diff --git a/issues/kernel/an-ap-its-host-has-not-scheduled-for-100-ms-is-booted-without.md b/issues/kernel/an-ap-its-host-has-not-scheduled-for-100-ms-is-booted-without.md
deleted file mode 100644
index a7643a60aa8..00000000000
--- a/issues/kernel/an-ap-its-host-has-not-scheduled-for-100-ms-is-booted-without.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
----
-status: open
-kind: defect
-opened: 2026-10-01
----
-
-# An AP its host has not scheduled for 100 ms is booted without
-
-`virt_smp` red in `636r2-virt.log` (`wt/toyos-rulesbatch` `8f142ba9e`, userland only, TCG,
-`VirtEl2`, a loaded host, "liveness ceilings paid at 1.93x"):
-
-```
-[kernel 0.236 cpu0] SMP: cpu6 mpidr=0x6 online
-[kernel 0.368 cpu0] SMP: cpu7 mpidr=0x7 did not echo within 100ms (the machine boots with the CPUs that came up before the first that did not); the rest stay off
-[kernel 0.372 cpu0] SMP: 7 of 8 MADT CPUs online
-```
-
-`time::AP_START` gives an AP 100 ms between `CPU_ON` (or the SIPIs) and its echo, and its expiry
-boots the machine without that CPU for good. On metal an AP that is alive answers in
-microseconds; under any hypervisor a vCPU its host has not scheduled answers late, and 100 ms of
-steal reads as a dead CPU. Linux waits 5 s for the same echo on arm64
-(`arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c`, `__cpu_up`: `wait_for_completion_timeout(&cpu_running,
-msecs_to_jiffies(5000))`) and 10 s in its generic bring-up (`kernel/cpu.c`,
-`cpuhp_wait_for_sync_state`).
-
-Owner: the orchestrator.
-
-**Exit**: the bound is one on a dead CPU — the span this kernel already holds a live CPU to
-(`time::DEAF_CPU`) — and `virt_smp` passes in a whole-suite run at a host load average above
-the dev host's core count.
diff --git a/kernel/src/time.rs b/kernel/src/time.rs
index 092c1559222..a258103ad05 100644
--- a/kernel/src/time.rs
+++ b/kernel/src/time.rs
@@ -242,9 +242,11 @@ impl fmt::Display for Budget {
     }
 }
 
-/// How long the boot CPU waits for an AP it started to echo its token.
+/// How long the boot CPU waits for an AP it started to echo its token:
+/// [`DEAF_CPU`]'s span, because a vCPU its host has not run yet is slow and not
+/// dead.
 pub const AP_START: Budget = Budget::of(
-    Duration::from_millis(100),
+    Duration::from_nanos(DEAF_CPU.nanos()),
     "the machine boots with the CPUs that came up before the first that did not",
 );