startup blocked by ffmpeg

[roadster]

My SLAX Linux based system has been running faultlessly for weeks but suddenly it won't start on boot up first time due to this error
Thread-8: ErrorInfo=Streamer: test invocation of FFmpeg failed to complete

The error occurs whether or not the start is interactive ( startc ) or as a daemon ( startd ) and on restart from minimwatch it comes up quickly and correctly.

Just to be on the safe side I have added a symbolic link to /usr/local/bin so that ffmpeg is found by the which ffmpeg command but that made no difference.

I don't think I have made any changes recently except adding a few dozen more music files.

Help or suggestions appreciated - thanks.