@@ -257,3 +257,34 @@ test('the helper focus call before the first dump does not spend the dump budget
 
   expect(slowFocus.timeouts[0]).toBe(unhurried.timeouts[0]);
 });
+
+test('a read that starts with the budget nearly spent never passes a non-positive timeout', async () => {
+  // Each clock read advances 1 ms, so two reads of one deadline disagree by one millisecond.
+  const originMs = Date.now();
+  let elapsedMs = 0;
+  const now = vi.spyOn(Date, 'now').mockImplementation(() => {
+    elapsedMs += 1;
+    return originMs + elapsedMs;
+  });
+  const timeouts: number[] = [];
+  const host: AndroidObservationHost = {
+    ...hostFor(new Map()),
+    runAdb: vi.fn(async (_device, _args, options) => {
+      const timeoutMs = options?.timeoutMs ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
+      timeouts.push(timeoutMs);
+      elapsedMs += timeoutMs - 2;
+      return { exitCode: 0, stdout: '', stderr: '' };
+    }),
+  };
+  try {
+    await createAndroidObservationAdapter(host).readAppState({
+      ...device,
+      id: 'emulator-rollover',
+    });
+  } finally {
+    now.mockRestore();
+  }
+
+  expect(timeouts.length).toBeGreaterThan(1);
+  for (const timeoutMs of timeouts) expect(timeoutMs).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+});
@@ -97,11 +97,12 @@ function createDumpReader(host: AndroidObservationHost, device: DeviceInfo): Dum
     const cached = dumps.get(key);
     if (cached) return cached;
     deadline ??= Deadline.fromTimeoutMs(DUMP_OBSERVATION_BUDGET_MS);
-    if (deadline.isExpired()) return Promise.resolve('');
+    const remainingMs = deadline.remainingMs();
+    if (remainingMs <= 0) return Promise.resolve('');
     const pending = host
       .runAdb(device, deviceShellArgv('adb', 'shell', words), {
         allowFailure: true,
-        timeoutMs: deadline.remainingMs(),
+        timeoutMs: remainingMs,
       })
       .then(
         (result) => {