9** single-row `Music` (`TrackPath`/`IsEnabled`) in `LayoutStore`. Known
   wrinkle (out of scope, future feature): YouTube mutes VODs carrying copyrighted music — "music on
   live, off VOD" is tabled.
+  - **⛔ The load is behind a bounded probe, because a share that is gone must never
+    freeze startup (2026-10-04).** `LoadLayout` → `LoadTrax` used to call `MusicPlayer.Load`
+    synchronously on the UI thread, and `new MediaFoundationReader(path)` does **not** fail
+    fast on a dead SMB session — it burns the whole ARP/TCP/SMB timeout (~40s, measured)
+    and *then* throws `0x80070035`. Measured: `OnStartup` 08:42:59 → `MainWindow loaded`
+    08:43:43, with 42 of those 44s inside `LoadLayout` on that one track. The rule now:
+    **a probe may time out; only a bind is allowed to be on the creator's path.**
+    `IsTrackReachableAsync(path, budget, File.Exists)` runs the probe on a thread-pool
+    thread under a `Task.WhenAny` ceiling (`TraxProbeBudget` = **2s**) and reports
+    offline/missing/slow as a normal state, not an error. Only a probe that passed gets
+    the real bind, and **that bind stays on the UI thread** with every other
+    `MusicPlayer` mutation, so no new cross-thread race is introduced. The orphan probe
+    thread stays parked until SMB gives up — deliberate: it is not the thread anyone
+    waits on. Same principle covers the webcam: a device held by another app fails fast
+    (sharing violation) but a virtual-camera driver can stall enumeration, so device
+    probes belong off the startup path too, not behind a long timeout.
 - **Mic status dot (`Models/MicStatus.cs`)** on the preview-bottom MIC button: green = `MicConnected`,
   yellow = `MicFailed` (in use/unplugged), red = no mic device at startup (the mixer is never started,
   so loopback and the game bar can't run either — no capture devices at all). **The picked mic persists:
diff --git a/ytLive.Tests/TraxProbeTests.cs b/ytLive.Tests/TraxProbeTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a94dd95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ytLive.Tests/TraxProbeTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+using Xunit;
+using ytLive.ViewModels;
+
+namespace ytLive.Tests;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// TRAX load-path guarding (2026-10-04). Startup used to freeze for ~40s when the
+/// music track lived on an offline network share: <c>LoadLayout</c> called
+/// <c>MusicPlayer.Load</c> synchronously, and <c>new MediaFoundationReader(path)</c>
+/// does not fail fast on a dead SMB session — it burns the full timeout and then
+/// throws 0x80070035. The fix is a bounded reachability probe on a background thread,
+/// so an unreachable share can never sit on the path the creator waits on.
+/// </summary>
+public class TraxProbeTests
+{
+    /// <summary>The regression this guards: a probe that hangs must be abandoned at the
+    /// budget and reported offline. Without the ceiling the caller inherits the SMB
+    /// timeout, which is the 40-second frozen startup window. The orphaned probe thread
+    /// is released at the end so the test does not leak it.</summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task AHangingProbeIsAbandonedAtTheBudget_AndReportsOffline()
+    {
+        var orphan = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);
+        var started = DateTime.UtcNow;
+
+        try
+        {
+            var reachable = await MainViewModel.IsTrackReachableAsync(
+                @"\\llamavault\llamaVault\Assets\Music\VBI - Mayhem OST.mp3",
+                TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(150),
+                // Stands in for a share that has gone away: the open never completes.
+                _ =>
+                {
+                    orphan.Wait(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30));
+                    return true;
+                });
+
+            var elapsed = DateTime.UtcNow - started;
+
+            Assert.False(reachable);
+            Assert.True(
+                elapsed < TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5),
+                $"probe was not cut off at the budget — took {elapsed.TotalSeconds:0.0}s, which is the frozen-startup bug returning");
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            orphan.Set();
+        }
+    }
+}