diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrEventDeduplicator.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrEventDeduplicator.kt
index 0638eafd..138ffb0a 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrEventDeduplicator.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrEventDeduplicator.kt
@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@ class NostrEventDeduplicator(
      * @return true if the event is a duplicate (already seen), false if it's new
      */
     fun isDuplicate(eventId: String): Boolean {
-        totalChecks++
-        
         synchronized(lruLock) {
+            totalChecks++
+
             val existingNode = nodeMap[eventId]
             
             if (existingNode != null) {
diff --git a/app/src/test/kotlin/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrBackgroundEventProcessorTest.kt b/app/src/test/kotlin/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrBackgroundEventProcessorTest.kt
index d7fffc2c..848c5cda 100644
--- a/app/src/test/kotlin/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrBackgroundEventProcessorTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/test/kotlin/com/bitchat/android/nostr/NostrBackgroundEventProcessorTest.kt
@@ -36,29 +36,34 @@ class NostrBackgroundEventProcessorTest {
     fun `cold start processes more events than the removed handoff queue capacity`() = runBlocking {
         val application = ApplicationProvider.getApplicationContext<Application>()
         val processor = NostrBackgroundEventProcessor(application, scope)
+        val identity = NostrIdentity.generate()
+        val expectedIds = mutableSetOf<String>()
 
         repeat(300) { index ->
+            val event = NostrEvent(
+                pubkey = identity.publicKeyHex,
+                createdAt = index + 1,
+                kind = NostrKind.EPHEMERAL_EVENT,
+                tags = listOf(listOf("g", "u4pruy")),
+                content = "message-$index"
+            ).sign(identity.privateKeyHex)
+            expectedIds += event.id
+
             processor.onGeohashMessage(
-                event = NostrEvent(
-                    id = "cold-start-$index",
-                    pubkey = index.toString(16).padStart(64, '0'),
-                    createdAt = 1,
-                    kind = NostrKind.EPHEMERAL_EVENT,
-                    tags = listOf(listOf("g", "u4pruy")),
-                    content = "message-$index"
-                ),
+                event = event,
                 geohash = "u4pruy"
             )
         }
 
-        withTimeout(5_000) {
+        // CI can take longer to verify all 300 Schnorr signatures on a cold JVM.
+        withTimeout(30_000) {
             while (AppStateStore.channelMessages.value["geo:u4pruy"].orEmpty().size < 300) {
                 kotlinx.coroutines.yield()
             }
         }
 
         assertEquals(
-            (0 until 300).map { "cold-start-$it" }.toSet(),
+            expectedIds,
             AppStateStore.channelMessages.value["geo:u4pruy"].orEmpty().map { it.id }.toSet()
         )
     }