Quadra 840AV startup problem

[debkmaillist]

[cross-posted to the MacAV list]
Hi,
My mom has had a Quadra 840AV for about 4 years. It has worked fine for her basic needs -- mostly email and AppleWorks, some Photoshop 3.
It has 56mb RAM, a 2gb HD, runs OSv8.1
During the past few months, it has begun taking longer and longer to boot up. I had her bring it to my house and I hooked it up to my own monitor, to evaluate what is happening.
Here is the behavior:
When it is booted up from a complete shut-down, it sits quietly, video black, for about 13 minutes, then all of a sudden the welcome screen shows up and all proceeds quickly to the desktop. When I "restart" from the pull-down menu, and also by using the 3-fingered reboot, it reboots as I would expect -- immediately showing the welcome screen.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I originally considered reformatting and reloading the OS, but once I got it in my own hands, I don't think that will make a difference in this problem.
Also, is OSv8.1 the latest it can run?
Thanks for any ideas --
Deb

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