diff --git a/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py b/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
index 1b4fad8087..19292a1a4d 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_process_registry.py
@@ -408,6 +408,19 @@ def test_reader_loop_reassembles_multibyte_char_split_across_chunks(registry, mo
     assert "\ufffd" not in session.output_buffer
 
 
+def test_reader_loop_strips_shell_noise_split_across_reads(registry, monkeypatch):
+    """``bash -lic`` without a tty writes its two startup warnings in two separate write() calls.
+    A reader that wakes between them (loaded CI) must still drop the second line: it leaked as the
+    process's only "output", so the dock painted ``last: bash: no job control...`` instead of
+    ``starting`` and probes waiting on any output woke before the real writer had printed."""
+    session = _run_reader(registry, monkeypatch, [
+        b"bash: cannot set terminal process group (7): Inappropriate ioctl for device\n",
+        b"bash: no job control in this shell\n",
+        b"real output\n",
+        b"bash: no job control in this shell\n",  # after real output it is the process's own text
+    ])
+    assert session.output_buffer == "real output\nbash: no job control in this shell\n"
+
 
 
 def test_reader_loop_flushes_truncated_multibyte_tail_at_eof(registry, monkeypatch):
diff --git a/tests/tools/test_process_registry_list_exit.py b/tests/tools/test_process_registry_list_exit.py
index 55f933d30e..26f604a742 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_process_registry_list_exit.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_process_registry_list_exit.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def _probe(root):
             session.notify_on_complete = True
         owner, sibling = sessions
         deadline = time.monotonic() + 5
-        while not all(s.output_buffer for s in sessions):
+        while not all(name + "-output" in s.output_buffer for name, s in zip(("owner", "sibling"), sessions)):
             assert time.monotonic() < deadline, "writers did not become ready"
             time.sleep(0.01)
         assert all(s.process.poll() is None for s in sessions)
diff --git a/tools/process_registry.py b/tools/process_registry.py
index 2b417d618c..07599328ef 100644
--- a/tools/process_registry.py
+++ b/tools/process_registry.py
@@ -1328,7 +1328,10 @@ class ProcessRegistry(ProcessCheckpointMixin):
         Windows pipes don't support select(); the blocking path is kept there and the lazy reconcile in
         poll()/wait() remains the safety net. See #68915, #8340.
         """
-        first_chunk = True
+        # ``bash -lic`` without a tty writes its startup warnings one write() per line, so the
+        # reader can wake between them; strip leading noise from every chunk until the
+        # process has produced real output, not just from the first read.
+        head_noise = True
         # A split multibyte UTF-8 char would become U+FFFD with stateless decoding; the
         # incremental decoder holds the partial sequence until the rest arrives.
         decoder = codecs.getincrementaldecoder("utf-8")(errors="replace")
@@ -1339,10 +1342,10 @@ class ProcessRegistry(ProcessCheckpointMixin):
         # same treatment the foreground path already has in
         # ``tools/environments/base.py::_wait_for_process``. (Ported from openclaw/openclaw#112325.)
         def _append_chunk(chunk: str):
-            nonlocal first_chunk
-            if first_chunk:
+            nonlocal head_noise
+            if head_noise:
                 chunk = self._clean_shell_noise(chunk)
-                first_chunk = False
+                head_noise = not chunk.strip()
             self._ingest_output(session, chunk)
         try:
             proc = session.process